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One of THE most vital skills any person can have is their ability to focus. This rings true for everyone – but today, we’re going to look at it from a mom’s perspective. We have some special “circumstances” that make that focus extra important, and extra challenging.

Your ability to focus is more than just closing out the wandering thoughts and pushing through to get a task done… it can be the means of growing a business when you have a very limited amount of time!

Let me tell you a story.

It starts with a (fairy tale) brilliant woman, in her 20s, just powering through her work. She is on the road to career success. She goes to meetings and doesn’t even have to take notes because her brain is so sharp, and her memory so good 😉 She does her work efficiently and effectively. She comes home, cleans the house, cooks dinner, has “me time” and even asks, “What shall we do tonight, honey?” Long date nights and social gatherings ensue… wake up the next morning, repeat.

Then she has her first baby. BAM. Not so bad, just a quick bump in the road… She can still do everything she did before. But then baby number two (or more) comes along and somewhere along the way, everything changes… This woman became mama. Things that she used to be able to do in 5 minutes at home by herself, now take 20 because of the barrage of tiny needs around her.

She is juggling more, faster.

But it’s different types of things, new challenges every day. And she loves every minute (or most). She loves her children. She wants to be there for her kids, so when she does have to work… how can she get it done faster, more efficiently, and with FOCUS?

I’ve been through something similar.

I worked at home with babies and toddlers and tried to split my focus between being a good mom, and building my business. HOWEVER, I know that my natural tendency is to prioritize my work, so it’s easy for my kids to fall by the wayside. Just being honest! I did NOT want that, so I needed a new approach. Instead of trying to work all day with them around (and getting barely anything done), I experimented and found that I was able to get more done, in a smaller amount of time once I learned the ability to focus.

That left me with focus for my kids during the day, and focus for my work when I had work time scheduled (mornings, naps, evenings, including two focused 4-5 hour blocks per week).

It takes practice though.

It took several weeks for me to find the right rhythm and be able to stick with it and know that I could get my work done each week. It took setting up expectations with my husband so he could be understanding of what I was getting done and how it allowed me to be more present and focused with our kids. I also expect our current “system” to change in the future. Everything is always changing as our kids grow so we have to be FLEXIBLE and have ENERGY to drive forward when you’re in that work zone.

You Can Learn to Focus

If FOCUS is something that you want to master this year, you need to practice in other areas of your life to learn the skills needed to apply focus in your business! It takes discipline! If you practice and master a couple of these items, I PROMISE you, you will see success in your focus on your business as well. I have a couple recommendations for you to get started practicing your focus “muscles”:

If You Have 30 Minutes – Focus on Getting Your Health in Order

Whether you need to lose weight or gain more strength and energy, your health is the easiest thing you can work on to start seeing positive momentum in your life. Take as little as 10-30 minutes per day and start to work on it and see results. Email me if you want some ideas for how to start!

If You Have an Hour – Focus on Improving Your Home (or How You Run It)

I personally have always hated laundry and weeding. When I decided to focus on disciplining myself with those two things and break them down in such a way that they were doable, I was finally able to master them, maintain them with little effort, and actually come to enjoy them! When you come up with a system, and when you discipline yourself to do it weekly (or however often you choose), it just becomes a blip on the radar. It’s just another part of your routine and it gets done quickly. You know that if you weed past the fence this week, then you can tackle the garden bed next week, then you’ll have a clean slate and it will just take a 5-minute sweep every two weeks to keep your gardens looking amazing.

If You Have 5 Minutes – Turn Off Notifications and Get in the Habit of “Checking In” on Your Social Media

… And by “checking in” I don’t mean tagging your location! 😉 Whether you check once in the morning and once in the evening, or whenever you want to set up your social media time, have a set time of day that you know you’re purposefully checking in and responding or commenting. By having that time set aside, you’ll save yourself hours of scrolling! Are you letting those notifications interrupt your day? Turn them off. Your focus will thank you 🙂 I also suggest setting a TIMER. If you truly pound through all of it in 5 minutes or so, you can move on quickly and do things that will actually help you grow your business!

