Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm EASILY distracted. In all things. I'm the person who could be in the middle of a project or conversation and if a song that I like comes on in the background, I'm dancing and no longer engaged. I have to concentrate in order to focus unless someone is posing a problem that needs solving or the issue at hand is very important to them. Note: This is why I'm terrible at small talk! My active listening skills can be impeccable to the point that I'm silent, but it's usually one extreme or the other. I've come to believe that this is true about most artists. However, some of us seem to have mastered the ability to use our distractions to our advantage. Meanwhile I'm over here avoiding mine like the plague.
Recently, I've cut down on my biggest distraction…social media. Instagram to be more precise. Mind you, I haven't cut down on posting, but I have limited myself on consumption. I will not allow myself to scroll past 10 posts in my feed. Same with FB, if they aren't in the first 10 status updates in my news feed, I don't see anything. Has this helped my productivity? Yep. Another thing I've begun doing is writing my fleeting, random, asinine thoughts. Does it work? I have no idea (yet) but it's pretty comical. In addition to my social media diet and jotting thoughts, making myself see things through to completion before starting on another similar project has worked also. For instance, I didn't allow myself to write a single word in any other project until I completed my last book. It worked! I only allowed myself to journal and didn't tackle any creative writing ideas during that time period.
Focusing on ONE task at a time is hard for me. My brain tends to work faster than my hands. Always has, probably always will. I have never been diagnosed with any lettered deficit ailment but I'm sure I make those close to me question whether or not I should be. So to my fellow busy minded artists, authors, and entrepreneurs, how do you find and maintain focus? What do you do when there are 4 projects in your head and one of you? What happens when there are 6 story plots in your head at one time? How do you beat the mental fatigue accompanied by subsequent shutdown that typically follows the mental overwhelm? How do you maintain momentum on a project when your next great idea tries to kick that momentum to the curb? What ways are you feeding your focus and starving your distractions? Let me know! Comment below or find me on Instagram and Twitter: @yourartcrush
Hope to hear from you!
I think I focus on waaaay too many things at a time. I will try this approach with the hopes of being more productive. I’ve also begun to limit my consumption of social media but then again I do this often because it’s super easy to fall down the rabbit hole, so to speak.