Sometimes I swear I am ADD. Ok, most of the time. In fact, in the time it takes me to write this blog, I bet I do at least 4-5 other things, too. I know that multi-tasking is not unusual, but sometimes it is imperative that we look past the distractions of a cat in front of the monitor (yes that is my cat in the photo below) or a holiday looming in our future to focus on what we really need to achieve. Do YOU know what you really need to get done today?

I was talking recently with a friend who is the Director of Manufacturing for a nearly $1B snack food company. He noted that if you walk onto their manufacturing floor and ask an hourly operator about the three things he absolutely needs to do today, he can tell you. That is a company that works to stay focused on their goals, and they’re actually hiring right now. Coincidence?

For those of us with attention issues or what I call shiny penny syndrome, it’s hard enough to focus. At this time of year, it feels nearly impossible. The only way I’ve found ANY success with this is to visibly post my priorities and goals in front of my face as a constant reminder. Just to be clear: your goals are what you want to achieve, your priorities are those things you need to focus on to achieve them.

I was recently working with a client who was, like many of us, having trouble focusing. My recommendation was to create a list of her top 3-5 priorities – I call mine my High 5 – and to post it above her desk, on her mirror, or wherever she will see it often. But just creating any-old list isn’t enough.

With each item on the list, ask yourself How does this get me closer to my bigger goals? What will focusing on this priority do for me? If you can’t answer the questions and tie that priority to one of your goals, them you might need to reevaluate it. Similarly, do a periodic check of your activities against your priorities and your goals to ensure that you’re staying on track.

Unless you’re related to retail, the end of the year provides an ideal quiet time to hunker down and get work done. Even if you’re fortunate to take the time off to be with family and not work, there is still the opportunity to spend time in reflection to make sure your goals and priorities are well positioned to start the New Year.

I am interested in how others keep focused. Is it hard for you? What have you found that works?

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 9:36 am and is filed under Being a ParentPreneur, Entrepreneurship, business success secrets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.