The following is an article “How to Stay Focused on Your Goals” by Marc Primo.
Yes, sometimes even our motivation wanes on projects we were initially excited about for reasons ranging from being overworked, information overload, or simply getting off track. These days, being distracted by the many things around us makes it even harder for us to stay focused on our goals. When you find yourself in days when your responsibilities outweigh your attention span, our eye for detail suffers and with it, our productivity.
Staying focused at work is crucial no matter how a great volume of responsibility can get the best of us at times. Most things we need to accomplish tend to be more difficult nowadays when we need to keep learning new things to keep abreast of our functions. But there are always ways we can keep our eyes on the prize.
Below are a few methods that can help you master the art of staying focused on success.
Organize your goals. First things first-- every plan starts with you writing down the essentials that can lead to your goals. Before you do the legwork, set your goals on paper to make it more concrete rather than keeping it at the back of your mind without any consistent substance. Be specific about the things you want to achieve on a daily, monthly, or annual basis and be smart about your strategies. Do some research on realistic ways you can achieve each of your goals so you won’t get frustrated along the way. Make a matrix separated by columns for your goals, strategies, challenges, and opportunities for an active goal setting guide that makes it easier for you to stay on track regularly.
Write down a mission statement. Anyone who has ever worked for a company knows the importance of having a mission statement and if you are determined to achieve your goals, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have one for yourself. By coming up with one, you can channel your knowledge, skills, time, and energy to what you are set off to do and avoid any distractions from keeping you away from the prize. Your statement affirms your resolve and settles at the back of your head no matter what you do and that creates one of the best focus strategies you can do to stay on track. Try to evaluate what you want to accomplish by asking yourself what you value, what your principles are, what makes you stand out, and of course, what your goals are. Once you come up with your mission statement, place it conspicuously in your workstation or in your phone where it can constantly remind you to stay on your vision of success.
Assess your progress. The best way to know if you are making any progress on your road to accomplishing your goals is to make a daily track record. Now you might think it’s too tedious to do this one, but if you want to stay focused on what you’ve set out yourself to do, then this ensures that your attention is fixed on a daily basis because you get to discover the strides you’re making in the process. Count the kilograms you shed for your weight loss goals, the money you save for your financial plans or the clients you land for your freelance venture. Numbers always matter when you are aiming for something so make sure you know the figures and where you are exactly at in your road to your targets. Doing this also allows you to make the proper adjustments before things are too late and you find yourself losing your willpower. To make things easier, download apps that can help you track your progress and give you specific data. These apps can even help you be more productive and discover what works best for you.