Have you ever met someone who just seems to be able to get everything they need to done and then some? Do you ever wonder what their secrete is? They have mastered the ability to focus on the tasks at hand and then to follow them through to completion. Now that really doesn’t sound like it should be so hard, so why is it?
The most common reason for people getting off track is distractions. Big or small it really doesn’t matter because it has caused you to lose focus of the task at hand. If this is a problem that you struggle with there are a few simple things that you can do to help you stay on track and accomplish what you need to at work and want to in your personal life. You can learn to implement “distraction awareness strategies.” There is no set formula of what these strategies have to be, but what they need to do is to is to remind you to keep on track when you get distracted. Our days are so busy and for many of us are filled with distractions so first of all you need to make yourself aware of what types of distractions do you face that lead you astray. For example in my office I am the one that takes all of the patient x-rays, so when there is a need for x-rays to be taken I need to leave my office and stop what I was doing, possibly billing or payroll taxes, and go take the patient’s x-rays. Now if I could just go right back to my office and get right back to work that would be great, but often times it does not happen. Why, because after I take the x-rays I may need to process them, if the other back office assistant is busy, then when I come out of the dark room, I may see that one of the treatment rooms need to be cleaned because there is a patient waiting to be roomed. Oh, and the back office assistant is still busy, so I go ahead and room the patient and do the intake and see that the doctor is probably going to need x-rays, so why go back to my office and try to start back at what I was doing because I am just going to be disrupted again. I think you get the picture and you probably have situations similar that cause you to get off the track.
The main thing is you need to be aware of what types of distractions you encounter, so you can make yourself more aware of how important it is for you to get back on track with they happen. If you have certain tasks that need to be accomplished each day, you can set up a reminder system either on your calendar or phone that sets off an alarm to remind you of what need to be finished, you can set them up for several times a day. You can use post-it-notes or e-mail yourself the night before with your to-do-list. Another good idea is to set your screen saver up with a message of what your important tasks are, this way each time you leave your office and come back your screen saver will have the reminder for you. The idea is to create new habits that help you to keep more focused on what you need to accomplish so you can follow through to get them done.
Remember that awareness is the key, then implementation of reminders (whatever works for you) to get back on track to a more structured day does make a big difference to the positive outcomes that you will accomplish.
Habits are cobwebs at first;cables at last ~ Chinese Proverb
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