Grow With Soul: Ep. 71 Finding and Keeping Focus With Kayte Ferris
Today is the last in the Staying The Course series of episodes, and having spent time looking at your goals, your routine and your mindset, I thought we’d look practically at focus. Focus is something that ebbs and flows at the best of times, but particularly during times of stress it can be even more fleeting than usual. Particularly during this pandemic, apathy is rife - that feeling of not wanting to really do anything, but also feeling like you should, or need to do everything. In this episode, I’m going to talk you through the practical ways in which I cultivate more focus to give you a few tricks and strategies to get your bare minimum done, and have a few moments of feeling like you can still do this.Here's what I talk about in this episode:
Dealing with focus in times of stress
Strategies for cultivating a focused day or period of time
Uncovering tripwires that block your productivity
Starting your focused day the night before
Incorporating the Pomodoro method into your day
Links I mention:
Read the episode transcript:
Today is the last in the Staying The Course series of episodes, and having spent time looking at your goals, your routine and your mindset, I thought we’d look practically at focus. Focus is something that ebbs and flows at the best of times, but particularly during times of stress it can be even more fleeting than usual. Particularly during this pandemic, apathy is rife - that feeling of not wanting to really do anything, but also feeling like you should, or need to do everything. In this episode, I’m going to talk you through the practical ways in which I cultivate more focus to give you a few tricks and strategies to get your bare minimum done, and have a few moments of feeling like you can still do this.
I’m sure I’m not alone in having a strange combination of feelings at the moment; all feelings that I’m used to experiencing individually but never together before. A feeling of rabbit in headlights paralysis of not knowing what to do for the best, or what to do at all - should I do work, should I do a creative project, should I do nothing, and around and around that carousel in your brain. I also feel restless, like I want to be getting on with stuff of some description, that as a self-employed person I am not ‘off work’ in the same way that others are so I should just be going on as normal. I have lists and lists and lists of projects to get into, but none of them ever feel like quite the right thing to be doing at any one time.
These feelings infiltrate every part of your day and of your life, and can make you very indecisive. Although my routine that we talked about two episodes ago includes time for reading and listening to podcasts, I’ve mostly found that I’m unable to concentrate on anything - that a light magazine feels too frothy, but non-fiction or a novel feels like too much; that there are no podcast episodes that are really what I want right now. In my work, while I have time in my routine for ‘work projects’, I’ve flitted between them, not knowing what is the best thing to work on, what I really want in that moment. So, across the board you can start to drift a little, restlessly paralysed, wanting something, but also nothing.
This, I think we can agree, is a lack of focus. Which isn’t something we should be beating ourselves up about right now! But personally I feel much better when I’ve managed to make a decision or have spent an hour cracking on with something or can tick a tiny thing of my list. It’s like we talked about in routines and mindset - feeling competent is a hugely important part of these structures. So, if I can be focused enough for a small part of my day to feel like I accomplished something, that I am still a competent human being, then that is a win.
So, here are my very best strategies for a focused day...
Ask yourself, is this the best time?
I know there’s not really a ‘great’ time to be cracking on with work at the moment because the malaise is very generalised. However, there will still be some days that are better than others, and it’s good to make sure you’re not setting yourself up for failure. Other than the obvious, why haven’t you got things done so far this week? Have you been feeling especially de-motivated and un-creative? Why is that?
The aim here is to make sure that the day you have in mind to be productive is actually the best day. For example, are you selling badly, are you in a down phase of your cycle, is the weather dragging you down, did you get some bad news? Do a bit of a scan of your life just to see whether there’s anything that is going to prevent you from giving yourself the best chance at focus, and reschedule for another week if you can.
This exercise also helps to uncover any trip wires that may get you on the day itself. You might realise you’ve been distracted by the builders across the road all week, or you’ve been feeling a bit restless and haven’t been able to sit down for long, or you’ve just been wanting to be outside. If these things have been happening all week they’re not going to magically disappear for your productive day, so factor them in too.
Night Before Prep
Decisions are the enemy of action – it takes a lot of brain power to choose things, brain power you want to conserve for your work. So the day before your productive day, make your decisions in advance. This can look like writing outlines or plans of the blog posts you want to write, writing out a schedule for the day, laying out the clothes you’re going to wear and putting a tea bag in your favourite mug. Maybe pop to the shops and get yourself a cake or a favourite lunch. Whatever it takes to make sure you can flow through the morning and get into the work with as few hurdles as possible.
