By, Chris Gilligan, Corporate Communications Manager, ACS, A Xerox Company
Growing up I always played sports. Whatever the season – I did it. I was lucky to keep playing longer than many and at a higher level. That introduced me to some of the most memorable people in my life. One in particular was an assistant coach for one of the baseball teams I played on.
He would motivate and inspire the team and continually remind us of the important task at hand. He would emphasize that by always saying “keep your eyes focused” – stay focused on what mattered most.
On any given day that could be something short term like not bailing on a curve ball or long term like wining a district championship. He’d implore us to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal and push aside the things that got in the way of the goal. By focusing on the goal – good things happen along the way and the end result is achieved.
So how do I stay focused at work? We’re all bombarded with emails, calls, IM’s, snail mail, people stopping by the office – all wanting us to do something. I find it useful to use a variety of reminders to track the big tasks: if I’m waiting for a media story to appear in a publication that comes out six weeks after the interview – Outlook calendar reminders are great. Is it something that needs to be front and center every day? I’ve got an old fashioned white board in my office so I visually see that topic every time I walk in my office. Is it something I need to track and add additional items to with some detailed notes? Then my “Task List” works best for me. If it’s a personal or family task – then a shared community calendar that the whole family can check on – works for my family.
Admittedly, this may seem cumbersome for some folks, having so many different tracking mechanisms, but it works for me.
How do you “keep your focus”?
