This is episode 153 of the Absolute Mind podcasts and today I am covering how to stay focused on a task whatever that may be.

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Staying focused on your goals, to stay focused on whatever you set out to achieve is imperative for you to be successful. This can be anything from life goals, career goals, relationships, home tasks, fitness, whatever you want to be able to achieve you must stay focused. Staying focused means allowing time and dedication to things that are important, the smaller things outside of your goal become less important.

But, there's a balance that is needed, the phrase my husband's lovely nan said to him once "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" has always stayed in the back of his mind an when he needs to focus on his work I make sure to remind him every now and again of Nan's words. Hopefully, today's podcast can give you some tips on how to remain focused to achieve your goals but to also have that work/home life balance.

Studies say that the average human has an eight-second attention span, less than that of a goldfish. Over the years this has reduced due to our abundance of digital devices and always seeking and searching to find out whats new and whats upcoming. How many times have you "logged on" with all intentions of writing your exam paper, or finishing off a project to find that you have somehow landed on some random page with useless information that has nothing at all to do with your paper?

Well, youre in luck! You can train yourself to become more focused, see it as focus is like a muscle, the more you train it the stronger it becomes. Once you drop the belief that you simply "can't focus" you will see just how easy it is to keep your mind on track.

Here are some tips and trick to help you to stay focused and eliminate distractions.

How To Stay Focused.

1. Prepare yourself - Before sitting down to any task, clear and calm your brain. Practice some relaxation, I always say a clear mind is a calm mind and a calm clear mind can face and tackle anything!
2. Know where your focus needs to be - Being able to focus involves an understanding of what is worthy of your distraction. Take some time before starting to identify what deserves your focus and then block out time in your diary for that particular task.
3. Switch off - If you have a task that you need to complete and remain focused on be sure to log off, switch off emails, social media all of these things that can distract you quickly and easily. Anything that pops up on your screen to tell you that you have a new email, or a new "comment" switch them off. The second you allow yourself to be distracted by emails you're affecting your ability to complete your task whilst actually helping the person who emailed you to tick off their to-do list first! Emails and social media can wait for at least 30 mins
4. External factors - Simple things such as the temperature in the room being too hot or too cold can have an impact on your ability to remain focused, so make sure the thermostat is set to a comfortable temp.
5. Listen to some music - Having too much background noise can be distracting, but according to studies having low music playing in the background can help you to focus on your own thoughts. Have music that you enjoy and get settled ready to work!
6. Take some breaks - Rather than allowing yourself to be distracted during your allotted work time, why not build it into your schedule. Allow a certain amount of time to switch off the distractions and get work done but then also allow time for social media, emails, etc as long as you stick to your time frames, and allocated time blocks for each thing. Treat those distractions just like you would your workload. There are studies out that show taking a short break in the middle of long tasks can re-energise the brain and help you to re focus.
7. Know when to finish - This one is an important one for those with families and who need to switch off at the end of the day. Have a "finish" time for your day, taking work or exam stress home and allowing it to continue into the evening can have an impact on your home life. Before you finish your tasks for the day be sure to sit down and write your tasks for the following day so that you can go home mentally knowing that you are already prepared for the morning.
8. Have you time - This goes back to lovely Nan's words, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It's important to fully switch off at times, embrace some fun, let off some steam, laugh, pamper yourself, anything that makes you feel good/positive allocate time for this too!

So there are some useful ways you can begin to start focusing more and doing more to achieve your goals, have fun with it and trial ways of helping yourself.