Entering The Focus Zone…

Productivity
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My new Internet friend, Mr JJ Jalopy… Life coach, posted an excellent post on his blog yesterday he called “Get everyone on your side…and rock your new schedule”  ßHighly recommended reading!

Jalopy’s incredible blog is helping people all over the world get their fledgling businesses off the ground, and he has been concentrating on the mindset aspects of starting your business so far. 

Jalopy made a critical point yesterday…

You need to make sure that the people in your life respect your new venture and give you the time and space to make your business flourish.  And you need to enforce these boundaries in order to succeed.

I want to extend this point a bit further because it has been my experience that most people are fully capable of sabotaging their own days without even a smidgen of help from friends or family members.

You don’t need your buddy Ralph to show up at your door to shoot the breeze in order to destroy your day.  You do the same thing to yourself by checking e-mail first thing in the am, and constantly throughout the day.  Or by surfing the Net in an endless search for what has changed in the last three minutes…  If you flit from task to task without focusing on one thing and completing it, then your results will suffer. 

And in the end, the only things that count are the things that you complete.  That pile of half-finished projects, while maybe fun to talk about, is 100% useless without bringing it to life.

So how do we create a Focus Zone?

You need to turn off your email and browsers and focus on the work, and then check them at selected intervals. for max productivity… You need to keep away the external distractions like Mr. Jalopy discusses. And you need to focus on getting projects pushed through your system and completed. Your “cockpit” that is within arm’s length of you when you sit at your desk needs to have at the ready the things that you most commonly need. 

You need to be committed to finishing one thing before moving on to the next.

Have a great day!

Rob

PS: And his advice to give your kids small tasks to do is great… my kids have stuffed mailers into envelopes, put stamps on them, done filing, put binders and folders together for presentations, etc.  It is an excellent chance to teach them about business and self-reliance.

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22 Comments

20 Comments

  1. JJ JalopyNo Gravatar (57 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @7:55 am

    I’m famous!!! :-)

    Thanks for linking to my site, Rob!

    You make some brilliant points in this article. I, for one, can easily slip into the cycle of: check email -> read the news -> check email -> check facebook -> see if there’s been any more interesting news -> read some blogs -> check email again….

    And the cycle can be never ending!!

    So I learn to be firm with myself.

    Setting deadlines is one of the tools I use to focus on Getting Things Done. Setting a strict deadline on a task and committing to getting it done before moving on allows me to bring my full attention to the task in a much more focussed way than if I had left the task open-ended.

    Seeing myself as a Productive Person helps a lot too! Your own sense of pride can be a great tool for change if used correctly!

    Thanks for the namecheck Rob. My ego loves you right now! The rest of me is blushing a little! :-)

    JJ Jalopy
    Life Coaching and Home Business Advice with JJ Jalopy

    Reply

    April BraswellNo Gravatar (73 comments) Reply:

    I am in 100% agreement with JJ on this. Excellent post and comments from you both, JJ and Rob.

    Indeed, as a Dating Expert and Relationship Coach, this IS something which entrepreneurs SO need to discuss during their dating and courtship. As well as consider in Their Fishing Pond. And on the Relationship Coaching side, this is ABSOLUTELY something which both partners must flesh out in their discussions.

    Or you will fail one way or another.
    because your divorce will decimate your business for awhile.
    and if you don’t get their buy-in, yes, you will be divorcing and/or your business will venture will fail because your spouse will sabotage it in order to get the attention from you that they always wanted.

    Be ecological and get full family buy in.

    The first sale you make is NOT to yourself
    It’s to your spouse! :)

    I think I will be blogging about this now. Maybe this week in conjunction with my Boomer Dating series.

    All the best,

    April Braswell

    Online Dating Coach, Dating Expert

    Reply

  2. Bob KauferNo Gravatar (49 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @7:58 am

    Email is one of my biggest downfalls. I am trying to only check it a couple of times a day. I am starting to hate it as much as I hate snail mail.

    I like Tim Ferris’ approach from the four hour work week. I just can’t get there.

    Bob Kaufer
    If you MOVE like the Tin Man, you will THINK like the Scarecrow and FEEL like the Lion

    Reply

  3. Christian HallerNo Gravatar (48 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @10:31 am

    This is consistent with the whole idea of planning what you are going to do rather than let life plan you. E-mail and cell phones have enabled one of the greatest distractors to getting things done.

    Christian

    Reply

  4. Lynn LaneNo Gravatar (57 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @10:59 am

    Great point Rob.
    e-mail from the start was going to make all things easy, right. It was going to give us more free time,right.

    I think it all comes down to discipline! You have it or you don’t. If you don’t then you need to work on it day by day.

    Lynn Lane
    http://www.Warriorofsuccess.com

    Reply

  5. Mitchell RehaumeNo Gravatar (12 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @11:18 am

    Great Post Rob,

    I know for a fact I’m addicted to checking the scores in sports every twenty minutes on my BlackBerry.

    I hope you come out with a product that can help create focus in oneself of completing projects from start to finish.

    “Jack of all trades is a master of nothing”

    Regards,

    Mitchell Rehaume
    Your Mobile Expert!

    Reply

  6. Steve ChambersNo Gravatar (103 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @11:24 am

    Rob and JJ are right on point with their blogs. The single most important cause of failure is not doing the work.

