It would be a late diagnosis (at age 53), but sometimes I swear I must have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).* I’ll just be getting into one project when I’ll have another brilliant idea (well, they always seem brilliant in the moment). This shiny, new idea always wants me to shift my brain away from the task at hand and focus on the new one. If I let it or the daily external distractions to take my attention, I will never complete any project.

If you’ve realized, like I have, that your focus is too split on multiple projects to be effective at any of them, you need to find a way to organize your thoughts and work. I have several strategies that help me deal with my never ending internal and external distractions:

1)    Make a To Do list. I know you probably already do, but there’s more.

2)    Prioritize the list and place them into Stephen Covey’s, author of First Things First , quadrant based on how important it is and how urgent it is. The goal here is to get to quad 1 right away (because, well, they’re urgent and important), make time to regularly work on quad 2 (too often these get put on the back burner indefinitely because they are not urgent), try to delegate or delete quad 3 (these are stressful but not necessary for you to deal with), and minimize your quad 4 (i.e. distracting yourself by playing solitaire on the computer)  

3)    Any time those wonderfully exciting ideas pop into your head, write them down in enough detail to remember, stick them in quad 2, and get back to the task at hand.

4)    Work on only one project at a time or at least designate a certain amount of time per day to work exclusively on a particular project. (i.e. from 1-2pm I will work on the book chapter that is due in May) Do nothing else during that time.

5)    Eliminate external distractions during that time. Don’t check email, turn off your phone, put a sign on your forehead saying “DO NOT DISTURB”, whatever you need to do.

6)    Get some physical activity in before settling down to work on a project. Research shows that our ability to focus is much greater after exercise.

I hope these are helpful. Let me know if you have some favorite techniques of your own. 

(read Getting Things Done, First Things First, and/or Eat That Frog!)

*Disclaimer: Before anyone takes offense, I do not take ADHD lightly and I’m not making fun of anyone that suffers from it. I just honestly wonder sometimes why I my focus wants to keep shifting around.

Before you take on those resolutions for 2010, Have you asked yourself how you did with those you made for 2009? Classically, people make grand resolutions with all good intentions, but fail for several reasons. Often times they are just unrealistic i.e. I’ll lose 40lbs by Feb.1. Or, it might be that they’ve set the goal, but have no plan as to how to attain it. And when you haven’t been able to achieve your goals, your self esteem goes into the dumper never to be seen again.

Here are some tips on approaching your resolutions:

REALISTIC RESOLUTIONS – Who and/or what are you basing your resolution on? You want to make sure that your goals are truly something YOU can attain. So, just because people on the Biggest Loser can lose big numbers doesn’t men that that’s what you should be shooting for. They do not live your life. They don’t have your responsibilities, time constraints, or other issues.

PROCESS FOCUS - Even better than concentrating on the end result, focus on the process. Sit down and write out a list of all of the things(little and big) you would need to do to reach your goal. If you think more about taking those steps, accomplishing them one by one and taking satisfaction in that, the results wil take care of themselves.  

SUCCESS PERCENTAGE – Rather than looking at your end result as succeed or fail, look at how much of your goal you accomplished. If you only got 50% of your goal, that’s still 50% more than you started with. Anything better is, well… better. And that’s a positive thing. Feel good about that. Gloom, despair, and guilt serve no purpose and only get in the way of continuing to work toward your goals.

So, go ahead and make resolutions, but make ones you can attain, focus on the process, and give yourself credit fo whatever you do achieve.

Have a great, healthy, happy 2010.

Mark Nutting