Concentration: The key to achievement

Posted: January 12, 2013 | Categories: Management, Self-Improvement

 Time management expert Charles Hobbs spent his whole career studying high achievers. As a result of his research, he found what he believed to be their most important characteristic: “They have the ability to focus on vital priorities and cause those priorities to happen”

In coaching my clients, the most common enemy of effectiveness is distraction. We live in a world where there are more and more distractions. Texting, emails, Twitter, iPods,  Facebook and Linkedin have greatly fragmented our time. In addition, the ease of distraction is much higher. It has been estimated that managers and sales professionals are interrupted an average of once every three minutes. Time studies have also shown that it can take as much as 20 minutes to regain our focus on a vital project to the level of concentration before the interruption.

We frequently hear that Americans are working more hours than they used to. I don’t believe this is true. I do believe that we are spending more hours at work than we used to.

When I work with clients in the area of time management, the first thing we do is a time log. We keep track of every task or activity performed for a 2-3 day period. The results are almost always shocking:  Most folks discover they are spending more than 50% of their time doing things that do not pertain to their top priorities. So how do we combat distraction and get a better focus? Here are some suggestions.

•  Plan your week in advance. How much discretionary time do you have? How are you going to divide that time up so that you stay focused on your priorities and keep in balance?
• Plan your day the night before: List all of the things you could do. Put an “A” next to those items most critical. For those that are important, but not critical, put a “B” next to them. Finally, put a “C” next to those items that have some or little importance. In other words, if we don’t do them, we don’t suffer or miss an important opportunity.

Once you have done this, look at your list again and ask these three questions:

1.  What can I combine?
2. What can I eliminate?
3. What can I delegate?

The next day you will be ready to begin. Start with your highest priority and stay with it until it is complete. Then go on to your next priority. If you do this with an absolute commitment to avoid distractions, you will get more done and end each day with success. As stress management consultant Dr. Hans Seyle once said, “A successful life is a series of successful days”

---