Share the Love!

Have you ever been working on a project when someone asks you a distracting question? Maybe you’ll be writing an email and then you get a text message from a friend that changes your focus. Or maybe you just keep picking up your phone and checking social media again and again.

There are a million little things that can happen throughout our day to throw us off our game and make us lose focus. The problem is when we allow these things too much power over us we won’t be able to accomplish the goal we set out to accomplish.

Here are 5 ways to stay focused on your goals.

1. Separate yourself from distractions
One of the main ways we get distracted is through being around things and people who distract us. A great solution to this is to separate yourself so that you aren’t around what’s distracting you. Go into a private room away from the TV and computer. Put your phone on the charger in another room. Ask your family for some uninterrupted quiet time to do your work. Do what you need to do to keep the things that are distracting you away from you.

2. Keep your eye on the prize
What are you working towards? Why do you need to stay focused? What is the end result you are striving for?

Remind yourself why you are working hard and what it’s for. There are so many thing we are all working towards and many of them are good things that will improve our lives in some way. How will accomplishing your current goal improve your life? When we focus on the prize, the end goal, instead of all the obstacles, it’s easier to keep focused.

3. Learn to be disciplined
This skill will ultimately help you a lot more than we might realize. At first, discipline sounds like a negative thing. However, try it. Set goals for yourself and see how you feel once your accomplish them. It feels so good when you set a goal for yourself and accomplish it verses just doing whatever you want and feeling like you didn’t accomplish anything.

We are all going to wake up and not feel like going to work, we won’t feel like cleaning our homes or we won’t feel like being nice to people, but that shouldn’t stop us from doing the things we know we should do and the things that are ultimately going to get us closer to our goals. Discipline takes practice but it’s definitely a valuable skill.

4. Take breaks
It’s actually really healthy for us to take breaks. At most jobs you are legally required to take breaks every few hours. There is a reason for that, we need to recharge. We need time to relax our brains or fuel our bodies. When we stop thinking about things for a little bit and rest, we are able to refresh our minds and sometimes end up going back to work with an added fresh revelation.

Even if it feels counterproductive make sure that you take your breaks. Schedule them and take them. Don’t eat your lunch at your desk or try to power through just one more project. Take a moment and take a break. Doing so will make you more focused and productive in the long run.

5. Ask yourself why you are having trouble staying focused
Sometimes you can’t focus because of something as simple as being hungry or tired. In those cases you may want to revisit your project after you’ve eaten and gotten some rest.

Sometimes it can be a little more challenging to figure out why are you aren’t focused. Take a moment and think about what unmet need is causing you to lose focus. Are you craving social interaction? Are you bored of what you’re working on? Is there another important thing that needs to get done?

Ask yourself questions to discover the cause of why you are having trouble staying focused. Once you figure out what you need, you can give that to yourself and you’ll be able to focus more on what you need to do.