Tips for Maintaining Focus In Business

Painted on the wall in my office are three words: Focus, Success, Goals. The words were added last year when I decided my office needed an overall (more on that in another post). There are many words that I could have included and many more that I might add, but these were some of the first that came to mind.

Today, I want to address the first word, Focus. Focus is a very important aspect of being productive and successful in business, but new entrepreneurs frequently find it elusive.

Often distracted by new opportunities, vast responsibilities, and the day-to-day demands of running and operating their business, Solopreneurs are particularly susceptible and can easily find themselves off track if they are not cautious. Maintaining focus is much more than a daily to-do list, but by definition is a concentrated effort or attention on a particular thing. Maintaining focus can be challenging if you don’t have certain strategies in place ahead of time. Here are just a few to assist you with maintaining focus in your business:


Define and Stay True to Your Mission - When you know what it is you are working for, it’s much easier to stay on track and have direction. Your mission provides purpose for your vision and everything that you do. When you begin a new task, consider opportunities and what you need to be doing from day-to-day, go back to your mission and make sure that everything falls in line.

Set Goals with Measurable Steps – Goal setting is an important tool. By setting goals you can clearly see what it is you want to accomplish. But to gain further ground, make sure that your goals have measurable and obtainable steps. As an example, if you have a goal to increase sales by 20%, then steps to accomplish that might be to make 20 additional sales calls, take a course in selling, or attend 1 additional networking event a month.

Eliminate Unnecessary Distractions – Distractions are everywhere and the savvy business owner has to become a good filter. Most business owners are not as affected or troubled by large annoying distractions but smaller, less intrusive ones such as unscheduled phone calls, email, and unexpected emergencies. The only way to eliminate these distractions is to see them as such and to put strategies in place to manage them. Schedule a time to follow-up with phone calls and check email and determine how much time you will spend with each. This will not only help you eliminate distractions, but assist you with managing your time more wisely and decrease unforeseen emergencies.

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