Episode 19 | How to Increase Your Focus to Increase Your Productivity!

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Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family and self care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day. There should be no hesitation. Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you. This episode of the Boss It Podcast is brought to you by the Full Focus Planner. Guys, trust me, it's super difficult to run a business, plus have yourself organized with everyday life. Trust me. I know. We have found that the Full Focus Planner is the best planner to help me and it's the best planner that will help you stay focused every day. What I love most about this planner is that this, it does a really good job of breaking down your quarterly goals. And then it helps translate them into weekly goals and daily goals. Head over to the link in our show notes to check out this fantastic planning tool. All right, guys, let's get started. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another fantastic episode of the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen, and I'm going to be your host today. And we're going to continue speaking about productivity. This is our fourth episode in a series that is all about productivity because we are actually entering into 2021 as this recording is occurring. So why not speak about productivity? Because many people have new year's resolutions that may contribute to productivity. And what a great time because many of us have to look at the silver lining. We are in the middle of a global pandemic. Many countries are in full lockdown or heading towards such. So of course, this is a tragedy for many industries including businesses, small businesses. It's a health crisis. Many hospitals are overrun right now, especially where we are in Canada, in the Greater Toronto Area. So we're feeling stress on many levels. The silver lining is that many individuals, do have more time than they did before. Many individuals are not going out and mingling like they used to, especially during the holiday season. Most social events have been canceled. Restaurants have been closed. And a lot of the outings that you would have participated in during the season and into January have been canceled and probably will not be occurring for a few more months while the globe is trying to combat this pandemic and get everyone vaccinated. Why not speak about productivity? And the reason why we think this is such an important topic is because when you do have more time, when you do have the ability to get your self into gear for your big goals and you don't have those limiting factors such as time, energy, and focus, that we are focusing on when you have an increased level of time, which we did speak about as being one of the main pillars that many people cite as lacking. And that's why their productivity is lower. Why not focus in on shaving some big goals for 2021? Especially if your big goals have been hindered because of the lack of time. Again, the pandemic is a tragedy, but we are only able to control what we can control. Today, we are going to move into our third pillar of productivity, which is focus. So if you recall from episodes 16, 17, and 18, we've been covering productivity. In the first episode in the series, episode 16, we spoke about the interaction of all three pillars focus, energy, and time. In episode 17 we spoke about time as being one of the pillars of productivity and how we can optimize our time. And then in episode 18, we spoke about energy and energy is also a pillar of productivity and how optimizing your energy will help optimize your productivity. In today's episode, episode 19, we're going to speak about focus. And the reason why the pandemic really ties in nicely with the focus pillar of productivity is because one of the concepts we're going to speak about today is about your circle of control. And if you have studied psychology or you've done any type of therapy, you may have heard of this concept before called the circle of control. And we'll dive into that concept as well today because that will really help you understand why during this specific time in our history as a human race on the globe, how the pandemic has really illustrated that there are many things that are out of your circle of control and how that can either play for you or play against you during the pandemic. So we're going to dive into that a little bit as well during this episode. Today, to start, I'm going to speak a little bit about focus in regards to how you set up your time during your day, and also setting up your workspace. To start off, I want to define what I consider to be focus and how it is interlaced with productivity. We in the past have spoken about time and energy and how those two components, those two pillars play heavily on your productivity. Focus is the third pillar in this sequence and you can carve out your time and you can carve out your energy. But if you cannot focus on your task at hand, then this can really derail your entire plans about being productive during a specific period of time. And that is why focus is so critical to this conversation on productivity. I'm going to start off this conversation from a very tactical standpoint and speak about focus from that perspective. Then I'm going to move into concepts that are a bit more abstract, like the circle of control, because I feel that we need to touch on both when we speak about focus We understand inherently what focus is, and we know inherently what we need to do in order to get focused. A few things that we speak highly about in the Boss It community is we need to understand that any type of distraction during your focus time will take away from your productivity. What that means is you do need to remove distractions such as your cell phone, turn off your notifications, silent your phone, close the door to a workspace that you've made for yourself and even advising everybody in the household that you are not available at this time because you are doing focused work. And those tangible strategies will, of course, help you get into your zone and focus. It usually takes people 12 minutes between task switching. So you also want to try to focus on one activity at a time and have a goal, and these goals should be very specific. We've