First do your chores, do your homework, help your mother, blah, blah, blah. I remember those words like fingers on a chalkboard, especially if I dared to defy the direct request/orders of my father. If I did, the wrath of God would ensue. I wasn’t the easiest of children by the way. I was one of those very high energy and easily distracted kids. Ok, that’s an understatement. I’ll admit it; sometimes I was just out of control and outright bad. Some would call it ADHD, back then we were just called hyper. Bottom-line, I had a lot of energy, was easily distracted, and had almost zero focus.
Fast forward three or four decades and the tendency for all of us to get distracted really hasn’t changed. In fact, I would argue, it’s gotten worse. We get distracted by smart phones, TV, email, co-workers, even our own children. Here are a few tips my father taught me that might help you stay focused and manage your time better.
Lock yourself in a room
Don’t call the social worker just yet. I had a hard time concentrating on my homework for any length of time, so my father would suggest that I find a small room and do it there. Not just any room, but the bathroom. Sound nuts – think about it? There is nothing fun to do in a bathroom that could distract me, people wouldn’t disturb you in there, and it’s quiet. Find a room or create a place like that in your work environment. It really helps when you need some peace and quiet to really focus on knocking something out.
You can get up when the timer goes off
Whenever I was being a spaz or misbehaving, I had to sit in a yellow chair and watch a timer on the kitchen stove for however long it was set. It could have been 10, 20, or even 30 minutes, whatever matched the particular offence for that day (by the way this was way before the term “time-out”). Will and I actually did this a few weeks ago and it still works. We set a timer for 45 minutes to work on a portion of our strategic plan. We were focused, there was a sense of urgency, and we got it finished in a very short amount of time.
Make a to do list
To this day, my father makes a list before he does anything. I remember sitting at the kitchen table on a Saturday. There before me and each of my siblings would be our very own “to do lists.” The concept was easy, knock out whatever was on the list as fast as you can so you can go have some fun. We knew exactly what we had to do and would fly through those things. We even sometimes had a friendly competition to see who would finish first. Create a similar list first thing every morning and star the things that you know are the most important. Block time during the day to make sure you get them finished.
Do your chores first, damn it!
To keep going with the list idea, what about the things you don’t want to do? Well, as a child, the things we didn’t want to do were called chores and chores sucked! As an adult, we call it the crap at work we avoid or put off. Instead of avoiding them, make them a priority. Block time early in your day and get those activities or tasks over with early so you can look forward to doing the things you really want to do. It might even help you leave work on time because you haven’t been procrastinating.
Now go and play
As a child those words were absolutely magical. You now were given permission to go and do the thing or things you have been looking forward to doing all day. So what happened to us??? Why as adults do we not always have something like that to look forward to at the end of each day? True, there are more things that stress us out now. Maybe we got lost in the grind, we are exhausted, possibly there are folks waiting at home that will put even more demands on you, or we are putting the fun stuff off until the weekend because we just don’t have time.
Think about something at the beginning of your day that you are really looking forward to doing when you get home. I doubt it’s watching cartoons, playing house, or burying your Tonka trucks in the dirt… but why not? Usually when I ask this question to clients they will respond, “ I just want to relax!” It’s not a bad thing to want but I asked about something FUN. So I’ll ask you, as an adult what is the FUN thing you are looking forward to doing…going for a run, renting a movie, happy hour with friends, or maybe its playing a board game with your family on family night. Whatever it is, make sure it is something you are genuinely looking forward to at the end of your day. If you make it a habit, it might help put that spark back in your life!
I learned a lot of things growing up and I’m still learning. The biggest lesson is we all get distracted and burned out and there are plenty of reasons for it. There are other simple strategies out there that really do work. A lot of them can help you be more productive, get you home earlier and help you enjoy life. I’m sure there are a few things you learned growing up that you have long since forgotten; see if you can integrate those strategies in your life now.
If you would like to hear the unedited version of these stories, learn how to increase your productivity, tame your email, get your coworkers to leave you alone…all without working more hours in the day, join us for our virtual class kicking off on January 9th. Click here for more details.
P.S. Thanks Dad. 🙂