Your mindset starts the night before with your self talk too. Especially if you’ve had a less than productive week, you can start to feel trepidation about the next day – perhaps you’re worried you won’t be able to do it, perhaps you’re even kind of dreading it. Personally, I like to bring some lightness into the situation. I tell myself “tomorrow is going to be really great, I’m really going to enjoy digging into this work”. I remember that days like this are what I wanted my own business for, I think about how great it’s going to feel to have that word count under my belt. This isn’t a time to beat yourself up or make threats to yourself – tell yourself the stories you need to convince yourself that tomorrow is going to be a joy.
Connect To Your Why For The Day
Again, we want a motivation here that’s more carrot than stick. Something that will get you going and keep you going – why do you want to get this done tomorrow? I don’t know about you but “I want to enjoy my weekend knowing this piece of work is complete” is more motivating then “I have to get this done because I’m so lazy and haven’t done it yet”. What does getting this work done on this day mean for you in your life?
On the day
Prep work done, you’ve had a good night’s sleep and woken up on the day itself with the echoes of your self-talk still in your mind and feeling motivated to get this thing done before the weekend. Now what?
Warm Up
I personally like to warm up into the work, because I’m not a morning person and it takes me a little while! I also find that going straight from bed to laptop feels like a lot of pressure and can cause mind blank. I like to warm up for a little bit, let my thoughts start unravelling and ease into it without the pressure to start working right now.
Going for a little walk will help your creative problem-solving, have half an hour of quiet to gather your thoughts as you drink your tea, perhaps do some morning pages or journaling to warm up your brain and clear your mind. Just take a little bit of time so that when you sit down at the computer you feel calm and ready, rather than cold and worried.
Make A Joyful Space
We are more likely to stay at our desk and get stuff done if it feels lovely to be there. So perhaps as part of your warm up, make your work space (even if it’s the sofa) feel cosy and like you never want to leave. Maybe that’s putting the heating on and wrapping a blanket around yourself; or maybe it’s opening the window for a fresh breeze. Maybe you bring flowers or plants into the space, maybe you clear your desk of everything but your best pen. Light a candle, put on some music (I like the Music For Concentration playlist on Spotify) or embrace the silence.
Also, bring in everything you can that you might need so you don’t have to keep getting up. For example, I usually bring in a couple of drinks so I don’t have to keep getting up to make one; I’ll also bring in a snack and any notes that I may need. We don’t want to bring in distractions, of course, but set up the space you’re working in to make sure you never have to, or want to, leave.
Put Your Damn Phone Away
Talking of distractions! This doesn’t mean put it face down on your desk, or somewhere just out of reach. It means put it another room that you’re not going to need to go into (so not the kitchen or the bathroom). I know it’s boring and annoying when people advise this, and I know we like to think that we are stronger than the allure of our phone and we can definitely not look at it for two hours. But the truth is, you probably can’t. And even if you can, why take the risk? My most productive work happens when there’s not even the option of unconsciously picking up my phone, and helps me zoom in to the work in hand and I feel a lot better for it too.
Pomodoro
You have likely heard about the Pomodoro Method, where you set a timer for 20-30 minutes during which you will do nothing but the work in front of you. I tend to only use the Pomodoro Method when I’m really at my wits end, when nothing else here is working and I just need to break it all down into a 20 minute chunk, a promise to myself to just do this for 20 minutes and then stop. Pomodoro is really useful when you are tired or distracted or really can’t get into it - because 20 minutes feels do-able, no matter how bad you feel. And once you’ve done 20 minutes, you’re usually into enough that you can keep going for another 20, at least.
The thing to remember is that a focused, productive day is within your reach. Often when we think about getting a chunk of work done we think we need to bully ourselves through it but it’s just not necessary. Give yourself what you need to get the work done, even if what you need is more convoluted or looks different to what someone else needs. Getting it done is all that matters – that, and having a good time while you’re doing it.
To get a worksheet to help you plan for a focused work day, and get all the other worksheets in this series too, go to simpleandseason.com/staythecourse.
The podcast will now be taking a short break for the rest of the month until May, when I will be back with more solo episodes and bringing back the coaching and interview shows too. If there is anyone whose perspective you would love to hear on the show, any topics you’d like me to cover or if you’d like to be part of a coaching episode, please send me an email to kayte@simpleandseason.com. There is plenty to keep you occupied on my website in the mean time, from the podcast and blog post archives, to my Purpose and Planning Kits, Basecamp my marketing essentials course and a self-led version of The Playbook for coaches and teachers.