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How To Focus Your Mind and Do More Productive Work

“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on the things we desire.”
– Brian Tracy (Self-Help Author & Motivational Speaker)

Over the years, I’ve spent countless hours learning new ‘time management systems’, using different productivity apps, making elaborate to-do lists and more. But I would often (and still do) struggle with focusing my mind when it came down to actually doing some work. We have a lot of things to juggle in our busy lives and if you’re anything like me, it can be very challenging to deal with distractions, interruptions and a wandering mind.

And then it finally hit me.

It doesn’t really matter what ‘productivity solution’ you use. At the end of the day, your success will come down to your ability to focus consistently every day on your most important priorities. There’s no ‘app’ for that. It comes down to developing daily ‘mental discipline’.

5 Ways on How To Focus Your Mind

Here are some of the daily disciplines that I’ve adopted over the years. I hope that they also help you to focus your mind and do more productive work.

1. Review Your Goals & Decide Your Top 3 Daily Priorities

Always start your day by getting clear about what’s really important in your life. There are two levels to this:

Your ‘Big’ Goals

Leo Babauta at Zen Habits calls these your ‘big rocks’ i.e. the major things in your life that you need to get done. I just call them my ‘big goals’. You should have a list of your most important ‘big goals’. These could be your top 1-year goals, 90-day goals or monthly goals. It doesn’t really matter, as long as you can map your daily tasks to something bigger and more important. I try to start every day by reviewing these ‘big goals’ to remind me about my longer term purpose in life and to get more motivated for the day.

You Daily Priorities

I also start each day by writing down my top 3 priorities for the day. I ask myself “if there were only 3 things that I could do today – what would they be?”. This really helps me to identify my priorities for the day and to focus on completing them as soon as possible. It also puts me in a different frame of mind, where doing anything else in that day just becomes a ‘bonus’ rather than a ‘must do’. It’s not always easy to just pick 3 things, but it’s always better to pick 3 and get them all done rather than pick 10 and only get 3 done.

2. Relax, Breathe & Get In The Ideal State

Being relaxed and in the right state of mind can significantly improve your ability to focus and think clearly.

Relax & Breathe

Here’s a very simple, but effective breathing technique that you can use that the start of your day or whenever you need to focus and work on something important. Find a comfortable place and close your eyes (if it’s possible). Then simply concentrate on breathing in and out. for about 1 minute. Become aware of your breathing. Take slow and long breaths in through your nose. Breathe out slowly through your mouth and pretend as if you are making a candle flame gently flicker but not putting it out completely.

Visualize Success

Take another 30 seconds to visualize yourself working on whatever it is that you need to do next. For example, if you need to write a report, then try to see yourself effortlessly writing and enjoying the process. Try to imagine what it feels like to be in the ‘flow’ and enjoy that feeling. Then open your eyes and start the process!

3. Create “Focus Blocks” of Time To Do Your Work

‘Focus blocks’ are simply uninterrupted stretches of focus. Being able to focus during a busy day is often a challenge for many people. Here are some tips for finding your own ‘focus blocks’:

Identify Your Ideal Time

For some people it doesn’t really matter where they work, as long as they can work at certain times of the day. I recommend starting work early in the day and focusing on your top 3 daily priorities. I’m not a morning person, but whenever I start early, I always tend to have a much more productive day. If working early in the morning isn’t ideal for you, then you should identify what times of the day you tend to have the most energy and clearest mind.

Identify Your Ideal Places

The next step is to identify the places where you can do your best work. For some people this could be a coffee shop; for others this could be a meeting room at the office; for others it could be a room at home. You should try to spend time in your ‘ideal places’ every day. Perhaps you can start the day early and work on your top 3 daily priorities from home or a coffee shop before you get to work. Or perhaps you could use a meeting room at work to get some focused time.

Chunk Your Calendar

It’s often very hard to get uninterrupted stretches of focus if your schedule is ‘sliced up’ with meetings throughout the day. Wherever possible, I would recommend trying to ‘chunk’ your meetings i.e. instead of having a 30-minute meeting with a 30-minute gap and then another 30 minute meeting etc. Try to have your meetings back to back so that you can create longer stretches of time to focus. And then be sure to block out this time in your calendar just as if it was a meeting with someone.

Limit How Often You Check Email

Instead of checking email every few minutes, my recommendation is to (a) turn off all email alerts/notifications, (b) close your email application when focusing and (c) only check your email 2 to 3 times per day and set a limit on how much time you will spend on email. Setting a limit will help you focus to quicker task completion.

