The two most common words I hear at the outset of a coaching
conversation when I ask “How are you?” are ” Busy ” and ” I need to
focus “.
These two states of mind are directly connected. We feel guilty unless
we are busy. We feel compelled and obligated to fill our time with
jam-packed calendars, endless meetings, countless reports, and traveling
in a hurried manner compulsively attached to our smartphone.
Human beings are not designed to be occupied every minute of our waking day
Each complex activity we undertake requires us to be focused
exclusively on one critical task at a time and herein lies the issue.
Human beings are not designed to be occupied every minute of our waking
day. We need to find down time – time to give our mind, soul and bodies a
break and to re-charge to be ready for when we really need to be in the
state of being focused.
As this month’s featured Harvard Business Review article highlights, how
we start and approach our day has so much to do with how we can access
and bring focus into what is important in this moment.
I am an advocate of the five measures outlined in the article and
sincerely hope this newsletter draws your attention and intention of
being “focused”.
Once you read this article, take a moment to ask
- Which of these five practices do you access?
- What else works for you?
- How important is it that you find your way to accessing “being focused”?
- How consistent are you in bringing these practices into your daily routine?
Recommended Reading:
- Harvard Business Review – “The Two Things Killing Your Ability to Focus”