Dear PR Matters,
I am new in the workforce and my work involves a lot of research. Newspapers are still a good source of information, and one of the regular features I find very helpful is your group’s column in BusinessMirror.
Not only do I learn a lot about public relations from you, but I am also grateful for tips on how to be a better professional and person. Like most of those in my generation, I like doing several things at a time, and always have my phone, tablet and computer at hand.
To be truthful, sometimes I feel overwhelmed and have to work on focusing on the task I have at hand. I want to do well in my first job. Please share with me some tips on how to be able to focus and not be distracted by the many things going around.
Sincerely,
Christine F.
Dear Christine,
Thank you for your letter, which candidly reveals one of the many challenges that face most of us in this day and age. Of course, technology has opened many opportunities for us, widened our horizons and broadened our communications network.
At the same time, gadgets leave us with too many things going around, too much information and too many ideas. This leads us to being distracted and overwhelmed and, at times, not being able to accomplish the job at hand. At times, we feel our work lacks polish, because we were not that focused.
In a column in Inc.com, entrepreneur and investor John Rampton shares with us 10 Ways to Stay Focused and Avoid Too Many Ideas and No Execution.
Being overwhelmed by too many ideas, he says, “is both a blessing and a curse for many. On one hand, it allows us to find potential in business ideas. On the other, too many ideas can block us from making that idea into a reality.” Here, he shares with us 10 ways to stay focused and start executing:
- Know what you want. “It is essential that you are clear about you want,” Rampton said. “What is your big Why? What are you living to achieve that will motivate you when you wake up in the morning, what ignites your heart and makes you feel alive?” Making strides without a well-defined purpose, he said, will not bring positive results.
- Do something that makes you frustrated. Sometimes, the things that annoy or frustrate us the most can open up business opportunities or new ways of doing things. Rampton recalls how Colin Barceloux did in 2007. Barceloux was fed up at the cost of college textbooks, so he launched Bookrenter.com, which allows students to rent books at 60-percent discount.
In our everyday work, find out which part of the work process is a stumbling block, and work at solutions to ease it up. Otherwise these difficulties will prevent us from accomplishing our work.
- Create buckets. We like talking about bucket lists, and Rampton said there’s a popular productivity hack where you essentially visualize your life by dividing it into various buckets—a bucket for work, one for your family, and another project. Whenever you have an idea, write it down and place it into the relevant bucket.
Here’s Rampton’s way of focusing: “If you notice that certain buckets remain empty, or haven’t gathered many ideas, then it’s time to move away from that bucket and focus on the bucket that is generating the most ideas. That gives you the chance of devoting your energy to one area.”
- Get a little help from your friends. “Partner up with a friend or colleague,” freelance writer Karen Cordaway suggested. “Set goals and bounce ideas off of each other on a regular basis. If you want to have a specific focus, pick something everyone in the group wants to improve upon.” There is, after all, nothing like learning together, and a trusted friend can tell you whether you’re moving in the right direction, or going off-course.
- Assign a due date. Self-imposed deadlines help you keep up with your work and will help you become more efficient. “Even if there isn’t a due date assigned to a project, make up one,” Rampton said. “I’ve found out this has been an effective technique in battling indecisiveness and procrastination since it motivates to start working.” Make it a point to have a daily deadline so you can accomplish your tasks well.
- Find a niche. “Having a niche is one of the best ways to narrow down your ideas and start focusing on making it a reality,” Rampton said. If you are doing research for brand marketing example, you can find out which you are better with—doing research with books, companies, or interviewing people. Sometimes, your mentors will lead the way, and assign you tasks that will enhance your skills. At other times, you can find your own way and see how you can grow.
- Record all of your ideas. How can you execute an idea when you have a million others swirling in your head? It’s pretty much impossible. That’s why David Allen recommends doing a “core bump” every week in his book Getting Things Done. Essentially, you write down all your thoughts, ideas, to-do lists and business ideas in pieces of paper that become a second brain and free your mind. With apps like Evernote, you can replace paper and record any thought you have.
- Clear your mind. “Sometimes, it can be extremely difficult to clear your mind,” Rampton said, who added he simply goes for a walk from time to time to do this. When it happens, “it’s impossible to get focused when you can’t turn off those other distracting thoughts.”
Writing coach Carolyn Roark, PhD, has developed an exercise that can “help you get back on track and recenter your universe.”
- Spend five minutes doing some sort of physical activity. This removes you from the chaos surrounding you and releases endorphins.
- Start clearing your thoughts by taking four minutes thinking about what you’re grateful for.
- Now that your mind and body are in a positive state, spend three minutes meditating.
- Take two minutes to enjoy the silence.
- Finally, spend one minute for heavy breathing to help you prepare for entering the real world.
- Worry about what you control. “We’re all guilty of spending too much time and energy concerned about things we can’t control,” says Rampton. “Why waste your time pursuing ideas that aren’t possible?”
Instead, he says, “focus on what you can control and make any necessary modifications so that the idea is back in your hands.” In short, focus your work on what is assigned to you and check how you can do it better.
- Choose one thing and commit. “It’s been proven that the human brain can’t focus on more than more thing at a time,” Rampton says as a final word. “Pick one idea, establish a milestone, and commit to completing that goal.”
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the UK-based International Public Relations Association (IPRA), the world’s premier association for senior professionals around the world. Millie Dizon, the senior vice president for marketing and vommunications of SM, is the local chairman.
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