Strategies and Tactics for Women by Dr. Shannon Reece

Once you have mastered an understanding of the Power of Focus, where to Direct Your Focus, and how to overcome the Obstacles to Focus, it’s time to learn how to Maintain High Level Focus in your business.

Developing good habits takes time and discipline, as well as the application of the lessons you learned in Parts 1-3 of this series. Knowing how to transition from an everyday wide-angle lens focus, to a precision-based zoom lens perspective is the only way to get the most out of your work hours each day.

Whether you are consulting with a client, writing an ebook, developing a product, or updating your business plan, your time is priceless, and therefore it’s vital you get the most out of it. For the more efficient you are in every task, the more free time you will have to enjoy outside of work. When it comes to maintaining high level focus on your most important tasks I recommend the following three strategies –

Streamlining Your Activities

The only way to run your business like a well-oiled machine is to streamline every process by putting systems in place. This exercise is something you should begin while your business is still small. With systems in place, you avoid repeating activities, reinventing materials over and over, or explaining how to implement tasks to others on your team. If this is not something you’ve already done in your business, don’t feel overwhelmed as you think about the task.

The easiest way to get started is by simply documenting what you do in a single day. Once you have that down on paper, you can flesh out the details of the HOW you get things done, one task at a time. More than likely you will find many areas where you are wasting time in repetitive tasks that could otherwise be automated or delegated to free you up to focus on more pertinent activities.

Knowing how and when things need to be completed frees up mental space, simplifying the number of variables on which you need to focus at any given time. Completing your tasks with greater efficiency also enables you to shift and narrow your attention to important business growth activities.

Taking Time to Refresh

Never will you be able to support the argument that you just don’t have enough hours in the day to take time for yourself. When you have systems in place to run the day-to-day operations of your business, it is much easier to take time off to refresh for two reasons — (1) you actually have more free time at your disposal, and (2) you can either hand the reins to a capable virtual assistant, or put tasks on autopilot with ease.

The benefits of regular time off include having a sharper mind to focus when you need to, a healthy body that is resilient in the face of business stress, and the energy reserves to operate at 100%, rather than trying to get by on much less.

Developing Your Strengths

Finally, effective entrepreneurship requires constant learning and growing. When you have identified your greatest gifts, your biggest opportunity for success comes from developing and refining them. The more immersed you become in that which allows you to shine, the longer you will be able to laser-focus your energy in the right direction.

As an entrepreneur, your role is to serve your ideal customer with excellence. Continually raising the bar on your professional performance will provide you with ample opportunity to center your attention on tasks that will give you the highest emotional, and financial R.O.I.

Start small, and apply yourself diligently to the single, highest priority on your list. Once successfully completed, you can move on to another. Adhere to the lessons you’ve learned in this series, and you will discover an increase in your performance level and results. Make these lessons habits, and you will find there is no end to what you can accomplish. No one can limit you, but you.