Posted May 2, 2012Filed under: Entrepreneurship, Psychology of Success | Tags: business coaching, entrepreneurs, focus, limit distractions, mental efficiency, mindfulness meditation, multitasking

Did you catch me on Victory Circles Radio last week? Cheri and I celebrated the launch of her new book, Victory One Moment at a Time (see book review in last blog post).  What fun to be part of such a great accomplishment.  The book is a wonderful application of the Master Mind principles to business success.

We also talked about “Priming Your Pump,” or increasing your focus.  I covered a few key points based in what we understand about the way the brain works.  Listen to the recording for the nuances and details.  In the meantime, here are three quick tips to help increase your focus right away.

1.  Minimize multitasking.  With all of our portable devices and demands on our attention, we have become masters at multitasking.  At least we think so.  Studies show that multitasking can decrease our mental efficiency from the IQ of a Harvard MBA to that of an 8-year-old!   Unless you’re doing something a little more automatic, like driving or knitting or cleaning house (ok, that may be automatic for someone), you are at your best when you do one thing at a time.

You can turn off the ringer on the phone, shut down your email program, close the web browser and put a do not disturb sign on your door.  Those are the external distractions that you can control, which will help you concentrate more.  Just do it!

But sometimes those internal distractions can be just as disruptive.  Thoughts about weekend plans, your daughter’s recital, the dry cleaning, your bank account balance, or self-doubt about the quality of your next blog post can distract us from within.  Our thoughts come and go, but you can gain greater control and clarity through practices like mindfulness and meditation.  Don’t be scared – it just takes practice.

3.  Remember to Recharge.  Your energy is not limitless.  You have to take breaks, eat nutritious foods and get some exercise.  Switching up the types of activities you do – writing, planning, reading and analyzing, paperwork – will use different parts of your brain and give the other parts time to cool off.

How do you gain greater focus?  Keith Pillow of Caddy Marketing and Communications weighed in on our Facebook page, “Minimizing distractions, and operating in an environment that offers peace and serenity!”  Nice one, Keith.

Share your ideas below, and your approach may be featured in our next newsletter or blog post.