Focus, Focus, Focus

Originally uploaded by bocavermelha-l.b.

Want to be productive - you must get focused

One of the key concepts of getting into a mode of flow in your work is control over the conscience and the ordering of it. When you are in the flow, your creativity appear, you are "in the zone", you can solve any problem. When you are not focused, you can think only in short bursts, you are preoccupied with other things, your brain is submerged in noise. Therefore you feel obliged to take a break and recharge your energy, but when you get back to your desk, this all process start again.

How do I break the cycle and get focused?

• Clear your head, the most basic principle of GTD, take it out of your head and into your organization system. Anything that pops into your head, just take it out of there a soon as possible.


• Time boxes, eliminate all distractions - email, phone, people, news feeds for a short defined period of time (30-60 mins). Nothing will break during this time, that is why you don't need to worry about the things you are not doing.


• Script it, select the next 3 most important tasks (MIT) and actively think only on them, all others tasks does not exist now. Visualise yourself doing the tasks and the outcomes of completing the tasks


• Do the task for its own sake - this was the key for me, similar to the Jewish tradition that you learn the holy texts "LiSh'ma" (for its own name) not for achieving knowledge, not for achieving reward, not because this is your religious obligation, but because you want to learn. You do somthing beacuse you want to do it.
  
  But why should this work? we are attracted to doing stuff that gives us fast feedback. You want to get feedback and reinforcment for your actions as fast as possible, why wait for a week to see the results of preparing to a meeting a week from now, when you can read a 100 more posts from your very important news feeds, and see your list of "to-read" get shrinked by a 100. So how do we break this habit. We do a task beacuse we want to do it. we visualise us doing the task and having the doing as the reward.
  
  "The Journey is the Destination" when you act by this motto you always have feedback and reward in your actions - if you are focused and actualy do what you planned of doing. when you actually complete the task, your reward is doubbled. with a doubble reward you will make the habit of being in focus even stronger.

So choose your next task, visualise yourself doing it, focus on the doing as your reward and actually GET THINGS DONE