When we watch our favorite Football team play, read a thrilling book, listen to an interesting person talk or do something that we enjoy, we do not have to force ourselves to pay attention to the task. We can effortlessly maintain 100% focus over a long period of time. But there are other times when no matter how hard we try, we just cannot seem to keep it together.

I, for instance, regularly forget my cell phone at home (which really upsets my friends and family members). But I am sure I am not the only one guilty of day-dreaming and mind-wandering.

I am going to take a guess that you too have been in a situation when a person was talking to you while your thoughts were wandering somewhere else. Or when you really needed to learn new material, and yet you were reading the words without really understanding the main idea. Or when you planned on starting a new workout routine, but could not make yourself stay committed to your goal.

All these experiences have one thing in common – lack of focus.

Many people believe that poor concentration is an almost irresolvable problem. I can tell you from my own experience that it isn’t. In fact, there are many great little tips and exercises that you can do to noticeably improve your focus and expand your attention span in just 3 days.

Here are the first 10 (10 more are coming in the next post. I did not write them all together for one simple reason – it would be really hard to read and memorize all 20 suggestions at once):

1. Identify your objective. The concept of focus put simply is about not losing the thread of what you are trying to do. Usually if you do not have a clear objective before you start working on a certain task, half of  your time and effort will be simply wasted. Therefore, before beginning anything, ask yourself “What is my objective for doing it?” It does not matter if you are working on a project, making pancakes, talking to a friend or trimming the lawn. Some of your actions should be directed to achieve a concrete goal. When you define clearly what it is that you want to accomplish, you cut your chances of getting distracted by half.

2. Concentrate on one task at a time. When we have ten + tasks on our to-do list, multitasking seems like the only logical solution to get them all done. We multitask, because we believe that it boosts our efficiency and productivity. However, true productivity is not about how many things you can do at once. It is about how many tasks you complete. If you want to get more done a lot faster and with fewer errors, focus your attention on just one task at a time.

3. Choose important over urgent. Not all of the important tasks are urgent. Quite the opposite, all long-term goals that have the biggest positive impact on our life are way ahead in the future. Similar, most tasks that seem highly urgent will not matter in a month. Make sure that you do not let yourself be distracted by apparent priorities and keep your focus on tasks that are truly important for your career, personal life, health and spiritual growth. Everything else can wait!

Read more about how to improve your focus in 3 days…

For many of us January is one month of the year when we reflect on what we would like to change in our life, set goals, start new projects, decide to let go of negative habits and improve our character. I honestly believe that if we all managed to keep the same level of motivation, excitement and determination as we have in January, for the rest year, we would not need to read books about overcoming procrastination or staying focused on our goals.

Unfortunately, February comes and our enthusiasm and commitment wears thin. We find ourselves slowly slipping back to our old habits and old lifestyle. And finally, after about a month-and-a-half we throw our hands up in the air and declare, “Forget about it! It is too hard”. Then, of course, we wait for the next year to try again.

This year can be different!

Here are ten top tips to help you stick to your New Year’s resolutions throughout the rest of the year:

1.    Have realistic expectations. In the best tradition of the  holiday season, when we decide to pursue a certain goal, we often overestimate our future level of motivation and productivity and underestimate possible implications that we might encounter on our way. Do not expect to see immediate results of your efforts. Miracles do happen, but only to people who are willing to wait for them! Keep that in mind when you set deadlines for your goals.

Solution: Imagine that my New Year’s resolution is very similar to yours. How long do you think it will take me to reach this goal, given that I have a full time job, two young children that I have to pick up after school and a Salsa Class on Wednesdays and Fridays? So what is your verdict? Most likely, this is the same deadline you should consider for yourself. It has been proven that we are a lot better at making estimations for other people than for ourselves.

2. Pick just one goal. I know that it might be tempting to go after one career-related goal, one personal life goal, one health goal, one self-improvement goal and top that all off with a three-week vacation, a great book that you are dying to write and Japanese language courses that you always wanted to take. Have you ever tried juggling with 3-7 tennis balls? Try it. I bet you, that you will drop at least two balls on your first try. Juggling with 3-7 goals is no different. You will give up on all of them before you know it.

Solution: Prioritize. Choose just one resolution that is the most important to you at the moment and fully concentrate your efforts on it. The rest of the resolutions on your list can wait.

Read more about how to stay on track…

“I cannot have another stressful day next week. My schedule is already full!” – A woman I accidentally overheard talking to a friend.

Let’s face it! She is right! We do not have time for stress, anxiety and busywork. We are too busy already having to deal with all the work projects, important meetings, constant phone calls, and “urgent” emails. And when we finally get home, there is just enough time to do the grocery shopping, cooking, doing homework with our kids and maybe if we are lucky watching a little bit of TV.

It is easy to get carried away by an ambitious desire to “get IT done today!” (IT stands for “Infinite Task list”)

I have noticed that as soon as I get hit with an over-achiever adrenaline rush, I start to use the phrase “I have no time for it!” more than it is really needed! This is how I know that it is time to slow down and relax.

Do you often feel stressed out or overwhelmed at work or at home? What do you do to relax and cope with a busy life when pressure builds up? Do you take a hot bath? Or go for a walk? Or do you hit straight for the fridge to melt your stress with chocolate-chip ice-cream?

