November 4, 2016 by

Do You Focus Anymore?

Do You Focus Anymore?It is possible one of the potential lost skills from the technology overload, along with the ability to have a face-to-face conversation in person, is the ability to focus on one specific item, project, idea – the point is one single thing.

The CEO of Fitbit, James Park, instituted a few rules in creating the right culture for his team. A meeting must have an agenda passed out prior to scheduling the meeting. Keep the meeting to the point. Fifty minutes is the maximum meeting length and most are completed in twenty minutes.

Stay with me here, one or two days a week, in the afternoon are designated as alone time with no meetings allowed. This permits people to focus on something that might need their full attention not only a few minutes here or there in between meetings and responding to emails.

A study conducted by a Family Foundation of youth aged 9 to 17 years old reported they were involved in technological distractions for 7 to 10 hours each day, every single day of the week. This is really frightening.

Before providing a few positive thoughts for you, has everyone seen the drivers who run the red light, do not stop for the stop sign and turn, without a care, for a right on red?

Yes, some are on the phone talking directly or texted, however, many others are distracted within their own mind and their own thoughts – hundreds maybe thousands of them. All of these thoughts swirling around creating an environment of constant distraction in each of their daily lives.

This had me thinking about F – O – C – U – S.

  • F = FREEDOM
  • O = OUTSTANDING
  • C = CONFIDENCE
  • U = UNDERSTOOD
  • S = SURVIVAL

F = FREEDOM

When you are fully in focus on one item – the feeling is best described as freedom. Time flies, there are no distractions, every piece of energy is flowing into this one item.

O = OUTSTANDING

The person who has the ability to focus on one item – they get things done that matter. They are viewed as outstanding. It is not a contest. It is a fact. These are the doers.

C = CONFIDENCE

An ability to focus clearly on one item for periods of time brings on a feeling of confidence. This is not to be confused with arrogance. It is the confidence in the ability to drive into the deadline with a quality result. The knowledge you are able to tackle anything that is going to be placed before you.

U = UNDERSTOOD

There is no need for extra descriptive language or long drawn out stories. The clarity which is brought out from focus provides succinct explanations which go right to the point. This is understood by everyone. By the wording there may be an appearance of the simplistic, however, in it’s stripped down clarity and right to the point descriptive no one is going to have a problem with it.

S = SURVIVAL

An ability to focus all of one’s energy for a period of time on one thing is at it’s root a survival instinct. Consider being attacked out in the wild, would this not consume you and have your entire focus or “Oh wait, butterflies…”.

Will technology cause the next evolution of humanity or will we be determined enough to regain our ability to focus?

Are you and your team ready to focus? Are you ready to commit to a process? Contact Mitch Here!

Mitch Tublin is the owner and founder of a consulting practice which includes coaching, training and professional speaking services to organizations all over the world.

Filed Under: Inspiration, Self Improvement Tagged With: , , , , , ,
October 14, 2016 by

How Do You Deal With Distraction?

How Do You Deal With Distraction?Let’s begin with a definition of distraction – that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration – A distraction is something that takes your attention away from what you’re supposed to be doing. (dictionary.com and vocabulary.com)

Now the question? What is on your list? How long is your list? How about you take one minute, right now, 60 seconds and write a list of one or two word distractions you deal with on a daily basis.

Here is the thing – regardless of your workplace – by yourself or in a relaxed dress code more casual start up model or in a more corporate environment -we all – every single one of us deal with distractions every single day. And that is only the workplace, how about your personal life!

Distraction is everywhere!

The most difficult aspect of these distractions is the recovery. Some studies report it takes a full fifteen to twenty minutes to regain the focus you had before the distraction to get back on track with whatever you were working on! Four distractions in one day adds up to over an hour a day trying to regain your focus. Worse is most people are distracted way more than four times each day.

Here is a quick review of many of the common distractions. Feel free to go to the comments section and add in your distraction of note especially if it is not mentioned here.

Social Media and direct messages – Text messages – Email – phone calls

Obsessions with sports, politics, music, movies, restaurants, shopping, eating, smoking, your favorite subject of this month

Technology and Tools

The growth of technology and tools and how pervasive they have become in all of our lives has changed our behavior forever. Technology and devices were going to help us to all become more productive. Instead we are now available all of the time. Our work lives really never end. At least this is the expectation we have bought into. Many of us have an expectation of an immediate response to our email to someone – More so of a direct message via Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn – “it has been almost two minutes! What could they possibly be doing!”  Tell me honestly, you really have never thought this or said this out loud after typing and sending your message?

Online Shopping

The ability to go online to actually purchase with shipping to your home virtually anything has created a 24 X 7 store for anything. From shoes to workout clothes, to homes to cars, to vacations to chainsaws. With a few clicks and some price comparison and reading a couple of reviews – all set – CLICK – PURCHASE CONFIRMED.

The backlash at certain companies is to block the use of the internet in all work areas. No outside access through WIFI or anything – period. Before this was the case you didn’t mind sitting at your desk eating your tuna sandwich or spinach salad with grilled chicken as long as you were able to click around. Now you have to go outside and go somewhere, Starbucks, anywhere where there is a WIFI signal so you may check your personal email and maybe do some shopping or at least window/virtually shopping.