If You Have 30 Minutes – Declutter Your Workspace

… Because getting work done quickly will be more difficult if you don’t have a clean space to work in with everything you need within reach. Take inventory of what you have laying around and what you ACTUALLY need, and work to make your space functional for you. I work mostly in social media and on my laptop, so for me, it’s pretty simple. I make sure that I have my notebook, laptop, and a pen (and accessories like chocolate, lipstick, and gum), and I’m good to go. I have a work bag so I always have what I need if I run out to meet a client or work at a coffee shop. I am RUTHLESS about keeping my bag clean! No wrappers or stray receipts here! AND I could justify buying a nicer bag because it’s essentially “my office.” 🙂 I couldn’t find my exact bag, but here’s almost the exact style from the same company if you want to check it out!

 

If You Have 10 Minutes – Focus on Your Email Inbox

If you want to learn DISCIPLINE and FOCUS, tackling your email inbox is a great training ground for doing that. It might seem daunting at first, but building habits to keep your inbox under control is completely doable! Call me a nerd, but if I have to scroll then I know there are too many emails in my inbox! 🙂 Here are some steps YOU can take:

1. Just like with social media, turn off email notifications on your phone. If you’re like me, and you have more than one inbox (work email, personal email, etc.), you probably know which ones are urgent (if any) and which ones aren’t. I have notifications turned off on all of my inboxes except my client inbox. When I have “Check/Respond to Emails” on my to do list, that’s when I sit down and delete/unsubscribe/respond to EVERYTHING. I do it all at once, instead of all day, every day. This is a focused effort. If I only have 10 minutes and I don’t get through all of my emails, it’s OK – I just put it on the list again for the next day.

2. That brings me to #2 – respond with urgency. Get it off your plate! I now only check my personal email every couple days. I know that if it’s going to that email, it’s probably not super urgent and it can wait, but when I do check my email, I am responding right away and doing it quickly. Don’t overthink it. Respond, and archive or put it in a folder. If it needs following-up, put it on your to do list.

3. Think about what you’re consistently deleting or leaving unread. I want you to ask yourself these questions: Will I ever read it again? If yes, is there a way to get less emails from them (usually you can find this option in the “update preferences” link at the bottom of the email)? If no, unsubscribe NOW! I want you to be in the habit of unsubscribing from emails every week! I will join lists and get off of lists within days sometimes. It’s not a big deal! If it’s not bringing you value right now, or if it’s tempting you away from your goals (retail emails, anyone?), it’s time to unsubscribe. I have an app on my Android called Inbox. It allows me to swipe away my emails and I just have a habit now that if I am swiping away emails from the same sender 2-3 times in a row, it’s probably time to unsubscribe.

 

Whatever You Need to Focus On – GET IT DONE

I’ve given you a few ideas in this post for how to get started with mastering focus in your life! But ultimately, it’s up to you to DECIDE that you’re going to get it done. Whether you are cleaning your kitchen or writing a blog post – be all in and do it with a sense of urgency. With practice, you’ll become quicker and more efficient. Don’t putz, and don’t allow yourself to get off track…

If you have to set timers to help you concentrate on one thing at a time, do it!

I also recommend spending 5 minutes (or more if needed!) planning out your day. I make sure I prioritize my list and only work on ONE THING at a time.

That means closing browser windows.

That means turning off notifications.

That means thinking about one thing, and training your mind to focus on that thing until the timer goes off, or it’s done. If you meditate, you know what I’m talking about… your mind WILL try to wander. We’re women, and we LOVE to multitask. Every time that happens you just have to say “no” to yourself and think back on the task at hand.

You can do this!

 

What helps YOU focus? What topics would you like to see for future blog posts? Please leave a comment below and be sure to join our weekly email list and follow me on Pinterest!