We live in a world of a thousand distractions. There are so many events happening in a single day. Hundreds of things are constantly competing for our attention. Most of us are driven crazy by the most mundane notifications on our phone. Add to these, the hundreds of tasks that you have to do for your construction projects, and you’ve got one stressed-out individual.
So today, we’re going to lessen your stress by giving you some tips on how to grab hold of that elusive focus. Let’s break down a few simple hacks on how you can concentrate on the things that matter, WHEN it matters the most.
1. Understand Your Unique Personal Work Style
When are you the most productive? For some people, they work best when in a crowded coffeeshop, surrounded by loud chatter. Others concentrate better when in an environment that’s sompletely quiet. At what time of day are you able to work best? Do you work best early in the morning, or are you a night owl? Do you need a hot cup of coffee beside you, or do you work better with an empty stomach? What lighting conditions work best for you?
We all have our own little rituals when it comes to getting things done. So it’s important to be mindful of these little details in order to recreate the best working environment for yourself. Remember that the mind can be programmed too. If you provide it with the correct stimulus, it will follow suit.
2. Do, Delegate, Defer, Dump
It’s hard to stay focused when you’re dealing with too much stuff. So one of the first things that you need to do is identify whether a task or issue is important (or unimportant), urgent (can be delayed). Group your tasks and if they fall under the category of important and urgent, prioritize them on your to-do list. If they are important but not so urgent, you can schedule them at a later time. If they are not too critical but needs to be done asap, delegate it to another team member. But if it’s neither important nor urgent, you better scrap it altogether. Differentiating the level of importance and urgency of each task will aid you in prioritization and focus.
3. Manage Your Reactions
A sudden buzzing on your phone can trigger an immediate response from us. But it may just be a friend sending you a funny cat meme. A new email notification may prompt us to read it asap, but it could be just a promotion from your local grocery. A colleague may be calling, but it could just be Hank, asking you out for drinks after work. There will be hundreds, even thousands of stimuli all wanting our immediate attention, the key is to manage how you react to each one. If you can, try to remove unimportant distractions so that you won’t be forced to react to them (Hello, social media!). But even work-related issues can be properly managed. Instead of panicking about a quick REACTION, take your time to craft the best RESPONSE. We humans are emotional creatures so our reactions are often fueled by instinct. In order to retain focus, we should let our conscious mind take control.
4. Learn to Say NO
As mentioned earlier, you have to lessen the stuff on your plate. Say NO to social media for certain hours in a day. Say NO to meetings in the mornings if that’s your most productive time of day. Say NO to little tasks that can easily be done by your subordinates. Say NO to that little voice in your head that keeps on saying that you need to do everything yourself. By lessening your load, you can actually focus, and do more of the things that really matter.
5. Reward Yourself for Focus
We’ve mentioned a while ago that the brain can be programmed. And one of the most tried and tested ways to program our minds is through reward systems. Therefore, after a super productive hour of legit work, reward yourself with something- be it a short walk, a delicious cup of coffee, or a literal pat on the back. Train yourself to feel good after accomplishing something. This way, you will be more inspired to focus and work because your brain knows that it will feel so good afterwards.
Of course, you also need the right tools to help you focus on the most important tasks of your business. To aid you in this, there’s SAM- the Superintendent’s Automated Manager. This unique construction scheduling software was designed to help builders handle several projects simultaneously. Click here to find out more about how it can help you speed up construction build times.