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Focus – “a central point, as of attraction, attention, or activity”.
In our business lives we’re asked to do more with less, work faster, deliver more, meet urgent deadlines… These demands can make it difficult to focus our attention on important details. Rushing and multi-tasking can ultimately lead to costly mistakes and accidents.
We need to create focus. This means we need to reveal that central point – the attraction. We need to give projects our full attention and limit our activity to a level that allows us to be fully present. No one is perfect; we all make mistakes and accidents happen. But we can help each other to create focus.
- Allow adequate time for projects – Many businesses charge rush fees when customers require a product or service with very short deadlines. Why? Because rushing creates risk. Those risks can be costly.
- Avoid Multi-tasking – The reality is that we can only work on one thing at a time. Actually, multi-tasking is simply jumping back and forth between multiple things. In terms of focus, it’s counter-productive and likely to increase the time required to accomplish the many tasks as you repeatedly try to refocus. It also increases the likelihood that you will overlook something.
- Establish down time – Studies have shown if you take just one minute in each hour to do nothing at all – just stop – you will be more productive.
Focus doesn’t just happen; we need to create it and we can help one another by establishing realistic expectations for ourselves and those with whom we’re working and doing business.
Written by Blog Contributor: Linda S. Henderson