spoken about SMART goals in the past. But just as a quick review, SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bounded. And my suggestion is in order to get very highly focused and motivated towards your goal, you should have a smart goal. You should tell us exactly what you're going to do. You should tell us exactly how you're going to measure its completion. It should be achievable within the time period you've set for yourself. You should have a relevant task towards your goal. So for example, if you wanted to grow more on social media, you should have a task that blinds you up appropriately to achieve that goal. And then a time you should tell us when you are planning on achieving this goal and which tasks you're going to do in order to get to that goal. Now we will visit SMART goals again and again during the Boss It podcast. It is a very important topic. And many people don't realize the productivity potential because they haven't set themselves up with that type of goal in mind. They've put very loose strategies around how they're planning on achieving it. And we want to tighten all of those things up. And that is why if you have a solid strategy towards using smart goals, to not only set goals, but also to set up your tasks, it will eventually lead to more focus during that period of time that you have laid out for yourself to achieve that productivity that you're going for. So that is one of my first tips you need to really clean up your workspace. No distractions. Turn off all of your notifications. Put the phone away. Close the door, if you have a door to close. And set up expectations with everyone in your family saying, I am focusing on this for this period of time. Sorry, I am not available. That's number one. And number two is really put down exactly what you want to achieve. Let us know. Write it down on a piece of paper. Write it down in your agenda. Put down exactly what the task is. And according to the smart goal criteria or smart task criteria, I want you to put it down on paper. It does take practice. And I want you to try to achieve that level of success, that level of productivity during the time that you've allotted. Now we've spoken about time and sometimes people don't actually have the time allotted appropriately. So they'll put a lot of stuff together and they'll say, "I need to accomplish this level of productivity during this a lot of time. But they haven't actually set up a realistic goal. So remember: A in SMART is achievable. You may have to do your baseline measure, which we've spoken about an episode 17. You may have to go back to episode 17, understand if you actually have allocated enough time towards the goals, enough time towards the task that you're wishing to complete during your focus time. So those are the two big tangible items that I want everyone to try to achieve when they are thinking about focus, setting up your workspace and setting up your goals. So that way your goals help you stay focused. Okay. So we're going to go more into the abstract or things that you have to work on from a mindset perspective. When I say that I want you to understand that a lot of the productivity that you'll experience is from within. Meaning that if your mind is set to achieve that goal, and there's something motivating you to get to that goal, you're more likely to be productive and find the way to get to that goal. So the two concepts we're going to speak about when we speak about the abstract or intangible items that we will allude to during this podcast is the circle of control, which I spoke about earlier. And also understanding what is motivating you. And we will examine motivation versus willpower. We'll start with circle of control. And again, if you've gone through any type of therapy in the past, or if you study psychology, you may have heard of this term before. And the circle of control is fairly simple, but it's a good practice for everyone to complete for their own wellbeing. If you imagine a circle and imagine having a big round circle and then within it having another circle and then within having one more small circle, okay? In the center, you're in the center. Okay. You're in the center of those three rings. So the outer ring, the middle ring, and finally the centering. And then you're smack dab as the bullseye in the middle. You are the person who can control everything between you, the little dot and the first smaller ring that is your circle of control. So what that means is you can control many things to do with yourself. And you can control many things within that circle to do with yourself. So for example, you can control your own actions. You can control your own decision-making you can control what you're thinking but that's it that's all you can control. Just those things that have to do with you that can include your mood that can include your work ethic. That can include what you feel like doing that particular day or during that particular hour. The next circle between the entering and the middle ring is your circle of influence. That's where you can actually influence something else, but you don't have direct control over that area. So for example, I can influence what my children will eat today. Why? Because I helped make it. And it's up to them. If they want to eat that food, do you get it? So you have to understand that the circle of influence is where you can basically impact, but you cannot control. So funny enough, your productivity will fall under what you can influence. And the reason why is because there are some variables that are ultimately out of your control. So for example, you can set up your time, you can set up your energy, you can set up your focus time in the most tangible way possible. But something else could happen in your productivity shot. For example, my internet goes, or my laptop dies, or something happens to the power in my house. Those are things that are out of my control and have influenced my productivity. So as much as you can influence your productivity with setting up your office appropriately by removing your distractions, by letting other people know what's your focus time and also by eating well and sleeping well. Those are all great, but there are certain things that you cannot control, and that's why your productivity will be falling under the circle of influence