    The paradox of e-mail is that it is a wonderful tool for increasing productivity while at the same time being one of the biggest time wasters there is. I find it best to check it a couple times a day and to immediately turn it off after checking.

    Steve

    Reply

  7. John HoNo Gravatar (86 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @12:42 pm

    It’s interesting to see that both emails and cell phones start off as a productivity tool and down spiral into distractions!

    It’s like when asking a person riding a horse where is s/he going, s/her answer you by saying, “Dont ask me. Ask the horse!”

    Imagine that you’re sick and you still turn on your cell phone. How restful can you be to have speedy recovery? Better jsut to us emails in this case.

    It all boils down to disciplne. As an estate agent, it’s hard to turn off your cell phone (we call it mobile phone here in Australia) unless you are with cleints at appointments or meetings.

    John Ho
    Understanding Personalities for Better Influence & Persuasion (WordPress)
    Understanding Personalities for Better Influence & Persuasion (Vox Blog)

    Reply

  8. mark mallenNo Gravatar (35 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @12:46 pm

    Rob, That was good advice about not checking email or the internet. I think we all get addicted to those constant updates. Mark
    Glacier Marketing

    Glacier Ice Cream

    Reply

  9. JC MacKenzieNo Gravatar (48 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @1:27 pm

    I’m afraid that email distraction is also one of the banes of my existence. Working on that, spending more time on planning-THEN focusing on the task at hand while doing.
    Thanks.

    JC JC

    Reply

  10. Pat BeckerNo Gravatar (40 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @4:05 pm

    Distraction v. Focus A recurring contest for lots of us.

    -Pat
    Business Owners Fast Track to Internet Profits

    Reply

  11. Pam SchulzNo Gravatar (48 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @5:22 pm

    Rob,

    Great post! And, VERY timely for me. The following paragraph in your post really hit home!

    “And in the end, the only things that count are the things that you complete. That pile of half-finished projects, while maybe fun to talk about, is 100% useless without bringing it to life.”

    I wish I had a nickel for every half finished project I’ve started and then gotten distracted from because of having to tend to the immediate needs of two young children. I like the idea of giving kids tasks to do – we do this some – probably not as much as we should.

    I like your idea of creating a “focus zone.”

    Great food for thought!
    Pam

    http://www.greatwealth.com

    Reply

  12. Yann VernierNo Gravatar (6 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @6:44 pm

    Absolutely. So many people don’t get this. Emails, cell phones, and most modern gizmos are only useful if we learn to tame them. Multi-tasking is way overrated and overused by brainwashed HR “professionals”.

    Great post Rob.

    All the best,
    Yann
    http://www.ProfitsTactics.com

    Reply

  13. PhilipNo Gravatar (2 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @6:56 pm

    Hi Rob, I was directed here from JJ Jalopys website and I’m very glad I came. Your site is great and I’ll be coming back often. I’m at a stage in life when I need to worry about asset protection. I will come back soon for sure!
    Thanks, Philip

    Reply

  14. Don ShepherdNo Gravatar (44 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @8:36 pm

    Multi tasking for me usually ends up as multiple half finished projects. could someone write a program that locks out your email after 20 minutes and only lets you access it twice a day? kind of like all my clocks are set 10 minutes fast. i know they are but i’m always on time.

    Don Shepherd

    oregon or bust

    Reply

  15. Sonya LenzoNo Gravatar (30 comments)  •  Apr 5, 2009 @9:14 pm

    So sad, so true. The more difficult the work I want to put off, or the more odious, the cleaner my apartment becomes!
    Rob, I am now blogging from WORDPRESS!

    SunnyMarie
    Glamour and Glitz
    http://www.sunnymarie.wordpress.com

    Reply

  16. Duane CunninghamNo Gravatar (51 comments)  •  Apr 6, 2009 @12:39 am

    Hi Rob,

    What you say is totally true…Both about JJ and in your post!!

    In todays world on average we are bombarded with 3400 advertising messages alone so being about to focus is one of the most crucial abilities a success person has in their bag of tricks!

    Something I always try to remember which was shared with me when I was a young man was:

    “What you focus on expands”

    Duane

    Learn Winning Persuasion
    > Techniques that Work Like Magic by Tapping Into the Psychology of
    > the Mind with Persuasion Expert Duane Cunningham!

    Reply

  17. Philip GravesNo Gravatar (52 comments)  •  Apr 6, 2009 @3:28 am

    As usual with your posts it’s like you’ve been watching over my shoulder! I guess we all fall into similar traps and are equally weak-willed when it comes to the distractions that can keep us from what we should be doing.

    Thanks for the tips!

    Philip
    [The Consumer Behaviour Research Resource]

    Reply

  18. Darryl PaceNo Gravatar (66 comments)  •  Apr 6, 2009 @5:05 am

    Rob,

    This is the habit I feel I most need to form — focus on one task at a time without distraction, and until the task is complete. Thank you for this post.

    Health, Fitness — Darryl Pace

    Reply

  19. DIY LawyerNo Gravatar (23 comments)  •  Apr 6, 2009 @6:34 am

    It is easy to get distracted if you don’t like what you are doing.

    The DIY Lawyer
    DIY Lawyer – Where you can sign up for our free living trust e-course

    Reply

  20. MotorcycleNo Gravatar (1 comments)  •  Apr 7, 2009 @6:06 pm

    I did not expect this on a Tuesday. Keep it up!. Added you to my RSS feed.

    Reply

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