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I’ve written a lot on this blog. I guess that’s a good thing, since it’s in line with what I set out to do. And recently, I decided I was going to devote more time and energy to maintaining this blog, including learning about what I like to talk about, writing about it, and promoting it so people will actually see it.

These are noble endeavors and I think (hope) I will be successful in accomplishing them, ultimately. Of course, it may take many more weeks, months, or years than I plan right now (it already has taken a lot longer than the original plan), but I am okay with that.

I want to talk about focus, which ties in with productivity, balance, and passion. I think focus is one of the major tenants of productivity and becoming superman, but it maintains its mystery and elusiveness. People don’t write about how to definitively find focus – at least not in the same ways and volumes that they write about how to get organized, plan your goals, and meditate. It could be written off as there being no one way to get focused that works for everybody. That’s a start. But there’s another issue at hand: they don’t know.

I don’t want you to have any false hopes: I don’t know either. But I have some speculations and thoughts about achieving focus which has led me to one conclusion:

If you’re trying to find focus, stop. Completely. Don’t give up hope, but give up your method.

I want you to think of the last time you were taken away with something – a flight of fancy, a really engaging movie, or work on a project that mattered dearly to you.

For me, it was an attempt at programming a shopping assistant service that would simplify my life, and hopefully the lives of others. I was in love with the idea of saving myself (and others) time and money. I spent at least eight hours a day on the project, which lasted about a week or two (Time kind of lapsed on me).

Even now, months later, I can still feel the rush of happiness that working on that project gave me.

Why did this happen?

Because it mattered.

If you’re trying to focus yourself on tasks – any tasks – and it’s simply not happening, then you need to stop.

Focus happens organically. You don’t force it. Forcing it is what results in otherwise healthy people choosing to abuse Adderall in order to succeed.

We spend a lot of time trying to systematically eliminate distractions.

I didn’t get distracted when I was in love with my project. I’m willing to bet you didn’t either.

You cannot eliminate distractions. You can turn off the phone, unplug the router, and otherwise lock yourself in a dark closet with nothing but a pen and paper. You’re going to distract yourself with the pen, or you’re going to get lost in thought.

Stop trying to eliminate distraction. Stop trying to force yourself to focus. Stop trying to make productivity happen. If it’s taking effort, even if you manage to eke out some form of product, you’re still wasting too much energy to feel good about it.

Solution

I propose a simple solution: fall in love with what you have to do.

Of course, you can also outsource some things – and I encourage you to do that with many things. But sometimes, tasks are too personal or esoteric to outsource.

In that situation, you need to fall in love again.

Some personal development specialists have hinted at this by encouraging you to build things like dream boards, motivational posters, and subliminal messaging systems. These aren’t necessary, though they could help.

You just need to figure out how to love what you do again.

If you love it, you’ll focus. It will happen easily and naturally. You won’t be distracted. You’ll be productive.

There are a couple problems with this solution, though, and the major one is if you can’t love what you do. That’s what dream boards and posters are for – getting yourself to tough it out and finish your tasks at hand so you can achieve some end.

There is not another easy solution for this.

If you do find yourself consistently miserable in everyday tasks, then it is a sign that something is wrong, and it’s not your productivity system. It probably means you’re not finding your work fulfilling. In that situation, you will need to change your perspective or else change the end you are working for or the means you are fulfilling. If you hate your day job, you could need a bigger reminder of why you’re there. If you continue to find yourself distracted, it could be time to find a new day job.

If you have found your focus, I’d love to hear your methods in the comments section.

Related Posts:

• How to Stay Productive
• Secrets to Success: Run Yourself Like a Business
• Too Many Projects: A Remedy
• Too Many Projects: A Diagnosis
• What I Do In Lieu of Work

On overload

Every once in a while, we all become overloaded or spread too thinly with work, obligations, responsibilities, and even successes. The cause for becoming overwhelmed is often left up to the individual to decide, but can typically be blamed on some incarnation of obsessive thought. Whether working too hard, for too long, or on too much at once, overwork is the likely culprit of overload.

Track it

Using a service like Joe’s Goals, or a spreadsheet, or a private journal, somehow monitor a couple variables every single day. You will want to know how much you got done. You will want to know how you felt, in general, throughout the course of the day. You will want to know what made you happy and what upset you. Either discuss these things in detail, or rate them on a numerical scale. Either way, be consistent and remember to always do it. You’ll thank yourself for it later.

Review it

Once a week, month, or year, look back at the time since your last review. Do you notice any trends? Were you more productive when you were happier? Did you seem more stressed when you got fewer things done? Were there typical times of the month when you failed to do anything, or did an exceptional amount? Note your observations. When you have collected a few reviews, look for any trends between them.

Note it

Any time you lose your motivation, take note of how you feel. Check in with yourself. Take a breather and step away from your work. Notice what happened right before you lost motivation. Did you get discouraged, or get rejected, or even fail at something? Did you finish your requisite work for the day, and are now left with only free time?

Similarly, note when you get stressed. Make it a point to always write down, “I got stressed at 12:55 PM after I read my second rejection email of the day from publishers. I have bills coming due in three days and I need to make another $100 to pay rent. I am at 10 on a stress scale of 1 to 10.”