rather than the circle of control. And the reason why this is such an important topic for you is because you shouldn't beat yourself up, if you cannot be as productive as you had hoped to be. You shouldn't be upset. If, for example, you had carved out all this time to finish all these goals but you couldn't get it done because you had to step away because your child needed your attention or your workspace wasn't set up optimally and you had the neighbor outside mowing the grass and it was messing up your recording session for your podcast for example. The point is you may not be able to control your productivity 100% so understand that you need to be flexible as well when it comes to setting up your goals, because it's only within your circle of influence. It's not a hundred percent within your circle of control. Okay? And then the last outer ring where it's between the middle ring and the outer ring is outside of your circle of control. It's not within your circle of control. It's not within your circle of influence, but it's within your circle of concern. And what that means is it may impact you ultimately. But there's nothing that you can do about it. You can try to manage yourself with your moods and your actions stay, but the things that fall into your circle of concern are only concerns. You can try as much as you possibly can within your own control to alleviate, but you may not be able to right. So that's why they're your circle of concern. There's many examples that fall within your circle of concern, one of which is the weather. You're concerned about the weather. You can't do much about it. Another one which we've spoken about earlier is the pandemic. We can't do much about the pandemic. It's the situation we're in currently at the end of 2020. And we just have to do the best we can with our circle of control, managing our mood, managing our tone, managing our time, but then understanding that we also have influence circle of influence which can also help us achieve our goals. So for example, that's why productivity falls within your circle of influence. That is the reason why it's very important to understand these dimensions within the circle of control, circle of influence and circle of concern, because it will help you shift your mindset. If you're one of those individuals that have a hard time focusing, because you're worried about the pandemic, for example, or you're worried about in my situation, I'm worried about the logistics for our product based business because we need to ensure that all the products get here on time, so they can actually be shipped out to customers and to retailers. But at the end of the day, those are only concerns. I cannot control how fast the ship will come. I cannot control if the products gets stuck at customs for a week additional. So those are things that I have to basically turn off and say I can't think about that stuff right now. It's my focus time. And I'm going to focus here on the goal that I've set up for myself as a SMART goal. And that's the only thing I'm going to pay attention to. So that's why the concept of circle of control is so important for so many people, because it's very easy for us to become distracted with thoughts that we cannot control. And if you can tell yourself, you know what, this is out of my circle of control, this is out of my circle of influence. And I can't do much about it right now. I've done everything in my power that I can. Now it's my time to focus. That should help you regain the focus you need so you can accomplish that smart goal that you've made for yourself at the beginning of your focus time. Okay. So that is a big concept. I will definitely link the image of a circle of control for you so you can see exactly what I've been speaking of. If you're watching the podcast and you happen to be a part of our program, My Best Productivity, you'll definitely see an image of the circle of control, which you can download and have a look at, and maybe even printout and put in a few items that you have control over and a few items, which you have influence over. And then also a few items, which you do not have any control or influence, but they are of concern. And that might help you regain some focus during your focus time. The last concept that we're going to speak about in regards to focus and productivity is motivation and willpower. Motivation and willpower are extremely important concepts. When it comes to helping you focus. Again, willpower is something that's coming from within. And I refer to it more of as a push factor. So it's pushing you forward. Willpower is that thing that inherent urge to keep going, even when it gets very difficult. But it's not like motivation. And again, you can put different terms to this, but the feeling is what I'm after. So when you have willpower, you have the push. Something is from behind you and is pushing you. This is what I mean when I say willpower, is a push factor. Whereas the pull factor your motivation is something that's drawing you closer to your goal. A motivation usually is lined up with something external. So for example, when I say I'm being pulled towards my goal, I'm being motivated to go towards my goal because I'm being pulled there, something external to me, something that is affecting somebody else in my situation. And that's usually for most people. It's the North star or it's the vision that is impacting others. That is usually what helps motivate you and keep you in motivation, keeps pulling you towards your goal. Willpower, on the other hand, is usually more centered around you and your goals. I'm not going to say that having willpower and the push factor is any less important, but what I will say is having the motivation and having a pull factor versus a push factor is a lot more impactful. And yeah, studies have shown that if you have a goal set around somebody else; and you have that North star set around somebody else rather than yourself, you're more likely to try to achieve that goal because you're now accountable to somebody else other than yourself. Whereas with willpower, your goal has not been set outside of oneself. And usually you're only accountable to yourself. So a great example I tend to go back to is money. Money usually does not help to motivate people long enough. And what happens is it's more of a push