Share your tips for staying FOCUSed
 

Many of us work from home where distractions are abound. Spouses, friends, yard work, video games, sports, the latest movies on your big screen TV, etc. With so many distractions its sometimes hard to stay focused on tasks that must be done.

I've had this problem as of late but have found a few tricks that I never thought would really work but have amazed me how successful they have been at keeping me going all day long.

1) LISTS. I now have lists for everything. A daily list of tasks to do. A daily list of tasks I've completed. A list of people I need to contact and why I need to contact them. This can really be applied to pretty much anything. At the end of the day I'm no longer left wondering what I accomplished throughout the day, instead I have a list I can look at that tells me exactly how much or how little I got done.

Having a "to do" list has also proven a great way to quickly fill time and get tasks finished. If I have 10 or 15 free minutes, I check the "to do" list quick and notice I need to renew a few of my domains. I've turned dead time into productive time.

2) MUSIC. I've always listened to music through my computer or even the TV, but I would still get distracted by the phone or other activities/noises throughout the house. My solution: headphones. Every morning I now turn on my MP3 player and blast Slayer. Its loud and fast paced, keeps me energized and focused on what I'm doing by eliminating most distractions... oh and Slayer kicks ass anyway, so why not?

These 2 items have really helped me a lot but I would love to hear more ideas on how to improve productivity and stay focused on what needs to be done... work. Share!

for me to stay focused I have to be working on at least 4-5 things at once...wierd huh?

if I am passionate about what I am working on, and keep working on 4-5 things, I never lose track

when I get bored I just listen to a good song and come up with another idea and get back to work

i get most of my work done on a weekend.

bong rips + bluegrass = work session.

1. Never try to work when your too tired

2. Never mix work with booze or drugs

3. Never do "brain work" on an empty stomach

4. Never try to do it all in one day

5. Never have the heating turned up too high

6. Try to remmember that money isn't everything :thumbsup

I'm still working on perfecting this.. do you hand write your notes, or are they on your computer? I started by using a yellow sticky notes program, but then I ended up having too many and it all became confusing.. I think I'm going to start hand writing my tasks, just so that I can have the paper and pen in front of my monitor so that it doesn't get hidden by windows.

Anyone have any good tips for keeping "to-do" lists?

I have ADHD and have a really hard time concentrating on one thing, AND don't like how I "feel" on the meds, so I use this natural remedy.

http://www.thestranger.com/blog/file...28910-bong.jpg

Red Bull works for me - then again I only work a few hours

Slacker!

I have a RB every morning after I'm up and ready.

I can't write, so I'm left using computer related ways. I just keep an open Notepad file. I've tried the Sticky Notes problem you mentioned but didn't really like it.

If I could write on sticky notes I would definitely do that as opposed to what I'm doing now, that way its always in your face and your computer desktop isn't jammed with notes.

lots of whiskey, everyday.

smoke some herbs man.

0) Close GFY

I'll echo you're To Do List suggestion , it's the single best tool for keeping yourself on schedule.

I'd add to it maybe having a Not To Do list - by that I mean... there are a few things that you KNOW distract you ever day. give them all time limits ... at least until your work day is done. if you find yourself constantly back on diversion sites like break / myspace / etc ...give them a block fo time that you won't exceed. same for video games. it's good to have a break during your day but it's not good to get sucked in all day long

i like to

I'm the same way. I always need to have half a dozen projects working. If I focus too much on one project, I end up constantly re-tweaking it and I waste too much time on it.