Cut Through The Clutter: How To Find Your Singular Focus

This is a guest-written article by Chris from Write Short Live Long.

For so many of us, few things are as elusive these days as singular focus.

We inhabit an age of constant interaction and instant communication. Smartphones on hips, we’re never more than a Tweet or an iPad screen wipe from news, information and entertainment.

The rapid evolution of technology only makes it easier for us to stay glued to our screens. Along with the decline of direct, in-person interaction, the other major trade-off in so many facets of our lives is a loss of focus and unadulterated productivity.

Increasingly, it takes a significant commitment to striking the right balance amid the string of snazzy product launches and Facebook invitations. The key is to recognize the problem and work toward renewing focus by taking control of the technology that has seemingly overrun our lives.

Admit the Obvious

Fits and spurts — that’s how so many of my college students and colleagues work and write today.

They’re only able to bang out a couple of paragraphs at a time, distracted from their work by the siren song of their iPhone. Ultimately, that type of halted, stop-and-start effort results in a disjointed and murky product.

We need to openly admit that we’re distracted and unfocused. There’s no way to work toward a resolution if you’re not willing to cop to the problem. We need to put to rest the great myth of multitasking.

Start by keeping a journal or log of your time allotments each day. How much time are you spending online for non-work activities? What about text and instant messages? Do you Tweet and update Facebook throughout the course of the work day?

Spend a week really chronicling how you spend your time during the work day. Step back and think about the actions that produce significant results, and the actions that do not. Release and relief are necessary ­— but like all distractions, embrace moderation.

Get Organizational Help

Sometimes distraction and a lack of focus is simply a byproduct of disorganization. The Internet and its world of infinite distractions can actually prove a buoy in some cases. There’s a host of great online workflow and organization tools that can be used free of charge.

Here’s a quick look at a few of the most popular ones:

Basecamp – A simple, effective program that helps to organize and flow through projects

RescueTime – Does an amazing job of tracking your time commitments during the work day; it’s basically an accounting or analytics system for your time

NutShellMail – This helps stuff all of your social networking needs into a single daily email

Doing an objective, hard-nosed inventory of your technology and your true needs is another solid method. Entrepreneur and writer Scott Scheper gave up his iPhone as an experiment for his book How To Get Focused.

He sought relief from the constant chatter of emails and social network.

“Big brands are feeding us devices that are constantly monitoring us; constantly distracting us, and constantly allowing people to stare into the abyss of the internet wherever they may be,” Scheper writes. “Really, people will be living two-lives: one real; one virtual. We are moving towards a half-life society. A moving cloud that syncs your online life with your mobile life and disguises itself in beautiful hardware.”

He wound up ditching cell phones all together. Not everyone is willing or needs to take that step. But it’s important to take an honest assessment of your technological needs and how they impact your daily routine — not to mention your productivity and your overall happiness.

Carve Your Own Path

Creating short lists of top priorities is another simple way to sharpen your focus. Having a clutter-free, clean work environment also helps a great deal.

Heck, just stopping to think about your focus can go a long way toward restoring it.

The point is to find a method that works best for you. The noise and networking that distracts us isn’t a plague on mankind. To the contrary, technology and social innovation tend to spur new modes of communication and information sharing.

We just have to make the noise work for us — and know when to shut it, and ourselves, off.

About the Author: Chris Birk works with GrowthPartner.com, a unique firm that provides angel investment and online marketing expertise to emerging companies. A former newspaper and magazine writer, he teaches journalism and media writing at a private Midwestern university. He blogs at Write Short Live Long.

photo credit: lecates

Tagged as: clutter, focus, journal, singular focus