factor. Usually people who are out there just to get money or make money will not succeed for very long because their willpower eventually fizzles out. The money they're making is more in line for themselves. W hereas if your a goal is to make money, perhaps for a foundation or a cause, or you are looking to set a better lifestyle for your family, you're more likely to achieve that goal because you made the goal external to oneself. It's not about money for yourself anymore. It's more about money for a larger purpose or a larger goal. Say, for example, you want to set up a foundation in the future that funds educational services. That is more of an alluring goal, and it will motivate you further and pull you along when you're having a hard time or when you are actually hitting an obstacle in your path. And the reason I'm bringing up willpower and I'm bringing up motivation, speaking about pull factors and push factors is because these concepts work hand in hand with your focus. And again, if you're sitting down and you've carved out your workspace, your work time, you've gotten the energy required and you're ready to go. But for whatever reason you're having a hard time focusing and you've already gone through the exercise of mindset and understanding what's in your control, what's not in your control and you're still having a hard time focusing on your goal, you may want to go back and just see what is the results you're looking for and who is the result for is your ultimate goal for yourself only. Or is your ultimate goal for something bigger than yourself? And that concept of having an external accountability towards your goal may be what you need to fuel your focus. It might be the pulse factor that you require to continue to pull you along when things are not going as smoothly as you wish they could be going. And remember, if you are running any type of startup or business, or even running your own household, there'll be days when you just don't feel up to doing everything that you had set up for yourself to be productive. And when you hit those roadblocks, when you hit those times, you need to reevaluate what is preventing you from moving forward. If you feel energized, if you have the time and you've gone through your focus exercises, and you've noticed that your focus is in check, maybe it's that you don't know where you're going and your goal or your vision is not clear. We could do a whole other episode vision boarding and dream boarding how those concepts can help you even further clarify where you're heading. But for now, I just want you to understand that you really need to look at your goal and you really need to set up goals that are accountable, not just to you, but to external factors, because those are the pull factors that's the motivation that will pull you along. Willpower eventually will fizzle out. You can only push yourself so far. And if you're only holding yourself accountable and you have no other accountabilities external to yourself, or you don't have a vision that's external to yourself, it becomes very hard to focus on something for so long. Okay guys, this was a huge topic. I know focus is something that we could talk on about. There's a few other things that I do want to cover, but we will cover them in other episodes because I feel like I want you to really take away some tangible items from this episode. So from the top, we spoke about how to set up your workspace so you're the most productive, when it comes to focus. We spoke about how you should remove all your distractions. You should set up the office space or your workspace with a closed door. You should also set expectations with everyone and let them know that you're not available for a set amount of time. We also spoke about smart goals and how making them as specific measurable, attainable, or achievable relevant, and time-bound as possible will help you really line up your tasks for that particular focus period or productive period. So they line up with your goals. So having a smart task or smart goal will really help, basically increase what you can do during your focus time because you know where you're going. And then we spoke about a few concepts that are a little bit more conceptual, not as tangible, but very important nonetheless. We spoke about the circle of control and how it relates to the circle of influence and also your circle of concern. And then finally we spoke about how you need to align your mission and your goals up with external factors, such as your children, a foundation, anything that's external to you to help motivate you and pull you along. So a pull factor versus a push factor like willpower when your goals are more centered around oneself. All of those concepts together if you can apply them to your focus time, I'm sure you will notice a huge improvement on your productivity. Again, there's many more topics on focus that we will dive into during the Boss It Podcasts. So if you have not done so yet, make sure you hit subscribe or follow wherever you're listening to your podcasts. If you are part of our "My Productivity Challenge" or "My Best Productivity Program", congratulations! I'm so happy that you're watching this right now. And if you're listening to the podcast and this is something that you'd like to be a part of in the future, please go ahead and go to bossitclub.com and join our newsletter, so, you know, When we are opening doors up again for this extremely important program and challenge. Okay guys, I'm so happy again that you're here. If you have any questions at all, or you want us to cover something specific, please do send us an email at [email protected]. And again remember, make a plan and take action and yes, you can have it all. Bye for now. So my fellow bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now is time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the Boss It Podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story and tag us @BossItclub. If Instagram is not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to [email protected]. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our Top 50 Tips for Starting and Scaling a Business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers. So don't miss out. Now remember bosses: make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes you can have it all.