4. Do One Thing At A Time

Contradictory to conventional wisdom, it’s not a good idea to multitask. Splitting your attention has an impact on your productivity, concentration and energy. According to David E. Meyer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Michigan, ‘Multitasking is going to slow you down, increasing the chances of mistakes’. If you want to improve your productivity, then focus on doing one thing at a time. This will take some work if you are a ‘compulsive multi-tasker’ (like me), but after you’ve tried it for a few days I’m confident you’ll find that you are more productive, less stressed and generally feel a greater sense of accomplishment.

5. Focus Work in Short Bursts

Focus doing your work in short bursts. I would suggest trying 25 minute uninterrupted ‘bursts’ followed by a 5-minute break where you walk around, stretch, drink water etc. If you find that’s too short, then try increasing the work time to somewhere between 25 to 50 minutes, but no longer. According to Tony Buzan (author of ‘Use Your Head’ and inventor of Mind Mapping), a learning period of between 25 to 50 minutes produces the best relationship between learning and recall. You can use a simple timer like this to help you.

I hope these tips help you to better focus your mind and be more productive. If you have any feedback or other ideas on how to be more focused, then I would love to hear from you. You can join me on Facebook, Twitter or just email me directly. I will reply.

5 Powerful Ways To Improve Your Productivity Today

By Omer

Do you ever have one of those days where you just can’t get things done? I do. I used to spend a lot of my time with productivity systems like GTD (Getting Things Done) where I seemed to spend more of my time organizing my to-do lists than actually getting things done. The best planning in the world is pointless if you don’t take action. So whenever you’re in the rut, I’d suggest reviewing these 5 ‘boosters’ to help improve your productivity and take action.

5 Ways To Improve Your Productivity

So here are 5 simple but very powerful strategies that you can use every single day to take action:

1. Focus On Your Top 3 Priorities

Every day, you should focus on your top 3 daily priorities. I recommend getting an early start in the day and completing these before you do anything else. Now that’s not always possible and if that’s the case, I would suggest scheduling time in the day to work on those activities and treating that time just like any meeting that you would schedule with someone else i.e. be committed to the time, start on time, end on time and don’t get distracted by other things during that time.

2. Just Do It For 5 Minutes

Sometimes it’s hard to get started on an activity, especially if it requires you to think or work hard. That’s why we’re so much better at being attracted to and completing mind-numbing tasks that take little effort. It’s easier to complete those and feel a false sense of accomplishment. So I suggest just working on something for 5 minutes. You can do anything for 5 minutes and if you do that, the chances are that you’ll build some momentum and continue working for longer.

3. Work In 25 Minute ‘Bursts’

The most effective pattern that I’ve found for productive behavior is to work for 25 minute ‘bursts’ and then take a 5 minute break (to stretch, walk around, drink water etc.). When we get some momentum, it’s tempting to keep working on something as long as you can, but this can be counter-productive, so take regular breaks. You will get more done and think more clearly with short 25-minute bursts.

4. Focus On Completion, Not Perfection

I am a self-confessed perfectionist. And this habit is really difficult for me to do consistently. But it’s amazing what I can get done when I do focus on completion instead of perfection. I would recommend setting a time limit for you to complete a task. If I have a document to produce at work, it can take me 10 days or 1 hour depending on what the deadline is. And usually, the 10-day version is not that much better than the 1-hour version. So set yourself your own deadlines and force yourself to complete work in less time.

5. Take Action Right Now

Pick an action that you’ve been putting off e.g. writing a report and commit to working on it for 5 minutes. Focus on completion, not perfection. The chances are that the 5 minutes will help build momentum and you may work on the task for even longer. If not, then simply take a short break and repeat the 5-minute process. But whatever you do, take some type of action RIGHT NOW.

10 Simple Ways to Reduce Paper Clutter In Your Life

By Omer

We live in a digital age, yet many of us continue to struggle with way too much paper clutter in our lives. We have to deal with junk mail, post-it notes, receipts, business cards, documents, magazines, user manuals etc. I was shocked when I read that the average American will spend 8 months of their lives dealing with junk mail alone. 8 months! Imagine how else we could spend that time.

I’ve been driven by two key goals — 1. reduce the paper clutter in my life and 2. create a ‘mobile lifestyle’ where I can easily access any digital document from anywhere in the world, on any device. I’ve still got a long way to go, but I’ve made some great progress towards realizing those goals.

