Transcription
We are distracting ourselves to death with social media, podcasts, TV, music, and movies. This is why you can't stay focused. I've built my dream life because I've learned the tricks that make it easier for me to get focused and ignore the distractions. So, if you feel lazy, distracted, and unfocused, these are the five ways that you can stay focused and achieve anything. Let's start with number one.
Focus is actually a rare skill. You see, I really do think that focus is an actual skill. And what's great about focus being a skill, you can learn how to do it. It's not something that you magically have. You're magically born with. No, it's a skill. In order to get better at any skill, you have to practice. I'm just like anybody else. I do feel pressure of distractions at work all day. But I've learned to navigate that by protecting my time. You see, I don't let people snag me for a random coffee. I don't take unscheduled phone calls. And I avoid the passing conversations where someone might ask to pick my brain. I don't do any of that stuff because I recognize that attention is my greatest resource. And most people just give their attention away for free.
All of these distractions are only holding you back from being able to do exactly what you want. If you are not further along in life, you haven't achieved the big goals, the big dreams that you have, you just aren't spending your time specifically taking action to get closer to that thing. And the challenging part is this. As you decide what you want and start spending more time doing that thing, there become more and more distractions because like anything, there is so much that you don't know about the things that you're trying to have in life.
The best way to stop spending time on TikTok is to control your screen time. Pretend like you have a parent who really cares about you. Because a parent who really cares about you is going to lock down your phone, is going to make screen time so that you can't actually spend 6 hours a day watching some stupid television show. So act like the parent in your own life. Only allow yourself to have 10 minutes total of distraction. But you can't spend 2 hours on there. You can't waste your time getting distracted in the places that you already know pull your attention off from where you're trying to go. So, the screen time settings on your phone is your new best friend.
Remember that all of these distractions will only hold you back from being mentally strong. And being mentally strong is the biggest asset that you can have in your life and your career. I like to think of focus as a multiplier. You actually do less but create more value.
Next is one of the most important ones. You have to shift your mindset. You're not lazy. You're just overwhelmed and distracted. There is nothing more important in life than figuring out how to set up an environment that is conducive to get you to where you want to go. 35 minutes ago, I had a coaching conversation with a client who came into my office and she was telling me all about this team member that works in her business. And she's so frustrated by this team member because she literally works in the same office as her. The team member is a drainer. She doesn't want to do anything that the company is rolling out that's new and exciting and creating growth, and she's just a problem. And I said, "If you already know that this person is a problem, do not continue to spend your time around her." And this business owner kept pushing back and pushing back and pushing back on me, saying, "Oh, but we inherited her when we acquired this business, and all of the existing customers love her." And I actually had to bring her with me to this event that you guys are hosting, so she's downstairs while I'm doing this coaching call with you upstairs. And I was like, "Wait, stop the madness. This is your environment. I don't care if you're a business owner, you're a team member, you're a mom, you're a dad, you're a daughter, wherever you are is your environment. You are a part of the space that you are in. So, if you are at such an effect point that you don't even feel like you can control your desk space or your room or your home environment, how on earth are you going to control anything that's bigger than that? You're always going to feel like you're in effect.
If you're distracted because your phone keeps going off, turn off your notifications. If you're distracted because your friend invites you to a happy hour, ask yourself, "Am I in control of my environment or is my friend in control of my environment?" If you want to be extraordinary with any goal that you have, you can't operate as if you're ordinary. You are going to have to say no to a lot of happy hours. You're going to have to say no to a lot of notifications. You might not be up to date on the latest TikTok trends or all the things that your friends are talking about. That is okay as long as you are getting to where you're trying to go. And if you are resistant to controlling your environment, I would just ask you this. Are you proud of how close you are to hitting your targets? Because if you're not proud, it's just a simple fix. Before you go trying to save the world, take the first step of controlling the distractions inside your own environment.
Next, you have to get clarity on your priorities. It's easy to get stuck in this multitasking trap, but often times when you're multitasking, you're doing all of the unimportant things. And what you forego is doing the things that actually matter and the things that drive value. Because if you're going to work on something, that takes energy and focus and effort. You have to make progress on that thing at that moment in time and give all of your energy and attention to it. So people who say that they're busy and they have so much stuff to do but aren't actually getting closer are actually just distracted by all the things that they have to do. And I only say this from a place of me getting caught in this trap for many, many years where I would just add and add and add things to my to-do list. And because the to-do list became so long, I would then try to do all of these things on top of each other. And sure, I was checking the box off of something. And that was a nice little dopamine hit. But I wasn't making real progress towards the goals that matter.
