Laser-focussed work

Focus like a laser, not a flashlight.

Michael Jordan

We have great aspirations to achieve these big, huge, ginormous, amazing, never-been-done-before dreams, and some people end up spending hours scrolling mindlessly through photos and posts.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all about having downtime. You need to take a break. You need to recharge. But when you are working you need to be in a tight bubble of total focus. It takes an average of about 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption, according to a recent study at University of California, Irvine.

Be laser focussed in terms of your goals, don’t try to do everything. Don’t let anything sway you from the sight of your goals, your priorities. Everything else needs to get a ‘NO’ from you. In the previous post about priorities we discussed the Warren Buffett’s 5/25 rule. It speaks volumes about just getting rid of the 20 things you don’t need. become the master of the top goals you want to achieve and let go of everything else.

In terms of your day-to-day distractions, stay laser focussed on the task at hand. That is all great, how do we do this?

I use the pomodoro technique, which is basically setting set routine of work and breaks to follow. I set a timer (there is a pomodoro app you can use or just a regular timer) for 25 mins and taking 5 mins break for 4 repetitions and then a 15 min break. Every 4 hours of work you take a 30 mins break. This works so beautifully because when I am working, I know there is a break coming up and I can go for a walk, get away from the computer, use the bathroom. During your breaks scroll away on instagram, guilt -free.

This technique has really helped me keep my distractions at bay and develop laser focus towards my goals and daily priorities.