So here are the 10 simple ways how I have reduced paper clutter in my life so far:

1. Go Paperless with Bills & Statements

Most companies these days offer the convenience of ‘paperless’ bills. This can be a great solution for many people, as long you’ve got an effective system for tracking and paying those bills. I use a software product called Orchestra (which you can access either from a web browser or an iPhone application) to track my to-do list. When I get a bill, I just create a new task in Orchestra and set a reminder for either the 1st or 15th of the month (when I get paid). Then on the 1st and 15th of each month, I log into my online banking account and pay all the bills scheduled for that day. I usually spend around 30 minutes a month dealing with bills. I also switched my bank statements to ‘paperless’ versions since I can easily access those online whenever I need to.

2. Opt Out of Receiving Junk Mail

Dealing with junk mail is a real pain for most of us. It’s incredible how much money and paper is wasted on direct mail advertising for catalogs, credit card offers etc. I usually toss all this junk mail into the recycling bin as soon as I walk into the house with new mail, but ideally I don’t want this junk mail even getting to my mailbox in the first place. I just signed up with Catalog Choice, a non-profit based in Berkeley, California that helps people to opt-out of junk mail for free. I tried something similar a few years ago and although it reduced my junk mail for a short period, in the long run it was just as bad as ever. So I’ll provide an update later on how it works out with Catalog Choice.

3. Stop Buying Magazines & Newspapers

I used to spend a lot of money on magazines and let them pile up around the house. I was never really a big newspaper reader, so that wasn’t much of an issue for me, since I got most of my news from the Internet. One day, I heard Tim Ferris talk about the low information diet and decided not only to stop buying magazines and newspapers, but also stop listening to and reading the news. I actually like being happily ignorant now. I do still follow the news, but in two simple ways – 1. I will check out the news headlines on MSN.com home page in the mornings and 2. glance at the front page of New York Times for sale in Starbucks as I wait for my coffee. If the news is important enough, it will be in one of those two places. If it’s not, then I probably don’t need to know about. This tip has not only reduced paper clutter in my life, it has also reduced the negative clutter in my mind that you inevitably get when you listen about so many negative things happening around the world.

4. Switch to Buying eBooks

Although 95% of the books that I purchase now are from the Kindle store, I still think of books as being the one exception to my ‘paperless lifestyle’ rule. Call me old fashioned, but there are just some books that I love to hold and feel the pages as I turn them. Also, since I read a lot of technical books, I sometimes find that they’re not formatted well for reading on the Kindle. But the overwhelming majority of my book collection is now stored in ‘the cloud’ and available to me wherever I go. I even purchased Kindle versions of some paper books that I already owned, when I found that I was constantly referring to them or just enjoyed re-reading them from time to time. I just bought myself a Kindle Paperwhite which makes it easy to carry my book collection around and has an illuminated screen which lets me read at night time without external lighting.

5. Request Electronic Copies of Documents

I’ve also stopped accepting paper copies of documents from people when I know that electronic copies could be used instead. It’s rare for someone at work to send me a printed copy of a document — it’s nearly all received in email. And when someone does give me a paper copy of a document, I usually just ask them to email me a copy instead. This has helped to reduce a lot of the paper clutter in my work life. And the other benefit is that it’s much easier for me to work remotely (from home, coffee shops etc.) because everything I need is either on my computer or stored in the ‘the cloud’ and is a few clicks away. Depending on the type of work that you do and the type of company that you work in, it may not be as easy for us to reduce this kind of paper clutter. But wherever you can, you should try to encourage that people share from documents electronically to reduce paper clutter and hopefully save a few trees too.

6. Throw Away Business Cards

I don’t keep other people’s business cards anymore. A lot of people will tell you to take pictures of the business cards or to scan them. But frankly, that’s usually a waste of time. These days, anyone who’s serious about business (or at least serious enough to have business cards printed) usually has an online presence too with all their contact information. LinkedIn is the social network for business people and you can find just about anyone in business on there. So when I receive a business card these days, I just visit LinkedIn and invite that person to join my business social network and then I recycle the business card. Once that person has accepted my invitation, I have access to all their contact details and with the LinkedIn iPhone application, I can easily access that contract information no matter where I am. Now I just need to find a better of way of getting other people to connect with my online instead of asking for my business cards (which I still occasionally give out these days).

