Focus, focus, focus

Distraction is the driving force in life today. Multi-tasking is praised, and the constant push is to get more things done at once. But are you really getting more done? Studies show that people who multi-task generally don't get as much accomplished as people who focus on tasks. However, everything in the world right now is designed to break that focus, and take you away from the task at hand.

Instant email notifications pull you out of whatever you're working on to answer the siren's call of your phone or computer saying someone is trying to tell you something. Many times, it can lead to you feeling the need to take care of the email request immediately, which distracts from your current task. Sometimes it can take you away for an hour or more, then it takes time to get back into the mindset of your project until you get another ding, and the cycle repeats. Check email at set times throughout the day, and don't have it as a push notification on your phone. That way you control the email, as opposed to the email controlling you.

This goes for the open office concept as well from yesterday. Unless you artificially isolate yourself within your cube, you get bombarded by distractions all day long and are less efficient. Avoid this by avoiding the open office if you can, but if you can't try to keep yourself focused on what's in front of you. For me that's headphones and some driving music to keep me flowing.

The same can happen in business. Businesses lose focus from their core mission, and then falter. This can happen in a few different ways. Sometimes an offshoot of the main focus of a company grows until it rivals the main focus, and at that point a decision needs to be made of what the company wants to focus on. Maybe that means creating a new division that is focused on the new project. Maybe that's selling off that idea to another company. But if you have people being dragged between focuses, efficiency goes down. You can stretch people too thin, so make sure you don't ask employees to split too badly. If they are working on a couple of very different objectives, sit down and see what they would prefer to do, then work to get them back to focusing on the work they feel the most connection with.

Another example of distraction at the business level is calls for forced diversity in hiring. I see groups all day long posting about this type of person or that type of person and how we need to promote a certain group within an industry. When the focus shifts from the product being produced to physical traits of the person who is producing the product, it can have disastrous consequences. A better path would be for a business to focus on getting, training, and keeping the best possible workers regardless of physical traits in the pursuit of producing the best end product. When a business shifts it's core focus away from the product it is selling, that core of the business suffers. Always hire the best person for the job, no matter who they may be. Keep your obsession on the final outcome, be it what you're producing or the service you're providing. That's what really drives your bottom line, and will ensure you a better chance of being successful.

Focus is becoming a rare commodity in our daily lives. If you can work to regain some of that focus, you can get ahead of the crowd who is stuck getting pulled in 10 different directions, only to essentially remain standing still.