We’ve all heard how important routines are; your morning routine, your evening routine, your workout routine. But what about a focus routine?
If you feel like you’re not firing on all cylinders and not getting the stuff done, it could be that your’e missing a Focus Routine.
Seriously, put this on auto-pilot and you’ll be unstoppable.
If you’re short on time and struggle to stay focused — keep on reading. I’m taking you behind the scenes of my personal work routine. This is how I’m able to get more done in 1 hour than most people do all day.
It’s not about will power.
It’s about being deliberate.
Here’s my 6-Step Focus Routine.
Go ahead, you can steal it. In fact I want you to.
Okay let’s get you set up for success:
1️⃣ Identify your Tiger Time – that time of day when you’re unstoppable.
Do the hard things when you have the most focused energy.
Schedule your focus time and block it on your calendar.
BOOM.
Now it’s real.
2️⃣ Fuel yourself and your workspace.
Have water and your computer charger so neither of your batteries die.
3️⃣ Remove distractions.
Don’t resist temptations. Remove them.
Making temptations and distractions “harder to do” actually makes getting the right things done way easier.
Distractions and interruptions cost you more than just time and money, they cost you your mental and emotional wellbeing.
Allowing yourself to be interrupted by other people, technology, or even your own impulses to check your phone or social media destroys your ability to focus.
Facing this truth is the first step to getting free from this vicious cycle.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
If you watch too much TV, remove the batteries from your remote so you deliberately have to put them back in each time you turn the TV on — or get rid of your TV altogether!
Does social media suck you down a time sinkhole? Remove email and social media from your phone completely. Only access them on your desktop at pre-scheduled times.
Online shopping or news sites get you off track? Set up an app like Freedom or a browser extension like BlockSite for Chrome to block certain websites during your focus hours.
4️⃣ Visualize your success.
Write out EXACTLY what you will accomplish in the 90 minutes or less. You can’t stay focused if you don’t know the end game.
Be very specific.
Don’t say: I’ll write my book.
Instead say: I’ll write Chapter 1 or I’ll write 1000 words.
These are called process goals. They help you break down your big goal of writing a book into smaller steps so you can track and feel the progress you are making.
5️⃣ Let it be easy.
When you’re in the focus zone it’s hard to push your chair back and give yourself space to problem solve when needed.
Too often, it’s easy to over-complicate and overthink things.
If you get stuck and really want to make it happen, ask yourself these questions to move yourself forward.
- How can I make this easy?
- How can I break this down into smaller steps?
- Where can I find support or resources to make this easier?
- What is the simplest way to approach this?
- Is there anything I can eliminate or delegate?How can I let go of perfectionism and focus on moving forward?
6️⃣ Take a break
Everyone has there own focus stamina – meaning how long you can work before losing focus. If you find yourself daydreaming, stuck for more than 5 minutes on a problem, or went down a rabbit hole, it’s time to take a break.
A break is part of your focus routine. It is NOT breaking out of your focus routine. Stay in it, friend.
What you do on your break matters. But what you do NOT do matters more.
❌ Do NOT go on your phone.
❌ Do NOT open another tab on your computer.
❌ Do NOT start another project, play video games, or watch Netflix.
What you must do is:
Get up from your workspace and go to another room or better yet, go outside. The fresh air does amaaaaazing things to help you reset and clear out the brain fog. Bonus, if you run into a problem, you’ll most likely see the answer after taking this break.
Drink water. Eat protein. Stretch. Play with your dog.
Get back to work.