6
HR
West
®
Setting Priorities
HOW TO STAY
FOCUSED
IN
A WORLD OF DISTRACTIONS
“Keep your eye on the ball.”
This is classic, sage advice suggesting that
we must know what’s important and
remain focused on it. And in today’s world it is
completely meaningless.
The idea, of course, makes sense. But how many
of us really have only one ball to keep our eye
on? The reality is that the world we live in today
is much busier and much more rife with constant
distraction than at any time before. (At least I
believe so!)
In our “highly productive” society, we are
constantly challenged to manage multiple “critical
priorities” at once. And even if this isn’t being
thrust upon you by your boss or clients, there’s
a pretty good chance that you’re doing it to
yourself in a never ending battle to do more and
accomplish more.
IT’S JUST THE WORLD WE LIVE IN.
And sometimes, it’s worse than others. I know
that I’m in the middle of one of those times right
now. We’re in the middle of some really big,
exciting things – and they’re all happening at
once. And I’m having a heck of a time balancing
between our several new launches, plus our new
season of the Transform IT show, client work, and
other important things.
I’d love to tell you that I have it all under control.
But I’m just as guilty and susceptible as anyone
to falling victim to distraction and priority overload.
So, as a reminder to both you and me, here are
three effective tactics we can both use to help us
stay focused in a world of distractions:
TACTIC #1:
Know What’s Important
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACCOMPLISH?
I know this sounds obvious, but the most
important thing you can do to stay focused is to
know what’s important. While it sounds obvious,
the truth is that most people lose focus simply
because they lose sight of what they’re really after.
So get a crystal clear idea of what it is that you’re
trying to accomplish and write it down.
WHAT WILL IT TAKE?
The second challenge is that we all get distracted
by the vast amount of options and alternatives
that are available for us. I just went through this
as I was working to design our new membership
platform. I had all of these different options
swirling around, and during a debrief with
my partner, he stopped and went back to our
original, short list of key things that we needed to
accomplish our goals. I realized that I had gone
swirling down paths that just didn’t matter. That
conversation refocused me, and within a day I
had the right solution.
WHAT’S THE BIG PICTURE?
As you look out across the myriad of things you
want to accomplish – because it’s almost never
just one thing – you will see that they fall into
a sort of hierarchy. The biggest picture is really
about what you want to accomplish in life. That’s
important, because if you get so sucked into
things that don’t line up with that, you’re going
to be in trouble. Then you work down from
there. What’s important to the company? To your
department, etc. This may not be written down
By Charles Araujo
