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3 Apps To Help You Focus And Get More Done

Once I found ways to consistently focus on my business I became a consistency queen. Here's how I get more done – in a short time.

Photo: Sara J. Loureiro, Business Coach; Source: Courtesy Photo
Photo: Sara J. Loureiro, Business Coach; Source: Courtesy Photo

You want to scale your business and finally make enough money to quit your 9-5. You know exactly what you need to do each night to push business forward, but the minute sit down and log onto your laptop you immediately feel pulled in a million different directions.

Those shiny objects grab your attention (e.g., freebies, challenges, private messages social media, etc.) and twenty minutes later you realize you’ve accomplished nothing; and need to decide whether to cut your Netflix and chill time or sacrifice precious office hours for the third time this week.

“Why can’t I be more focused?” you ask yourself. “I mean, what’s wrong with me?”

Nothing is wrong with you. Nothing.

 

Focus in a world of distraction

Let’s not use scenarios like this to allow fears and a lack of confidence to creep in and make us doubt our abilities.

Information we consume on the internet is designed to grab our attention. The minute you open your favorite social media app, push notifications, conversion pop ups, auto-load videos and catchy advertising banners are all competing for your views and distracting you. But that doesn’t mean you can’t focus on what you need to do and propel your business forward. You just need to become more strategic and intentional.

 

Photo: Christin Hume, Unsplash
Photo: Christin Hume, YFS Magazine

Once I found ways to consistently focus on my business I became a consistency queen. Literally! No one can figure out how I am able to get so much done in my business – in such a short amount of time.

I used to spend hours on Instagram drooling over other people’s dream lives instead of creating my own. I’d sign up for every freebie I possibly could so I could learn everything rather than actually working on the things that would grow my business!

 

Get more done in business

Your ability to focus on your work is paramount to business success. Here are 3 tools I’ve found that are crucial to keeping me focused on getting more done in business.

 

Pomodoro Timer

“The Pomodoro Technique can help you power through distractions, hyper-focus, and get things done in short bursts, while taking frequent breaks to come up for air and relax.” Research shows your brain needs a break since “the human mind wasn’t meant to be hyper-focused for terribly long periods of time.”

The Pomodoro methodology is simple: When you’re faced with a large task or series of tasks, break the work down into short, timed intervals (called “Pomodoros”) and space them out with short breaks. This trains your brain to focus for short periods and helps you stay on top of deadlines. Pomodoro Timer apps generally give you 25 minutes to focus on a task followed by a 5 minute break.

Pomodoro apps like Focus Booster, TomatoTimer, and MarinaraTimer are incredible for getting work done since your brain is automatically tricked into believing you have a deadline.

 

The Mindfulness Bell

I noticed a friend in my Master’s program had his watch beep every single hour. Every evening during our coffee and cram sessions we’d all look up at each other when his watch beeped and say, “already?”

It’s crazy how much a break in your thought process can help you to put time into perspective. The mindfulness bell concept is derived from a Tibetan singing bowl traditionally used for meditation, deep relaxation, and stress reduction. It causes you to reflect on what you’re doing in that very moment and become mindful of it.

Apps like MindBell and Mindfulness Bell ring a Tibetan Singing Bowl at specified or random intervals throughout the day. Remember to think to yourself “focus” every time you hear the bell. This can help you get back to doing what makes you productive and stop subconsciously doing things that don’t serve you.

I can’t begin to tell you how many times my mindfulness bell has creeped up on me while I’m scrolling my Instagram feed only to realize I’ve been on the app for the past 15 minutes.

 

Stay in the ‘Moment’

Productivity requires boundaries. Moment is an iOS app that automatically tracks how much you use your iPhone and iPad each day. If your willpower to log off of Facebook is limited use an app like Moment to set daily limits on yourself and be notified when you go over. You can even force yourself off your device when you’re over your limit.

I know it’s hard but eventually it will free up so much of your time. It will also keep you from getting caught in comparison traps as you mindlessly click through other people’s posts. Apps like Moment help you focus time to do what really matters.

 

The more you focus, the more productive you’ll become as you devote time to things that really matter.

 

Sara J. Loureiro is a Business Coach for female coaches. She shares business strategies and practical ‘woo’ with highly driven coaches and creatives who want to get fully booked with dream clients, make consistent 5k+ months and finally ditch the 9-5 grind so they can start living their dream lives.

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