Welcome, this week our focus is on Personal Development.
I am thrilled to introduce you to our Guest Blogger Dorcas Bulus. A prolific millennial (I love millennials!). I have worked with her for a few months and have learned so much from her thus far.
Dorcas has very important advice about how our ability to (really) listen can help us get ahead in life.
Enjoy!
LizSpire
Attention is the basic and essential capital you can possess as business owner and an employee. Trust me, as simple and mundane as it might sound.
It’s not easy to place your attention on a particular thing at a time especially when you have a lot to handle before the day runs out. I have been there before, I start a project and leave it half way just to scroll through my Instagram feed, watch a movie or read a book. A project that should take a day or two to finish will take me weeks.
Don’t judge me though, I have changed.
Attention management is an art; you have to be deliberate at practising it.
Attention management is the practice of controlling distractions, being present in the moment and maximizing focus so you can unleash your genius.
See? You have to control distractions in order to maximize focus.
RELATED READING: How to Overcome Distractions In Your Life 1
To control the distractions that can do you in, you may wish to employ the following.
PRIORITIZE: There is a lot of work to do, but not all of them are urgent. Here is a suggestion, before the day starts make a list of all you have to do that day. Rank these tasks in order of urgency (most urgent to least)
Start your day with the most urgent of tasks, and work your way through your list.
If you do get distracted, you know exactly where you are on your list. Most importantly, your mind bears on you that you have a list to execute. It will help you keep your head together.
CONTROL YOUR ENVIRONMENT: Your environment contributes to your productivity. It either accelerates your efforts/ thinking, or slows it down.
If you are easily distracted like me, we can’t survive in a noisy place, so it is nearly impossible to think straight in a busy or noisy place. I am nocturnal, so I opt to do my work while others sleep.
If you are not nocturnal, but are easily distracted, you may have to move away from the noise and distractions to another location conducive for your productivity.
BE INTENTIONAL ABOUT WHAT YOU ATTEND TO: You may think that after prioritizing and controlling your environment, you are safe. Not quite!
The obstacles we are up against are tenacious and dogged; we should be the same.
To overcome their pull, we must learn to intentionally take proactive action. For instance:
- Don’t go checking emails, or seeking updates from buddies on WhatsApp. These things are designed to suck you in.
- Do one thing at a time to maximize your focus and productivity
RELATED READING: How to Overcome Distractions In Your Life 2
A word of caution, you must be intentional and proactive instead of accidental and reactive when it comes to executing tasks.
James Williams said it best… “My experience is what I agree to attend to”.
What is your experience? Your attention is essential and you need to harness it in order to achieve productivity.
Let’s go ahead and make this week productive.
ABOUT DORCAS
Dorcas Bulus is an inspirational and business blogger who is driven to participate in the building of entrepreneurs and youths like her in the society, she loves to read and she is obsessed with nature.
Connect with her on Instagram @dorcasbulus
Welcome back! That was straight to the point and full of actionable points, wasn’t it? Docas will be a regular contributor to LizSpire, so expect more from her.
While you are here, pop into our online store and grab your copy of our personal development materials.
Finally, catch up with me on Instagram @LizSpire – I would love to hear from you.