7. Efficiently Process Mail When It Arrives

I always try to process my mail as soon as I walk into the house with my mail. The steps that I go through are simple and usually take no longer than 5 or 10 minutes. First, I go through my pile of mail and through all the junk mail into my recycling bin. I am pretty good at identifying junk mail without even opening it, so get through this step quickly. The next step is to remove all the remaining mail from their envelopes and toss the envelopes into the recycling bin. This sometimes uncovers more junk mail that sneaked through my initial pass because the sender tried to make it look more ‘official’. What I’m left with then usually goes into two piles — 1. stuff that I should file because I might need it later and 2. stuff that needs some action. So the third step is to take my action pile and create new tasks for each one in Orchestra (see tip #1) e.g. “Pay phone bill $45.32 on Nov-1”. Then I take both the piles and put them all into my temporary filing basket (tip #8).

8. Get Rid of Paper Filing Systems

I used to spend a lot of time maintaining a very organized paper filing system. But eventually I realized that I rarely ever needed those documents again. And in most cases when I did, an electronic copy of the document would have done just fine. So I’ve stripped down my paper filing system to two things — 1. a temporary filing basket and 2. an expanding file for documents where a paper version is required e.g. birth certificates. Everything that I think that I may need goes into my temporary filing basket and once every couple of months I ‘purge’ that basket by making 3 piles — 1. stuff that I thought I needed but don’t really need anymore, 2. stuff that I need to file as a paper version and 3. stuff that I can file electronically. The first pile goes into my recycling bin (with anything confidential going through my paper shredder first). The second pile goes into my expanding file. And the third pile gets scanned using my Fujitsu ScanSnap mobile scanner. I love this little scanner. It makes scanning so easy and one one press of a button I can get my document scanned and stored either on my computer’s hard drive or within Evernote. If you really want to make the most of Evernote, then checkout Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials guide.

9. Use Evernote to Manage & Store Your Notes

I’m a big fan of Evernote. You can use it to capture notes and access them from anywhere and it’s free. However, since I rely on it so much and think it’s a great product, I upgraded to a premium membership many years ago which gives me several benefits over the free account. And at just $5 per month, it is very well worth it. I love being able to access my notes and documents from anywhere in the world and on any device e.g. my iPhone. I use Evernote to store several types of notes. Firstly, there’s the reference material type stuff e.g. list of medications that the kids have taken or are taking, so I can easily retrieve this information on my iPhone if we’re taking the kids to a new doctor. Secondly, there’s are notes for general thoughts that I capture e.g. ideas or drafting blog posts. And thirdly, there are notes that I make on paper and then scan into Evernote. Despite my love of technology, I still love to grab a notepad and mind map. So when I’m done, I like to scan the paper mind map and store it electronically in Evernote. I’m currently experimenting with the Bamboo Paper iPad application Bamboo Stylus to create mind maps. It’s the closet thing that I’ve seen on the iPad to using a paper and pen. And with just one click, I can save my electronic mind map to Evernote. So all my notes are stored safe in one place where I can easily search and retrieve.

10. Throw Away User Manuals

I used to have a piles of user manuals around the house e.g. for kitchen appliances, thermostat, digital cameras etc. But now I just throw all those away and access those manuals online. I usually do this in two ways — 1. if available, I download the relevant manual (usually as a PDF file) and save a copy in Evernote or 2. I save a link to the online manual (if it’s not available to download) in Evernote. Either way, I can just go into Evernote, search for what I want and find the relevant manual in seconds.

Where I Still Have Paper Clutter In My Life

Although, I’ve made a lot of progress towards a ‘paperless lifestyle’, there is still a lot of paper in my life, which includes:

The endless supply of paper that both my kids seem to generate at home and school each day.
My wife who isn’t as motivated as me to go ‘paperless’ and still has lots of paper clutter around the house.
Endless receipts for meals and miscellaneous items that I still seem to end up collecting.
My old filing systems which are stored away, but need to recycled or scanned.

So it’s not a perfect system yet, but I’m getting better at it every day. And I’ll write more at some point about how to tackle the rest of this paper clutter.

Question: how much paper clutter is there in your life and what from your recent experiences has worked for you in reducing that paper clutter? Join me on Facebook or Twitter and please share your thoughts and experiences.

