Everythings Blurry Except For You

Riding the subway home yesterday, my typically silent car was enlivened by two young girls and their mothers who hopped on. The girls, 7 years old or so, immediately danced over to the upright pole in the middle of the aisle and started twirling around it. After several minutes of this, giggling and talking and having a marvelous time chasing each other (paying no attention whatsoever to anyone else in the car), they settled into a rhythm directly across from each other. Still twirling, but more slowly, one said to the other ... "everything's blurry except for you" ... and the other immediately chanted it back. Back and forth. Their delight in each other's company was glowing in their conversation and lack of interest in anyone else on the train. They truly focused on each other, and discovered that everything else gets blurry! What a delightful example of focusing on someone when you're with them, and giving them 100% of your attention ... fully being there with them.

How easily do you focus on things? Are you able to tune out distractions, or do you find yourself readily sidetracked by things around you? As I pen this article, started during a break at the office where I work a couple days a week, there is a personification of "distraction" at work behind me ... let's call him Tom. Tom is a very vocal character who wanders into my shared office many times per day with comments, inane questions, and "lets toss a few" requests for my co-workers. I've learned to tune him out if I'm busy, and only stop to re-direct the nerf football when it lands on my desk. Hence the subject ... how effectively do you focus on what's in front of you? Something you'd like to do more, or less, of? Let's take a look!

It seems we prize the ability to focus the minute a child is born ... delighting in their ability to track an object, make eye contact, or spend 20 minutes discovering their own toes. What we focus on shows our attention, and often our respect as well. Do you focus 100% on someone when you talk to them, or are you planning tomorrow's breakfast, braiding your daughter's hair, checking your e-mail, and hunting for a pen that works all while trying to have a conversation? Sound familiar? I read recently that multitasking isn't really doing several things at once, it's just shifting rapidly between tasks. I'm afraid I'm very familiar with that one, having an overly-developed multi-tasking approach to life ... which works well in many arenas, but isn't always the most pleasant or effective. Half an hour of time, free from distractions, focused on one task, produces more than 2 hours of running in circles.

How about some tips or reminders for how to find, and keep, that focus when it really counts?

1. CHOOSE your focus. Don't let it choose you, be proactive and conscious about how you're spending your time. Choose only one thing at a time, and do it well and with your whole being.

2. Speaking of TIME, set a limit and stick to it! I focused on a computer screen for 7 hours yesterday, working on my husband's website, and was rewarded with a splitting headache and rumbling stomach along with the snazzier site. Not a healthy focus at all!

3. MINIMIZE distractions! If you're blessed with the ability to tune out everything and everyone around you, at will, you may find this one irrelevant, but the rest of us take note. You need silence to write or create or work well? Find something to block the surrounding sounds ... close your door, put up a "do not disturb" sign, silence your phone, or use a fan or walkman or other source of "white noise". I was on a long overnight bus trip last week (fulfilling one of my 10 goals for this year!) when my seatmate decided to flirt with the man across the aisle all night. I have a very poor ability to filter out words of any kind, and found myself unable to fall asleep ... wishing heartily that I'd taken the time to pack my Walkman and some music!

4. Take BREAKS! Remember recess? That longed-for chance to escape the classroom and run around for 15 minutes? There are good reasons behind the practice ... breaks have been proven to increase productivity and ability to focus. I find it much easier to focus on what's in front of me if I clear my mind or "change the channel" for a few minutes.

Those may all seem ridiculously simple ideas, but whether you find it hard to keep focused or hard to shift away from it, they can help you find healthier ways to approach your day.

Bethany Rule is an experienced personal and professional life coach, championing human development, encouraging change, and helping you break your own rules. Based in NYC, she works with clients all over the world. Please visit http://www.bethanyrule.com to sign up for your FREE Trial Session, FREE monthly newsletter, or to learn more about coaching with Bethany.

---

Time Well Spent

It is common knowledge that creating and living according to... Read More

How to Define a Successful Time Management Strategy

One of the most challenging aspect in life is time... Read More

Time Management: Eliminate Time Killers to Gain More Hours Every Day

There are two types of time killers in everyone's life.... Read More

Effective Time Management Techniques

TIME MANAGEMENTWith the creation of the universe, God gave humankind... Read More

Time is Money?

Not 1 in 10 people can tell you where money... Read More

TIME, The Undervalued Resource

We are all born equal! We all have the same... Read More

Realistic Time Budgeting Tips

I'm sure we've all had the experience of having a... Read More

7 Reasons to Take Breaks at Work

My job in Chicago began with three months of probation.I... Read More

Webmaster or Web Slave? Time Saving Tips for Cyberpreneurs

Time is money in your online business, just as in... Read More

Vilfredo Paretos Principle: The 80-20 Rule: 80% of Results are Produced from 20% of Efforts

Vilfredo Pareto's Principle, or The "Pareto Principle," is more commonly... Read More

Do You Put a Value on Your Time?

As a small business owner, does the following paragraph sound... Read More

The Laundry Has Never Been More Fun Or The Pitfalls To Working At Home

As a home-based, self-employed woman, mundane tasks can be as... Read More

Busy, Busy, Busy

?busy, busy, busy, busy, busy?busy, busy, bus? OK, slap me... Read More

Increasing Your ROI

All requests are not equal; all customers or clients are... Read More

Time Management: A Non-Renewable Resource

Benjamin Franklin wrote: "If you want to enjoy one of... Read More

Freelance Productivity: Do One Thing Extra Each Day

This may not sound like a big deal. But it's... Read More

Creative Leadership; Inspirational Power ( Part 2 )

Time management is absolute crucial nowadays where business decisions have... Read More

Controlling Family Chaos - Time Management for the Family

Balancing a family's varying schedules can be near impossible. Soccer,... Read More

Tips to Manage Incoming E-mail

Friends, colleagues, and clients are all telling me that one... Read More

Time Management -- Urgent vs. Important

"It's just been one of those days?I can't seem to... Read More

Are You Always Late?

"Fashionably late" is no longer in fashion. In today's heavily... Read More

Time Management - How To Get More Done In A Day?

Everyday, in life, we are bombarded with 101 tasks that... Read More

Making the Best Use of Your Time

Time - it is the one thing that we are... Read More

Effective Time Management - Delegating Techniques

Do you manage your time or does your time manage... Read More

10 Time-Saving Calendar & Scheduling Tips

Nowhere is the line drawn more clearly between 'Industrial brains'... Read More

Focus on One Thing at a Time to Get the Job Done

All too often we can feel overwhelmed by the amount... Read More

Painful Cost of Working Yourself to Death

We all know the harmful effects of overwork. People get... Read More

What to Do When Your Alarm Clock Doesn?t Wake You Up

Tring ? Tring the alarm rings?but did you fail to... Read More

7 ways To Win The Time Crunch

Are you working a "day job" while building your home-based... Read More

Whats Keeping You At The Office (9 Tips To Get Home Quicker)

"Work smarter, not harder" is a cliché that has darted... Read More

How to Find More Time in Your Day-Balancing Career and Family

Goal Planning-Achieving balance in a person's life requires assessment of... Read More

What Are You Thinking?

What would be your reaction if someone said to you... Read More

5 Time Savers You (Probably) Havent Tried Yet

1. Do tasks less frequentlyClean house every 10 days rather... Read More