Remind Yourself Of What You're Working Towards

If you ever posed the question, "Why am I doing this? When you're unclear about the benefit of what you're doing, it presents the likelihood that you will procrastinate and look for something else more attractive. 

To get focused, get clear about why you are doing what you do. How will it benefit you? What will happen if you don't get it done? Knowing what's in it for you is very important. 

Remind yourself why this task is important to you and stay focused until it is completed. Then you have more time to do something fun.

Pinpoint A Specific Goal You Can Work Towards

Set a goal for yourself. Having a specific goal will motivate you to finish your work on time. Everyone likes to check items off their to-do list, and completing a goal will allow you to do that. 

Most goals have smaller tasks that must be done to get to the larger goal. Use that larger goals as a carrot to keep you working on the smaller tasks. 

It helps you make your goals specific so that you can zero in on the exact tasks that will get your goals accomplished. If you can get clear, the next step will be even more helpful.

Repeat Or Write Down A “Focus Mantra

Now that you know clearly what you want to accomplish, create a focus mantra that you can repeat to yourself to inspire you to stay engaged. 

Repeat this mantra whenever you feel yourself getting distracted. Keep it simple and create a phrase that you repeat over and over. 

It could be as simple as saying, "Stay focused", or something like, "No more Facebook until I'm done". You can create one that's right for you. 

Improve Your Focus Stamina

How long can you just put your head down and focus on your task without being distracted? Five minutes, 10 minutes, or 30 minutes could be your limit but you can always get better. 

To improve your focus stamina, build it up like you would exercise your muscles to get stronger.  One exercise is to start by spending 30 minutes in concentrated focus, and see how you do. 

Incrementally increase that time until you can focus for on hour. If you get that far, take a break. Then do it again for another hour. 

Keep working on your focus stamina until you start completing tasks easily and as efficiently as possible.  

Multi-task Less To Enhance Your Focus

In order to get a lot done over a short period of time, most people believe that multitasking is the way to go. One would think that doing many things at once will help get many things done. 

Sadly this is just not the case. In fact, multitasking actually confuses the your brain and slows you down. Multitasking keeps you from fully engaging in one activity.

Everytime you switch from one activity to the next, you have to slightly reset your brain. This just slows you down. 

It will serve yourself better by finishing one task at a time. Get your to-do list out and start checking them off one by one. This also helps with the next step in the process.

Don't Procrastinate On Tasks That You Need To Complete

Dusting that to-do list off and using it helps overcome the big "P" word (Procrastination). Procrastination is one of the biggest hindrances to progress. 

Adopt the "do-it-now" mentality. Don't wait until tomorrow. Do the big tasks first. If there are things that don't get done today, they will be small things. 

Make A To-Do List

The effective way to set up your to-do list is to create one every day at the beginning of the day. 

Then prioritize it this way. Put the items you dread doing first so that you work on the hardest tasks first. Do the hardest tasks first to get them out of the way when you are the freshest.

This list will allow you to fight off inactivity, and help you work in an organized fashion. Complete one tasks at a time working your way through the list. 

Checking finished tasks off your list gives you a feeling of accomplishment that builds your motivation.

Give Yourself A Time Limit For Each Task

To supercharge your to do list even more, give yourself a time limit for each task on your list. You know your own capabilities, and can estimate the length of time it takes to complete your work. 

Make a game out of it, and see if you can compete each task according to your estimate. When you do, reward yourself. 

Remember to always keep upping the bar by trying to beat your best time.  You will be getting more things done while  having fun at the same time.

Avoid Online Distractions

One of the number one enemies of focus is online distractions. We are mesmerized by our electronic devices and they can command a lot of our attention. 

When it's time to fully focus on our tasks, we must learn how to avoid this enemy. This will require some training.  We must set up some rules of engagement. Make rules like, no browsing the Internet until we complete the first task on our list. 

We can also reward our hard work by allowing computer time once every two hours of work. Set up rules that we can follow and stick to them.

Avoid Physical Distractions

Avoiding physical distractions is the final step to get fully focused. These physical distraction revolve around people, places and things. 

Interruptions from other people can be the biggest cause of losing focus. Sometimes you can't avoid them totally, but you can notify them that you don't want to communicate until you are finished with your work. 

The place you do your work can be another distraction. Working from home presents it's challenges because it is filled with things that can distract you. 

Physical things like the latest video game, Netflix, or streaming loud music can keep you distracted from your work. 

Learn to put your personal things off until you are finished working.

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