“We accomplish more by concentration than by fitness; the man that is apparently best suited for a place does not always fill it best. It is the man that concentrates on its every possibility that makes an art of both his work and his life.”
–Theron Q. Dumont

As a writer, blogger and online entrepreneur, I find that one of my biggest challenges is to remain focused. I will candidly share with you the fact that I have both ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and Dyslexia, which is a learning disability related to reading decoding, comprehension and fluency. I was fortunate enough to have an observant mother who noticed my quirky reading and ‘inventive’ writing when I was in Kindergarten, so I was tested and given special resources to help me to overcome these challenges and accommodate my peculiar learning style in the classroom.

Because I have been blessed with the gift of a dyslexic brain, I have been forced to learn how to focus my attention and to constantly course-correct when I get easily distracted. My special learning style has taught me to be very organized in my work. I create lists and spreadsheets for everything to keep all of my concurrent projects on track. Without lists to work from and keep me on task, my ADD brain would go sailing off to find something completely unrelated to occupy herself and I lose valuable time.

With that being said, many of us approach developing and running a business with our own unique set of challenges, but the ability to focus on the task at hand and bring it to a successful conclusion is a skill that can be learned. By the time you have finished reading this blog post, you will have learned some new strategies for improving your focus so that you can increase your productivity regardless of what you are pursuing.

Your time is your most valuable asset. Everyone on earth is given the same amount of time each day. The power is in your hands as to how you will leverage your time to create the things and the life that you desire. The ability to focus on your goals will help you to manifest your desires.

Ask yourself these questions to help sharpen your focus:

What is distracting you from focusing on your daily tasks and goals?

From the moment you wake up in the morning your brain is filled with chatter about a million things. The power of concentration allows you to shut out those distractions that are vying for your attention so that you can focus on the task that you have before you.

Take a look at your work environment and eliminate things that can distract you. For instance, is your desk facing a window? Do you ever find yourself staring out the window when you should be working? Move your desk so that you are facing a wall if the window presents a distraction.

Are you distracted by the Internet when you should be focusing your attention on a particular task? If you are working on a writing project, unplug from the Internet so that you can focus on your work. If you need the Internet for a particular task open just one browser window at a time, work through that task until it complete; check it off your list and then move on to the next task.

What habits are contributing to your lack of focus?

How can you tighten up your overall work and productivity habits? Make a list of everything you must accomplish each day and create daily rituals. Create a morning routine, a framework for a workday routine and an evening routine.

What should you be focusing on?
Every business has basic tasks that must be done to keep in running, and then there is the actual area of expertise that requires attention.

Focus on practicing and honing your area of expertise and get help with the other necessary tasks that can be done by anyone.

How to leverage your time by outsourcing so you can focus on your high value tasks.
Outsourcing or hiring someone outside of your company–typically an independent contractor–is a great way to get those essential tasks such as record keeping, email, marketing and advertising, etc. done for you so that you have more time to focus on your core strengths.

If your business is not bringing in enough money to hire a full-time person, start with hiring out just a specific task and see how much time and energy that frees up for you.

Another option is bartering services. What do you have or do that other people in your network want or need? What can they do for you in return?

All of this leads back to the area of focusing your attention efficiently so that you can accomplish more in less time.

Here are some additional resources that you might want to check out if you want to pursue honing your skills of focus and concentration:

“>The Power of Concentration by Theron Q. Dumont

Find Your Focus Zone: An Effective New Plan to Defeat Distraction and Overload“>Find Your Focus Zone: An Effective New Plan to Defeat Distraction and Overload by Lucy Jo Palladino

Focus and Concentration Collection: Increase Productivity, Improve Performance, Self-Hypnosis, Self-Help, NLP (Unabridged) by Erick Brown

How have you solved the challenge of focus in your business? Feel free to leave a comment with your tips and suggestions for greater productivity and efficiency.