Take a break

When you get stressed or lose motivation, it is time to stop. Note how you feel, figure out why as best you can, and then stand up, stretch, eat, run, watch television, listen to your favorite song… do something else. I mean it. For at least 30 minutes. Starting now.

Now get back to work

When you have calmed yourself down, think a little bit more about what happened. Everybody gets frustrated from time to time. Was your frustration acceptable and justified? Would any other human being (excepting the Patron Saint of Patience) have reacted the same way?

If so, it is time to stop blaming yourself and get back to work. If not, then perhaps it is time to look a little deeper, because there may be other issues at play than just stressful and overwhelming work.

The secret to staying productive

Some of you may be wondering, “What’s the magic cure?” I’m here to tell you that there is not one (at least, not that we’ve discovered so far). That said, for many people, little tricks can help make their actions cooperate with their future goals.

One such trick is to know why you are actually doing every little thing. From bookkeeping to reporting to reviewing, every action needs to be justified by a specific goal. If a goal is missing, perhaps the task would be better if delegated to another person, because motivation is likely hanging by a thread.

Reward and punishment is a similar trick. Always have a reward in mind for a job well done. The reward should be something you actually want, and not just the satisfaction of having done well. A punishment should be a true detriment.

It’s not always a matter of staying productive. Sometimes, a better focus is to stay happy with yourself. Not every day is meant to be dedicated to directly getting closer to goals – some are meant to be used for rest and relaxation in order to maintain the sanity necessary to reach goals later.

Take the pressure off yourself. You don’t need to be doing something every minute of every day. If you do, you will miss out on countless opportunities to actually experience the returns of your labor.

Related Posts:

• Too Many Projects: A Remedy
• Too Many Projects: A Diagnosis
• How to Do a Year-End Review
• Trying to Achieve Focus? Stop.
• Secrets to Success: Run Yourself Like a Business

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A popular tip I’ve been reading lately during my job hunt (and therefore my resume reconstruction) is that resumes are a like a brochure of oneself and one’s skills – they’re meant to be a sales pitch and a marketing tool, rather than just a plain list of all your skills and qualifications. Consider resumes to be a way to express why they should buy you and you’ll be a million times more successful in your endeavors.

Not only should resumes be a marketing tool, but I believe now that the best way to be successful is to run oneself entirely like a business. Here’s how.

Energy, Time, and Money Performances

In business, every year, quarter, or even day, a few sheets are produced that show how successfully a business has been run. They are the balance sheet, the income statement, and a few other papers detailing important accounting stats. I think people should produce similar audits regarding their performance in work, in play, and in other areas that are important to them, such as family time and networking. Check to see if your investments (of time, of energy, and, of course, of money) were worth your while. Find a way to calculate a return on investment and stick with it over time. You should see positive trends. If not, it’s time to make a change.

Treat yourself as an employee

In business, we have something called human capital or human resources, which refers to the people who are involved in production. Most businesses periodically do performance reviews of every employee to give and receive feedback on what can be done to ensure the company runs as a well-oiled machine. I suggest periodically doing a performance review of yourself, where you defend decisions, provide feedback, and check to see what could have been improved upon, and then make necessary changes to enhance productivity.

Think about it: Do you deserve to keep your “job?”

Invest in yourself

Small businesses in particular have to invest in themselves in order to continue operations – usually over a period of a few years, until business picks up enough to support the company as a whole. Similarly, people require investments to keep running. It is insanely difficult to improve oneself without expending time, energy, or money. So if your investments send you into the “red” temporarily, it’s okay, so long as you get a high return on investment as I mentioned above. A vacation to keep your sanity also counts as an investment.

Outsource

Most executives do very little work directly involved in production. That is because they have better things to do, like running the company. Similarly, if you are to be truly successful, you must outsource some of your own tedious tasks in order to focus on what gives you the most return.

Perfectionism

Not that any of this has to be perfect. As long as your system is working for you and advancing you to higher levels of performance, it is fine. You may never be where you want to be – indeed, few of us ever are – but you will be moving forward, which is the important part. I define success as moving out of survival and into comfort because that seems to be the single factor that ties together the people who I consider successful: comfort.

What do you think? Am I way off on my assumptions? After all, I’m not the most comfortable person ever.

Related Posts:

• The Printable CEO
• Trying to Achieve Focus? Stop.
• How to Stay Productive
• Too Many Projects: A Remedy
• Too Many Projects: A Diagnosis

At one time, being successful meant relaxing on a beach in Cabo, tapping on a Blackberry to check Swiss bank accounts. These days, however, times have changed, and being successful tends to be equivalent to being busily working away at the top of a huge company. The more we have to do, it seems, the more successful we appear to be to others. I define success as being happy and at peace, however, so I decided to do a two-part series about how to tell if you have too many projects and how to remedy the situation.

How much is too much?

The first problem we need to tackle is defining how much is too much, in terms of project management. Some may prefer a number, but I prefer to express “too much” in relation to how much work and energy something takes and how much distress it causes.

