What Can You Do to Stop Wasting Time and Stay Focused?

[[:encoded, "It is way too easy to let the day get away from you simply because you are unfocused. When this happens, it may not be detrimental to your business and its viability. But if you find that you’re wasting time daily and can’t stay focused, you will begin to lose motivation because you’re not seeing to-dos getting checked off. If your business is suffering you may not even place the blame on being unfocused, but it could very well be the case. \n\nDo you find yourself staring out the window or scrolling through social media and tell yourself, “I’m just going to look on social media for five minutes” then discover that it’s been a half an hour or an hour or longer? It’s easy to get distracted. It’s easy to lose focus and when this happens regularly you need to determine the underlying cause. If you were formerly focused and stuck to tasks and didn’t waste time, what is happening now that you’re not focused? \n\nFor many entrepreneurs the reason for losing focus and wasting time is procrastination, pure and simple. If you want to manage your time effectively and be more efficient and productive you need to get to the root cause of your lack of focus. \n\nLet’s first look at four habits that waste your time and that are insidious to productivity. \n\n1.\tThe internet and social media. If you’re researching an item for your business it is easy to go down a rabbit hole, and it’s also easy to get off track from your original research topic. If you don’t have the willpower to stay off the internet or from constantly checking email or responding to social media pings. Turn off the apps that distract you and reward yourself with social media or email time once the task(s) at hand has been completed. \n2.\tKeep your work housed on one device. When you switch between your work desktop and your home laptop and check your email on your phone and not your computer and then pull out your tablet to scroll social media you are pulling your focus into too many directions. Every time you move from one device to another you are more likely to get distracted. \n3.\tHave a schedule and use a calendar. If you write down your tasks and have a specific schedule for particular tasks you are more likely to keep your focus and not waste time. Set a timer while you’re working on a particular task and don’t let yourself stop until the timer goes off. Avoid the distraction of setting the timer on your phone unless you use a voice command to do so. Once you open your phone and get to the timer setting, you’re more likely to get pulled into email and social media notifications. \n4.\tPrioritize your tasks and give them specific deadlines. If you know you need to complete something by a set date or time, you’re more likely to stick to it than if you had a vague deadline of “finish by the end of the week.” \n\nNow that you have a road map to find those detours that get you off track and help you lose your focus, let’s look at four ways to implement procedures to keep you from wasting time. \n\n1.\tCreate a to-do or a form in your daily planner or your online calendar for those tasks you need to do each day. On this form you will write down the tasks you need to complete daily, weekly, monthly. Now write down the hours you plan to work that day. After you’ve done that, assign an allotted time to the tasks you’ve written down. When you do this, you can see what needs to be done, how long it will take, and if you have enough hours in the day/week to complete them. In addition to assigning time to complete the task, make note of the actual time it took you. Sometimes, we over-estimate how long it will take us to do something and if we’ve allotted an hour to a task and it only takes thirty minutes, we may be tempted to waste that “free time” rather than jump into another task. To download a Free Sample Prioritized Action List (PAL) that everyone in your office can use, go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com/pal-sample/.\n\n2.\tGive yourself time at theUnlock a blueprint to creating and having your ideal business and ideal life by scheduling your free consultation with me today! Want more proven business success tips and resources? Subscribe to my blog by going to www.acountabilitycoach.com/blog. Go to https://www.accountabilitycoach.com to check out for yourself how I, as your Accountability Coach™, can help you get and stay focused on you highest payoff activities that put you in the highest probability position to achieve your professional and personal goals, so you can enjoy the kind of business and life you truly want and deserve. I’m the author of many books, including, Excuses Don’t Count; Results Rule, Live Life with No Regrets, No Excuses, The Guide to Stopping Procrastination, The Power of Visualization, My Gratitude Journal, the Work Life Balance Emergency Kit, and The Roadmap To Success with Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard, and more.  Aim for what you want each and every day!  Anne BachrachThe Accountability Coach™Get your daily Accountability Minute shot of a single, simple, doable idea, so you can start your day off on the "right foot". 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