Improve Your Focus By Doing Less

I chose the word “focus” as part of this blog title because I feel the word has been misunderstood.

Focus does not mean “do 5 things at once.” When you tell a child to “focus” on their homework, are you expecting them to do their work PLUS 3 or 4 other things? A person who is multi-tasking by doing 5 different things is only giving 20% of their attention to each task.

Numbers don’t lie. In a world of multi-tasking, focusing on less seems impossible.

I am asking you to consider doing less.

 Yes. You read that correctly.

Many years ago I read  A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, for personal and professional reasons. The line that struck me immediately was DO LESS. 2 simple words.

Did this book just ask me to DO LESS?

Hold on now. I am NOT promoting laziness or living a stagnant life. If you are overcommitted (topic of a future post), it is time to re-examine your schedule.

What are your values?

Is your schedule in line with your values?

I understand that family and career can be demanding. If children’s activities fill up most of your weekly schedule, where is the time for YOU?

If your career has pushed you from 40 hours of work per week to 60 hours, when do you re-charge?

If you value spirituality how are you making time to honor this? Journaling? Reading scriptures? Attending services once a week that you have trouble paying attention to?

Before I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, I was the overcommitted person. I wasn’t married, worked two jobs, trained to run a marathon and travelled when I wanted. No, I am not complaining. A mixture of overdoing it and trauma broke my body down. Fibromyalgia forced me to DO LESS, years after reading those lines in Rick Warren’s book. Now that I am forced to focus on my physical and emotional health, my schedule is based more around my values.

Take a look at your weekly schedule. It’s ok to have busy days but are there chunks of time devoted to you? If this is your ME time right now, I appreciate being invited into your day.

 

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO LESS OF, IN ORDER TO FOCUS MORE ON YOUR VALUES?