Are you able to concentrate to get focused work time completed? Being a leader usually means people and information come at you from multiple directions. It can sometimes be very challenging to sit down to a task and get it completed in an efficient amount of time without interruption. However, there are some strategies you can use to accomplish focused work.
You can create focused work that moves you toward your goals by focusing on deep work, eliminating distractions, and having strategies for learning. Today I’ll go over some of the methods and practices you can begin implementing as you continue to build your leadership skills for your organization and yourself.
Deep work is the work that creates your most valuable contribution.
Plan it for your most productive times according to your schedule and your own rhythms. This can be scheduled in small periods of time, such as 25 minutes.
Make this a habit. Reinforce these focused work periods regularly, making them a part of your routine.
Partner up with others in the organization to get work done so you hold each other accountable.
Be prepped and have the information needed and ready to go when you have the time to allocate to the deep work.
Distractions are the elements that interrupt your focus.
Doing deep work takes practice and it is important to work toward this.
To focus more, try turning off email, notifications, or your phone entirely.
Close your office door or go to a conference room to try to avoid interruption.
The key is to make distractions less visible to you and make yourself less visible to distractions.
Learning how to learn.
It is important to find focused ways to explore new topics, skills, or ideas.
Start with a plan so you have a target for any focus session.
Create a structure for your learning and plan the best ways to find out what you need to know. This may include writing down questions about the topic, being specific when you develop your questions.
Drill down to the very basics so you can determine where your knowledge level is and where you want it to be.
If you want to learn a new behavior find trusted people to ask for feedback so that you can judge if you are making any progress. Then practice the new behavior and see what they have to say, repeating this process as you notice what is working.
How are you going to create focused work to get important things done which are critical to your business? These ideas should get you started as you analyze elements of your day that are distracting you from your deep work and then devise your plan to schedule deep work time according to your personal schedule and productive times of the day.
With some careful planning, you can get more out of each day—generating more value for your organization. Achieving regular periods of deep work takes creativity, effort, and practice. So, keep working to improve your skills, and get the most out of each day as you keep moving forward!
