Stay Focused on Being Focused: Train your brain

As a working mother, I have a lot on my plate always. While raising my kid and managing my team, I always have something on my list. My morning routine is usually occupied with various tasks like morning exercise, preparing my kid for school, reaching office on time and other little things. It is double the trouble for me managing both. I have to be majorly responsible both at home and in office. People around me are so glad to see how I maintain the balance. I will say that it is easier for me to implement the balance because I have trained my brain to stay ridiculously focused when working towards goals.

“Create a perfect work-life balance by managing your projects easily. Try ProofHub.”

There are many instances in our life where we may lose focus and it is not unusual to find ourselves losing concentration when working on tasks. There are so many distractions that may seem to come up your way like stumbling over to the phone, getting lost in the flow of notifications, stopping by in your office to talk to colleagues, addiction to social media, mental and physical disorganization and being tired. These little things make a dramatic difference in our ability to focus.

Too many projects, too many commitments, deadlines and too many ideas, our workload is creeping up on us all the time. So, how do you manage to accomplish these million things to do by overcoming the daily distractions pointing on you? The basic idea is to move ahead with full force while handling the distractions that come up to derail us from focusing. A big part of my life is built around maintaining a level of focus. Here is how I do it:

Write Down Your Goals

The first thing you need is to stay focused on your goals and therefore you need to have a list of your goals by your side. It is important to keep a track of the life and work goals that you want to practice daily. Jot down your every goal that you want to accomplish, both long term and short term. And your to-list on your project management software should be made working towards your goals. If you’re to-list is made according to your goals it becomes quite easy to spend your time on important tasks. Personally, I have written my both short-term and long-term goals on ProofHub mobile app so that I can see them every day and never miss them.

Feed Your Brain

Are you giving your brain a little spring clean and refurb from time to time? Your brain is a muscle and you need to exercise it regularly. Whatever you are doing or whatever you want to do, read about other companies, research your industry and competing industries. Stay motivated by reading the success stories for motivation as the more you read, the sharper your brain will be. Invest in a little time now and then, do something new for your brain, train your memory, eat healthily and increase your brain capacity.

Exercise

“Exercise not only changes your body, it changes your mind, your attitude and your mood.”

Exercise is a common thread between great minds. Morning walk, playing a sport, going to the gym, being in rhythm with your body is important to produce great work. Your brain will always be active and when your brain is active it will increase your mental capacity, sharpen your brain and increase your focus ability. As exercise releases endorphin which is the happy hormones, takes away the feeling of depression and anxiety, allowing to focus more.

Create milestones

Setting a plan for a big goal can be a little disappointing if you do not achieve it. It is good to set a goal, but it is better enough to break the big goal into smaller goals and create milestones for each. By this splitting of goals, you will not procrastinate on the goal altogether and will be helpful in concentrating on achieving your big goal in a way.

Have goal buddies

“Never bring in your life those people who are not supposed to be there.”

It was a little hard for me to meet like-minded people with whom I share my aspirations and goals. Eventually, when I found my goal buddies who share similar goals with me, I could see the difference. I appreciate every single of them as they always kept me reminded about my goals. Find your goal buddies who will keep you motivated whenever you feel dull. They will give you new ideas on how to achieve your goal and since you already share similar interests, you will not be distracted from your goal and probably focus more.

Meditate

This is something that we consider it be casual, but in my opinion, meditation is an important part of being focused on your goals. Let me remind you that successful people like Steve Jobs, Bill Ford, Arianna Huffington etc. all credited their brilliant ideas to meditation. Give some to meditation in the morning and at night before bed. Listen to your breathing, let the creativity come to you, sit in silence for 10–15 minutes and free your mind from daily thoughts. This will help you develop a habit to concentrate on one thing and significantly increase your ability to focus.

These tips have greatly helped me throughout to manage my life and I am doing it in an organized way. When you know your personal productivity is not up to the mark, look for improvement to help you get better organized. It is essential to keep your focus on tasks that you are performing to mark it done. In the end, it is all about getting things done efficiently. Kickstart these habits to train your brain and stay focused.

Want to become a leader who gets things done? Stop relying on emails and start using ProofHub.

Originally published at LinkedIn.com.

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Vartika Kashyap runs the marketing team at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. She is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016 & 2017. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.

Also follow our company page @ProofHub to get the recent updates about our tool, published articles, motivational quotes & presentations.

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Stay Focused on Being Focused: Train your brain was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.