And Miles to Go Before I Sleep...
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
The above quote, while sadly not from a movie, is the last stanza of my favorite poem of all time. If you haven’t read the poem, I encourage you to do so. To sum it up, this dude is walking through the woods and finds himself distracted by the falling snow. Then he remembers that he has places to go and stuff to do and he carries on his way.
This is one of the several quotes that I keep posted on my desk. In a world of so many distractions, it serves as a reminder of things promised that must be done. I’ll be honest and tell you all that the reason I have this quote on my desk is because I am highly distractable. In fact, as I type this, I have eleven tabs open in my browser and each one of those is something I have already worked on today. In addition to that fact, this is the fourth time I have come back to this blog post to work on it and I am only on the second paragraph.
Being distracted is a big part of life. Robert Frost is right after all, The woods are lovely, dark and deep. There are so many different things to capture our attention. I find that as a creative person, I struggle with wanting to complete a single task to the end before inspiration for something else takes control. That’s probably the reason I generally have five different articles going at a time. That’s not always a bad thing.
Personally, I find that taking scheduled mini breaks to read something or writing some notes on another project can actually help extend the amount of hours in a day that I can get things done. On the flip side, sometimes one small distraction turns into two hours of me playing a game or going down the Wikipedia rabbit hole and not getting anything done.
The trick here is finding the balance of what works for you. Finding the right cadence of getting needed tasks done versus spending time on less important or even frivolous tasks is, at least in my opinion, the secret sauce to successful motivation for those who struggle with focus.
This is something that is truly different for everyone. Some of you reading this are probably quite the opposite of me and may have the uncanny ability to deeply focus on a task until it is completed. Others reading this are like me, incredibly envious of those who can maintain strict focus. Obviously, being able to power through a task without stopping to smell the flowers can allow you to get a lot done in a shorter amount of time.
And the truth is, being able to focus on a single task to completion will produce better results and more efficiently. In fact, the bad news for all of us who find ourselves constantly multitasking is that studies have shown it’s actually bad for your brain. That’s right, multitasking can actually reduce your cognitive abilities and the reduction can be permanent. I know right? That’s terrifying. Especially for those of us that don’t multitask by choice but instead do it because we have issues with our minds wandering.
Since hopping around from task to task seems to be the way my brain is wired, for better or worse, I have developed some tactics to at least reduce the mental stress of doing too much at once. These tricks work for me most of the time, though admittedly there are days when nothing really helps. Here goes:
Break It Down: I find that having a shorter attention span means that I should break projects down into tasks that are doable in one sitting. This lets me focus for a short amount of time and complete something. From there I can jump to another task and knock that out as well.
Schedule Distractions: Some people will tell you to remove distractions and that’s great advice. If you’re like me, the temptation of distractions is too much. So instead I allow myself to have distractions after completing a task or two if needed. That let’s me focus harder in between the times that I allow distractions to come into my workspace.
Accept Efficiency Loss: Jumping between tasks has what’s called a switching cost - which is the time lost while getting up to speed on a task after switching from another. Of course this is something that should be avoided when possible, but in this case, I suggest accepting that it will happen and being okay with not being as efficient as those of us who can focus longer.
Give Up As Needed: Some days you will find that you just aren’t feeling it while working on a certain task or project. I propose that unless you have a tight deadline, you put the task down for the day and move onto something that is more in line with your current mind space.
Use Reminders: If you are going to be willing to put off tasks when they aren’t working out, then reminders will be key to ensuring that you don’t find yourself falling behind on projects or just having things slip your mind. For myself, I schedule reminders on my phone for everything and it is a lifesaver in ensuring that I get things done in an appropriate amount of time and meet all deadlines.
Like I said, these work for me most of the time. I hope that you find these tactics work for you as well. If you are someone who struggles to maintain focus, I would love to hear the tactics that you use to help you succeed. Feel free to send me a message and let me know what works for you. Hit me up at Jason@yourturncoach.com. Until next time, I wish you good focus on your projects and enough grace to accept when you need to take a break.
-Jason