Will Smith On The Importance Of Goal Setting

By Omer

by Walmart Corporate

“One of the greatest goal setters of our time is actor Will Smith” — Huffington Post

Will Smith is easily one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. His movies have grossed around $6 billion at the box office. He’s a successful actor, producer and rapper. And he’s been happily married to Jada Pinkett Smith for over 15 years and together they have two children. And what does Will Smith have in common with so many other extremely successful people? They all believe in the importance of goal setting. Here are some of the most inspirational Will Smith quotes that we’ve been able to find for you on the importance of goal setting:

1. Create a Compelling Vision

“Set a goal, know who you want to be, what do you want to do, figure out how you are going to get there”

2. Believe You Can Have Whatever You Want

“I believe that I can create whatever I want to create”

3. Build a Outstanding Positive Attitude

“Greatness exist in all of us. Goals enable you to be positive in your outlook”

4. Push Yourself Out of Your Comfort Zone

“Attack your fears. I’m motivated by fear. I hate being scared to do something”

5. Say Goodbye To Procrastination

“I don’t see myself as talented. What I excel is at ridiculously work ethic”

6. Believe That You Can Succeed

“You have to believe. There’s no point in having a plan B because it will distract you from plan A”

7. Be Committed and Don’t Give Up

“To have the level of success that I have is difficult , it takes obsessive focus. You’ve got follow everything with all your heart and creativity”In an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” TV show, Will Smith told host Steve Kroft a story of how when he was 12-years old, his father tore down a brick wall and told Will and his 9-year old brother to rebuild it. They said that the job was impossible. It took them 1.5 years, but they did rebuild the wall. As Will Smith recalled, his father told his sons “Don’t you ever tell me there’s something that you can’t do”.

“Set a goal, know who you are and how you are going to get there” — Will Smith

Simplify Your Life and Focus On What Really Matters

By Omer

“Simplicity means the achievement of maximum effect with minimum means” – Dr. Koichi Kawana (Designer, Professor & Architect)

Most of us have too much to do and there’s far too much complexity in our lives. It’s very easy to get overwhelmed with long lists of goals, projects and actions. Yet many of us have a natural tendency to keep adding even more things and more complexity into our lives. We add even more goals and projects to our lists, even when deep down we know we’ll never get them done. Learning to simplify your life is an essential habit which teaches us about taking things away, boiling them down to the essentials and doing less. As the saying goes – less is more.

1. Simplify Your Thoughts

The first major hurdle to get over is removing the high expectations that you put in your mind when you start working on something that’s important. Just because something is important, doesn’t mean that it should be big and complicated. Some of the biggest breakthroughs in ideas, knowledge and products have come from simple and clear thinking e.g. from the wisdom of Confucius, the theories of Albert Einstein or even the impact that Steve Jobs had on the simplicity of product design at Apple. As the saying goes, “the shortest distance is a straight line”. Always keep that in mind as you’re thinking about a problem and don’t unnecessarily complicate your thinking.

2. Simplify Your Goals & Projects

Focus on the most essential goals and projects. Review your lists and see what you can remove. Ask yourself – what will truly help me move towards my dreams and what is just a nice to have? For years, I kept a long list of goals and projects but only accomplished a few of them. The others just got moved to the following year’s list of goals or remained ‘someday’ projects. And I often felt bad that I didn’t accomplish all my goals or that I had so many projects that I wasn’t making any progress on. I was sabotaging my own success and trying to do much. When I started taking things away and creating shorter lists of goals and projects, I felt liberated and far more relaxed.

3. Simplify Your Writing

When you simplify your thoughts, it also becomes easier to simplify your writing. Some people will spend more effort trying to use unnecessarily complicated or long words in their writing to show how smart they are. Or they may be quite verbose in conveying ideas that otherwise could be communicated very simply and concisely. The goal of writing – whether it’s a book, presentation or email – is to make it easier for the reader to understand your thoughts. So continuously challenge yourself to simplify your writing i.e. could you communicate the same point in less and/or simpler words? There’s a famous saying that’s worth keeping in mind as you simplify your writing – “I did not have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one instead”.

4. De-clutter Your Life

Simplifying your home and office/workspace are also important to helping you become more productive and reducing the stress in your life. I would suggest adopting a minimal mindset and removing as much clutter in your life as possible e.g. from items on shelves, to filing, to items stuffed in your closets, to what you keep on your desk/workspace. But I would not recommend trying to do all this at once – pick a small and manageable area at a time. Identify what you really need to keep, what you can put out of sight, what you can donate, what you can throw away etc. Be disciplined about what you really need to keep. One rule that might be useful is to consider if you haven’t used something for the last year, then it’s probably unlikely that you need it again e.g. clothes, magazines etc.

The more you simplify your mind and life, the better you will start to feel. This habit will help to remove stress in your life and allow you to focus on what really matters. Start each day by asking yourself “what one thing could I simplify today?” and follow through on that diligently.