You know, we all know there is much more, let’s stop here.

Ask yourself, seriously ask yourself, what would happen if I turned it all off for a few hours everyday and only gave my focus to my work? Put up an auto-responder message stating from 1 PM until 5 PM (or whatever time you select) no messages will be received or responded to?   What would be the result? Would you become more productive and less distracted? Give it some time as you may have to deal with withdrawal symptoms and you will definitely have to train others to understand and respect your revised work schedule.

Who knows, maybe others will follow your lead and everyone will become more productive together.

Mitch Tublin is a speaker, coach and trainer based in Stamford, CT. Are you looking for Mitch to speak at your next meeting about productivity in the workplace, leadership or more effective communication?

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Self Improvement, Time Management Tagged With: , , , , ,
April 24, 2015 by

U DRIVE U TEXT U PAY – Are U DISTRACTED at Work?

U DRIVE   U TEXT   U PAY

distracted-at-workThis is the latest slogan in use to get the attention of the numerous already very distracted drivers of vehicles. The point is – it is a warning that you will be getting a fairly expensive moving violation ticket if you are caught texting while driving. The amount of the fine gets progressively higher as you are issued the next ticket for this offense.

The more important point of this slogan and the effort by the local and State Police is the prevention of the recently higher and higher number of accidents caused by distracted drivers. The numbers are staggering. At least ten percent of drivers are utilizing, looking at or holding onto some type of electronic hand held device while driving. The ten percent number seems low to me based upon my unscientific look around at other drivers while driving. Probably should not do that either as it is distracting.

What may be even worse is the children in the car see the driver texting while driving. Think about it – these are the future drivers who will model what they are seeing from the passenger seat when they are the one behind the wheel.

Which brings me to the point of this article – Are U DISTRACTED at work? The most recent survey conducted of the workforce in the U.S.A. and the U.K. reflected 28 percent to 35 percent of the workforce are fully disengaged from their work, while at work. Close to 44 percent do not respect or even like their managers or leadership at their workplace.

These numbers tell many stories. In fact, these figures would easily support an article about leadership, motivation, culture and much more. For now let’s focus on distractions in the workplace. Specifically, if the distracted driving epidemic exists and pervades our society out on the roads, similarly the handheld devices are a cause for distraction at work.

Further the desktop PC, laptop or any connection to the world outside may be a cause for distractions in the workplace. Here is the rub. A workplace in a lock down mode is setting itself up for a huge problem. The up and coming workforce in the age group under 35 years old right now is not interested in working in this type of an environment. Ask anyone in this age group and they will tell you they are able to quickly scan a few sites or newsfeeds and be caught up on anything going on anywhere on any topic. In a few minutes they are able to assess who is thinking about what on any topic with a few taps on the keys going through their social media accounts.

These are not distractions. These are attributes and tools to be properly utilized in the context of the position in the business held by this person. Unfortunately in many cases the job description is crafted by legal or by someone who has rewritten the former job description from a 1980’s manual.

It is time to assess what is a distraction at work and what attributes may be brought to the table to add value by enabling the broader utilization of the internet in a variety of job functions.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified personal and executive coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Would you like to have a new culture in your business and workplace? Contact Mitch for a consultation to make this a reality

Filed Under: Business Environment, Business Structure Tagged With: , , , , ,
May 30, 2014 by

Are You Distracted?

DistractionsYou are at a cross street and there is another car in front of you. The intersection is a four way stop sign intersection. You see the car approaching from the left and the driver is clearly looking down at their phone. The car coming from the left continues on through the intersection without even slowing down. Each of the cars at the other stop signs are each shaking their heads in disbelief. The driver of the car which went through the stop sign never looked up from their phone. Do you see this taking place often where you live and where you drive? The term we hear to describe this behavior is distracted driving.

My question to you is, are you conducting your business as a distracted business owner? An easy way to test if you are is to ask a few simple questions of yourself. Are you focused on one or two specific areas of expertise or products to market? This focus means you are spending your time selling and marketing directly. You are not yourself creating web sites, logos, looking up trademark rules and regulations, running personal errands throughout the day. You are clearly focused on the one or two specific items.

Do you know the value of one hour of your time? Do you delegate or hire in people to conduct the work you are not of the expertise to handle or to conduct the work which you should not conduct? Based upon your answers to these questions it should be clearly obvious to you or anyone else if you are a distracted business owner.

It is critical to have a clear and unobstructed focus on your business direction. There should be written down goals and objectives for your business for the year. These are then placed into goals to achieve each month, each week, each day to support the objective for the year. You and your team should hold yourselves accountable by checking in often to see if you are on track or off track. If you are off track, understand why and establish what must be done to get back on track. If you work alone you must have a business coach or a trusted advisor working with you to at the very least hold you accountable.

In the driving example it was obvious and very clear to the other drivers that the distracted driver was distracted. Did the distracted driver ever recognize they were distracted? The same example holds for your business. People around you are able to see you are a distracted business owner. The problem is you do not recognize that you are a distracted business owner. Take action steps now and pay attention. Find a business coach to work with. Get focused today.

Mitch Tublin is an advanced certified executive and personal coach who resides in Stamford, CT.

Filed Under: Achieve Goals, Business Planning, Business Strategy Tagged With: , , , , , ,