As an example, I am currently juggling twelve major projects. I am:

1. Programming a website from scratch;
2. Starting my career as a professional belly dance performer and instructor;
3. Continuing my web design business;
4. Writing on this blog;
5. Writing on my professional “Hey this is me” blog;
6. Opening a belly dance online store;
7. Planning my wedding, which is less than a month away;
8. Writing a book about starting a business;
9. Hunting for a job in Albuquerque and…;
10. Looking for a place to live in Albuquerque before…;
11. Moving to Albuquerque in order to keep on…;
12. Getting my college education.

However, I can handle this many projects. It can be rough at times, but as long as I dedicate blocks of time to developing single projects and keep my to-do lists focused and organized, I am successful at doing everything.

Many people juggle this many projects – or even more – at once. It can be difficult to keep every ball up in the air at times, which is when problems begin to happen, things get neglected, and people feel forgotten and small. I define “too many” here as “causing detriment.”

So, if you feel a great pressure on your life from your many projects, it may be time to begin fixing the situation in order to have a more enjoyable experience. We only live once, so it is very important to have a good time the first time around.

Now that you have a diagnosis, it may be a good idea to read a remedy for having too many projects.

Related Posts:

• Too Many Projects: A Remedy
• How to Stay Productive
• The Printable CEO
• Trying to Achieve Focus? Stop.
• Secrets to Success: Run Yourself Like a Business

Take a Break

Every hour, half-hour, or otherwise, stand up and take a few deep breaths. Let your mind and body refresh – hit the reset button on your body. Think of it as a cleansing, relaxing period to allow more work to get done in the near future. This is your time.

If you get into trouble for this, try doing it in the bathroom, or walk a memo or something similar to another person’s office on the other side of the building. Be ready to explain that you need to refresh your mind or your work will suffer. Any good boss will understand, and any bad boss will be too afraid to lose another employee.

Leave it at Work

Leave work where work belongs. Do not take a work computer home to finish a project overnight. Just as it is not okay to take your children in for a visit, it is similarly wrong to make your family or personal space suffer because of an unproductive day. Home is where you recharge – not where you catch up.

Talk to Others

As coworkers, you share common bonds with many of the people around you. You both experience the same things day after day, although probably with a different perception. Learn who your coworkers are and be sure to keep yourself active throughout the day. Nobody else will be around to provide moral support should it be needed, so work friends are very necessary. Be careful not to do too much talking.

Little Reminders

Stick a post-it into your lunchbox, or your monitor, or your door, so every time you see it, you’re reminded to smile, or think of God, or remember why you’re working. Little reminders throughout the day can make the difference between misery and cheer.

How do you keep your life on-track and balanced at work? Do any of the tenets of your life suffer while you’re away from home?

Related Posts:

• Too Many Projects: A Remedy
• What I Do In Lieu of Work
• What Balance Means to Me
• Trying to Achieve Focus? Stop.
• Half the Battle: Fail forward

I want to fight this, though. I want to see the world with more self-control – to know somebody out there is able to control himself long enough to finish a sentence. This article is about increasing self-control.

For many, self-control is an art known only by those living Ancients – those old souls who have maintained their balance through the test of time. False. There is no exclusivity for self-control, nor will a mental disorder like ADHD prevent one from developing it. Perhaps the journey will be more difficult, but you will be all the better for it.

Begin by defining what self-control means to you. Prepare a test of whether or not you have accomplished your goal. Perhaps doing all homework in one sitting or before beginning play time is your mission, or perhaps even doing homework at all is sufficient. Whatever it is, know what your aim is.

Try this exercise: Turn off the television. Focus on a single point – it could be a spot on the wall you have been meaning to clean. Stare at this point and allow your mind to go blank. Do not think about cleaning. Do not look away. Do not close your eyes. Do not think about the spot. Merely look at the spot.

Do this until you cannot possibly stand it anymore. This exercise is called meditation and it is the secret Buddhist monks have been using for centuries. They learn to control their minds because they know that the mind is the most important part of the self, and being able to blank yourself at will is a sign of discipline.

Once you are capable of meditating at will, it is time to move along to something more: achieving your goal. Set yourself a deadline or prepare an "or else" qualification. For example, "I will finish my homework, or I will not watch television."

Now do it. Do what you have been avoiding.

If for some reason you are not perfect, this will not happen easily. There is another secret, though it is from psychologists: bribery. Condition yourself to do what needs doing by giving yourself either a reward or a punishment. If you finish your homework, let yourself do something fun. If you fail to do your homework, ground yourself from television from a week. The punishment itself will take some self-control to enact, so I have little faith anybody will pull it off on the first try. It will take practice, but it is doable.

There are rules for rewards, though. First, do nothing to contradict your goal that could lead into a bad habit. Do not reward yourself with food, because it leads to an addiction. Do not punish yourself by taking away the computer if you are a student and you have essays to write. Do not reward avoiding television by allowing yourself to watch television.

Have you established control over yourself? What were your tricks for developing this kind of relationship with yourself?

Related Posts:

• How to Do a Year-End Review
• Trying to Achieve Focus? Stop.
• How to Stay Productive
• Secrets to Success: Run Yourself Like a Business
• Too Many Projects: A Remedy