So, I reduced the to-do list and I said, "I'm going to focus and prioritize. I'm doing one thing and I'm going to complete that thing and I'm not going to stop until I get that thing done." I take this exact same approach today when I'm trying to move a business forward. I only look at every single thing that happens inside that business, and I'm not going to go off of solving that problem until there is a solution. I don't care what time of the day it is. I'm going to solve that problem fully. The part of the distraction trap is thinking that you can do so many things at once. Limit the scope, get the priorities straight, and only go after the things that are most important and don't do anything else. You're likely not lacking time. You're lacking a clear understanding of what your priorities actually are. And if you're struggling with this, just remove the decision fatigue and stop multitasking.
Number four is next. It is time to reclaim your focus. First step is you audit where you're spending your time today. Look at exactly where every single minute is going to be spent for the next 24 hours. And if there's anything on there that isn't getting you closer to your goals, we remove it. And what's funny about looking at your time and doing this little audit is you're going to very quickly see that there are many things that aren't on your list that you're supposed to be doing today that are actually the most important things, and that your day is filled with a whole bunch of crap that isn't going to move you closer to your goals.
Once you've decided that you're going to do something, you do not go to bed until you've finished that task. You protect your time. If someone calls you, you don't pick up. If somebody sends you a bunch of text messages, you do not respond. If you decide, "Oh, I really want to scroll on social media." Don't do it. If it doesn't improve my relationships, make me wealthier, or improve my health in some way, I'm absolutely not doing it. But then each and every day, I get to figure out out of those three things, what is the most important? And to be honest with you, most days the most important thing for me is to increase my wealth. I spend the majority of my time only doing things that allow my wealth to continue to grow. So this idea of creating something that I'm proud of in my career actually impacts how I show up in my relationships. So that's why it's so important to me because I know what I'm capable of. And if you too know what you're capable of and you're not doing things that are in alignment with your potential, you're going to feel like crap, and I don't want to feel like crap. And if I do feel like crap, it's going to end up leaning over to my relationships. So instead of putting it on them, I figure out what I need to do to be the best version of myself. And I prioritize those things. Starting with this framework of audit, decide, protect is one of the easiest ways to see what's actually blocking you from staying focused. Remember that reclaiming your focus is a step-by-step process. Follow the framework in this order to get focused and then be consistent with it through boundaries and systems that you create so that you can keep your focus on the most important things.
Last up is number five, which is that you have to live by your boundaries. I like to say no all the time, especially when I'm at work. I consistently say no to meetings that don't make sense, to reactive tasks, to phone calls that aren't helpful, and especially doom scrolling on social media. You see, saying no is your superpower. Because if you can't learn how to say no, you're going to end up meeting everybody else's expectations and never getting the things that matter to you handled. A lot of people think that you need to do more, but you actually just need real boundaries. And if those boundaries are in place and you use your time for the things that matter, all of a sudden you're actually doing less because you're doing more of the things that create value.
And for me, I recognized that my calendar is the real representation of my boundaries. When is the last time you looked at your calendar to understand where your focus, where your time, and where your attention is going? If something is important to you, you would have to be making time for it. You can't say that your kids are important to you and never spend time with your kids. You can't say that making money is important to you and you never spend any time trying to figure out how to make money. You can't say that your health is important to you if you eat like garbage every single day. Now, I guess technically you can say that those things are important, but they aren't actually important to you. Where you spend your time is an indication of what matters to you.
So, when it comes to distractions, you can limit your distractions by just recognizing that the way that you spend your time is either getting you closer or keeping you further away from achieving your targets. Do the things that matter first. Everything else might never get done, and it might never get done forever. That is okay. But if the most important things get done, you're going to be proud of the work and the time and the energy that you invested in getting closer to where you're trying to go. So, use your calendar to put those things as the first thing. Don't put the most important things at the end of the day. Put them at the beginning of the day.
I was talking to a business owner just a couple of weeks ago and he was saying that he just gets pummeled by problems all day every day. So by the time that he gets to the end of his day where he's supposed to promote his business, he is just wiped. And I was like, let's just flip that. Put the promotion of your business as the first thing that you do. Nobody gets to talk to you until 10:00 in the morning because you're going to spend the first 2 hours promoting your business. Then deal with all the problems from 10 on. It's totally fine. Nothing wrong with that, but don't put the most important thing at the end because it's very likely that you're not going to do it. And that's the exact trap that he's fallen into, but now all of a sudden he's flipping it upside down.
These were the five ways to get and stay focused and to take the first step to building your dream life without any distractions. If you like this video, subscribe to my channel and check out my next.