Who does not want to be more focused? I became really obsessed with performance and focus in 2018 when I stayed at home for almost six months recovering from a motorbike accident. I have never worked as a ‘free-lancer’ from home before! The first week was fine. I was motivated, I got many things done but suddenly everything started falling apart. I had no routine, I had no goals, and I was spending too much time on social media. At some point I noticed, I was waking up and dying to see what friends and people I followed on social media were doing (I am not totally cured but I am better). One day, I checked my phone and I had spent 6 HOURS on social media. That was the moment I understood I needed to change something.
That hit me like a tornado, and I started searching about the subject: how to disconnect; how to be more focused; how to get things done. Basically, I was procrastinating all day and once my friend would get home (around 6 pm), I would start working. WRONG!
So, here 10 things I changed!
1. Turned off all notifications
I have been with my notifications off for the past year and I can only tell you, it was the best decision I have ever made. Back in 2018, I was constantly checking my phone every time someone would like or comment something on my feed. If I was working on something, it would take me the double of the time to finish it, just because I was too distracted all the time. In the beginning was hard but I today see the results.
2. Stop checking social media the first and last hours of my day
I was recovering from my accident when I noticed that the only thing that motivated to wake up was checking on someone’s life. I was in one of those dark periods that none likes to be. After months of my accident, I was still limping, I did not have a job and either a clear idea of what to do next. I wanted to apply for university, but everything seemed so hard at the time. Social media was an escape, but it was also doing me more bad than good. I was not really focused on me but rather on others. So, I tested: let’s see how my mood changes if I do not check social media from bed in the morning. I have read, it was one of the worst things you could do to yourself. Bumm! Three days later I noticed: I was getting sadder when checking someone’s life in the morning. I was comparing myself and my life to others from minute one. If you do not believe me, try it!!! After that, I fought against myself daily to not touch my phone during the first and last hours of the day. Sometimes I fail, sometimes it is hard but I have seen an incredible change. It has been more than a year since I changed this!
3. Stop watching series and videos before going to bed
I have always struggled with sleeping. When I was a kid, I would go to my parents’ room at 2 pm: switch on the light and say: ‘I am done with sleeping. Let’s play.’ You can image how much my parents would suffer with me! While unemployed I also noticed watching series at night was not really helping me. At the time, my friend and I would stay up late watching episode after episode and I would then struggle to fall a sleep. I would get energized by series and that would make be awake all night long. That was exactly the moment I decided it was time for a switch. Today, I only watch movies and series at night if I am on vacation because I know my sleep. What about you?
4. Meditate every morning
This one is maybe the hardest one of all of them. The first time, I meditated was back in 2015. Meditation was not as known as it is today. It has been four years since and I always try to bring it back to my days. Sometimes I am too excited, too worried or too busy and I try to skip it. BUT more and more, I have been forcing myself to do it no matter what. Sometimes in my bed, sometimes on the floor, in the car. Sometimes I only do a few deep breaths. Check this post here where I talked more about it!!
5. Watch motivational videos in the morning
I discovered motivational videos back in 2015 when I was preparing for my GMAT exam. What a journey at the time! Have you checked this post? I talked about a video that changed my perception of life at the time. Ever since, I am an incredible fan of motivational speaking and videos, which I watch very often in the morning. When I was working from home, I was religiously watching one a day – working alone on your business can be very depressing. These videos help me to stay positive and to find the hunger to do things when I do not feel like doing anything. Do you also do it?
6. Stop checking email, first thing in the morning
Email can be dangerous. I love when people say: ‘I have so much to do. I have more than 200 emails to reply’. I used to be one of these people. I would spend HOURS on my email (I still do but I do not call that working, anymore). I worked for four years in the corporate world and the first thing I would do EVERY morning was check my emails. I bet that’s what everyone of you do. And that’s ok! However, last year when I was freelancing I realized, replying and writing emails was taking me way too much time. It was stealing my time to actually produce content and get things done. If I opened my email first thing in the morning, I would be on it for hours and totally miss my schedule and goals for the day. Then, I started reading about it and I found this very interesting description about your email: ‘checking your email is answering to people’s request before working on yours’. I was like: Fuck YES! So I stopped doing it! And you know what, I get so much more stuff done in the morning. I usually check my social media and email around 10 am if not later and I wake up at 6:30 am (ATTENTION: sometimes I fail but I am trying my best). What about you?
7. Start the day with the most painful task of the day
Have you heard about the 80/20 rule? Basically, we often work on 80% of the tasks that do not drive us to where we want to go, pushing apart the 20% of tasks that actually make us evolve and grow. Why? Because they are usually the most painful ones. I noticed that recently with my studies. As I have mentioned here, I did not have a programming background when I joined my master’s degree. So, quickly I understood I would need to study and work much more than my peers. I decided to force myself to code everyday for 30 minutes BUT I was usually planning my coding sessions towards the end of the day. Meaning most of the time: I would end up not doing it. I would procrastinate so bad on this. So I changed it! Today, I tried my best to do everything I hate the most first thing in my day: either applying for jobs, coding in python or preparing for interviews.
8. Plan the day the night before
I have been doing this for YEARS! There is not one single night I go to bed without planning my following day, except when I am on vacation. This has completely changed my focus to a much better place. I get much more things done when I know what I have ahead and that’s why I prefer doing the night before. When I go to bed, I usually insert everything I need to do the next day on my agenda. In the morning, when I wake up I know what I have to focus on for the day.
9. Schedule hours for each task of the day
I literally plan my entire day. I usually try not to have more than 8 different tasks a day (I read somewhere too much diversity does not help the brain to focus on something). I set hours and length for each task. When I am not able to respect it, which happens quite often, I move to the new task or just finish the current one postponing the other ones. All of this depends on the urgency of the tasks I have. If at the end of the day, I have things I did not finish, I usually just incorporate them in my next day. How do I plan? I either write down on my notebook or I put it on my google agenda.
10. Stop checking emails from the phone
In August 2019 when I flew back to Portugal for my friend’s wedding I noticed I was super worried every time I would get an email. I was in Portugal for three days and every time my phone popped up a new email, I would be afraid. Maybe a grade, maybe an interview, maybe a new assignment, maybe a new comment from a Professor. I was literally getting anxious about it. A few days later my phone mentioned: ‘Your mailbox is full. Clean it in order to received and check your emails’. I was too lazy and a day after day I realized I was feeling less anxious about looking at my phone. Since then, I have not received or sent a single email from my phone. Some people may tell me: ‘That is impossible for me, I work with my phone all the time.‘ Everyone is different, I guess but I feel not doing is a good break between work and personal life. I feel so MUCH BETTER! Have you tried?
I hope you guys enjoyed this long post. Maybe it will too ambitious to try to implement all of this at once, go step by step, one by one and let me know what the progress and results. Let me know if you like this type of content and I will try to do more along these lines in the future. Also, feel free to check this post as the topic is quite related! Finally, let me know which one of these bullet points resonates the most with you.
Beijinho,
Daniela
Photo by Hello I’m Nik 🍌 on Unsplash & Photo by Chase Clark on Unsplash Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash & Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash