Stay focused. 5 hands on strategies to escape the office madness and become more productive

Article by Christoph Magnussen.

I am a focus fatalist. I love being productive in terms of creating things. I love to get stuff done and I believe that focussing on the essentials is one of the most important habits of an entrepreneur. But even if you are really good in organizing stuff and working long hours it does not mean that you get your important things done. We are distracted by many annoying things that keep us from working on our projects. Instead of pushing our new business idea we get stuck in checking e-mails, updating our facebook status, surfing on the Internet or attending some useless meeting with colleagues. Afterwards we wonder how other entrepreneurs are able to create new ventures in just a few days or weeks. The secret is to stay focused. Even if everyone around you tries to distract you.

The seduction of distraction is hard to beat, but there are a few strategies. During the last years I collected ideas from other entrepreneurs and my own experience for being more productive. Here are 5 hands on strategies:

1. Plan the big blocks of the week
Imagine the week is an empty glass and you need to fill it with all your work: big ice blocks, crushed ice and water. What would be the best order to fill up your glass? If you start with the water the added big blocks will let the glass overflow immidiately. The obvious trick is to start with the big blocks, than add the crushed ice, which fits into the holes between the big blocks and in the end you top it up with water. The same applies to our work. If you start with all the small tasks on Monday, you will run out of time for your big tasks and end up pretty stressed on Friday. So, first plan your big ice blocks and start with them right away, everything else comes later.

2. Kill all distractors around you
It is the daily fight against “Darth Distraction“. The moment you switch on your computer you are already sucked in by many options to interrupt your tasks and do something else you actually wanted to. It is the Skype autostart window that tells you that a friend still needs an answer. 20 browser windows with text that you still want to read. 50 unread e-mails that need a reply. etc. The simple trick is the one window policy. By using a simple program like the Text Editor to work on a text or a concept you can avoid all distracting tools: No formatting, no Internet, just typing.
For anyone with a really bad Internet addiction I strongly recommend the StayFocusd app. This funny program blocks the Internet connection for the time you really need to focus.

3. Start with a routine
I used to start my day with getting up shortly before I needed to leave home and hurry to the office. I think many people do so. A couple of years ago I figured out, that the morning is the only time of the day that no one can take away from you. Since then I try to get up early, have a relaxing breakfast, read the news and start with one easy task (but no e-mails!). This is my morning routine that really helps me starting the day with a clear mind. Surplus it always puts me in a good mood to rock the challenges of the day.

4. Learn to swim
There is so much information out there that makes us almost drowning every day. Not only hundreds of e-mails but also news, calls, reports, project updates etc. Take a look at Facebook: The world literally never sleeps.
We need to accept that this information flood will grow stronger every day and we will never be able to stop it, since we are not the Hoover Dam. But we can learn to swim with the flow if we understand, that we do not need to know everything. We do not need to see every e-mail that employees are writing in carbon copy. And we do not need every detail on project reports. Some of the most efficient entrepreneurs in the world prefer the phone instead of e-mail because they can focus on the few very important calls instead of reading all the useless FYI e-mails.

5. Rock your day like Rockefeller
Rockefeller, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in history, used to focus his work by using the Top 5 method. His lists of projects were so extensive, that he could never finish his projects. Every night before going to bed, Rockefeller checked his task lists and decided which Top 5 tasks were the most important ones for the next day. He than wrote them down on a piece of paper that he could take with him the next morning, in order not to get caught by every day distractions. A very simple but very powerful method that doubles productivity in almost no time.
Instead of starting with e-mails, I do the Top 5 and decide that way what to do first (this also means that no employee or business partner can rule my day). Like Rockefeller, if there is a distraction, I take out my notebook and check my Top 5 to get back on track.

For more ideas on focus and productivity check out the Zencover website and Stay focused Blog.