What is it that helps you to respond with calmness and confidence to most life situations, instead of reacting with agitation and fear?

Click here to share!

The name Richard Buckminster Fuller is not widely known, but his inspirational life story and his extraordinary ideas are worth learning. His life, he said, was an experiment.

Fuller was born on July 12, 1895, in Milton, Massachusetts. Born into a wealthy and patrician family, he never experienced lack of money or lack of popularity. In his teenage years he horrified his parents by getting expelled from Harvard twice: once for treating an entire New York dance troupe to champagne on his own tab and then, after having been readmitted, for his “irresponsibility and lack of interest”. To his family’s shock, he never completed his college education.

Between his sessions at Harvard, Fuller worked in Canada as a mechanic in a Cotton mill, and later as a laborer in the meat-packing industry.  At the age of 22 in 1917, he married his sweetheart Anne Helwett and joined the US Navy for wartime service, where for two years he eagerly served as a shipboard radio operator, and later as a crash-boat commander.

His life seemed almost perfect at the time, but in only a few years his familiar and secure world had turned upside down.

By the age of 32 Fuller was bankrupt and jobless, living in low-income housing in Chicago. His daughter Alexandra died from polio meningitis. He had no viable means to support his wife and his other new born child. His failures and misfortunes pushed him over the edge and he started drinking heavily.

Not seeing a way out, Fuller seriously thought about committing suicide. But before drowning himself in Lake Michigan, he decided to give himself one last chance.

Read more about inspirational life story of R.B. Fuller…

“Everyone is a genius at least once a year. A real genius has his original ideas closer together.”- Georg C. Lichtenberg

Have you ever wondered why most genial ideas, breathtaking poems and break-through discoveries are written on dinner napkins, ticket stubs, paper scraps and the palms of the hand?

It seems that genius often appears in the least expected places and the most inappropriate times. Think of the last time you had a brilliant idea or found a spontaneous solution to a problem that you had been struggling with for a long time. Where were you at that moment? In the shower? Cooking? Going down the steps? Or talking to a friend about a completely different topic?

The latest neurological research has made a few very intriguing discoveries. First of all, scientists believe that breakthroughs, insights or “aha” moments happen when the right hemisphere of our brain (called also intuitive/creative brain) is activated.

Secondly, research also indicates that in most people   the left hemisphere is dominant which is responsible for analytical step-by-step thought. For example, if your right hand is dominant it would most likely mean that you rely on your rational brain more than on your creativity and lateral thinking. And while it may serve you well in some situations, you can benefit hugely from increasing your right brain activity.

Here are 9 easy-to-do activities that you can practice in order to boost your creativity and improve your learning skills:

1. Meditate. Recent studies have made a fascinating discovery – our intelligence depends directly on the efficiency of communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain. What does it have to do with meditation? As it turns out meditation is one of the most effective ways to balance our rational and creative thinking and increase bilateral activity in the mind. Meditation also improves our learning ability and retention of information.

Read more about how to boost your creativity and learning skills…

Script: 5 minutes of your life.

You are sitting at your desk trying to concentrate on your project.

“I really need to get it done by the end of the day… Let’s see… What are the numbers for the last month?… Hold on. Is that a new email? It might be from Terry.”

You open the email box…
“No that’s just spam. Why would I want to buy a Rolex watch?! … Where was I? Numbers for the last month… God, who is writing to me on Facebook? I’ll just say I’m busy… Finally!… Numbers for the last month should be right here… Great!”

Janice from her desk: “Oh my God! Look at that! Hold on! I’ll send it to you!”

You accepting an image file… waiting for it to download… opening it. It is a picture of a KITTEN!

You to Janice, “It’s cute!” while thinking, “Why in the world would she send me a picture of a cat?! I really don’t have time for this! Where was I? Right… Numbers for the past month…”

Distractions can be very annoying, especially when you are trying to get some work done. They are like thousands of midges swarming around you and following you everywhere you go, making it impossible for you to focus on important tasks.

Just by eliminating those daily distractions alone you will instantly improve your focus, double your productivity and avoid unnecessary stress.

Here is how to do it:

1. Block out the noise. Our brain actually starts to deal with distractions the day we are born. A large portion of the incoming information is blocked to prevent us from feeling overwhelmed. The two main senses that we rely on the most are vision and hearing.

The results of much psychological research show us that we mainly get distracted by visual stimuli as well as unwanted acoustic information. The solution to the distraction problem is genial, because it is so simple – get ear plugs or put on a pair of headphones without listening to any music. When you block one of the senses, the other senses become heightened. But it also helps to improve your focus.

2. Avoid visual stimulation. It has been shown that we only block out about 20% of what comes in through our eyes. This is why we need to keep all visual distractions to a minimum. Most of us do not even notice that our eyes are repeatedly turning to email pop-ups, flashing banners, clutter around our desk, tens of icons on our desktop or the person sitting in front of us.

Therefore, turn off your IM, Twitter, Facebook, email notifications. Remove all the clutter from your desk and your desktop. If you work in an open-plan office, find a spot where you will not be directly facing someone. At home just close the door (lock it if you can) and inform your family members that you will be busy working for about an hour.

Read more about how to deal with daily distractions…