Real Focus
REAL FOCUS
Take control and start living the life you want
This edition first published 2016
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Title: Real focus: take control and start living the life you want / Psychologies Magazine.
Description: Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons,
2016. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016006352 | ISBN 9780857086600 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Time management. | Distraction (Psychology) | Attention.
Classification: LCC BF637.T5 R43 2016 | DDC 650.1–dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016006352
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-857-08660-0 (pbk) ISBN 978-0-857-08661-7 (ebk)
ISBN 978-0-857-08662-4 (ebk)
Cover Design: Wiley
FOREWORD
by Suzy Greaves, Editor, Psychologies
Time is the currency of our lives. We are all given the same amount of time to spend – 8760 hours a year, 730 hours a month, 168 hours a week – so how are we choosing to spend that time? Your ability to focus, be it giving the full beam of your attention to the people you love or delivering an important project at work, can mean the difference between a happy, productive life and a lost, miserable one.
That's why I love this book. It helps you discover the key to spending your time consciously and wisely instead of frittering days away on reacting to the assault of never-ending demands – which means you'll be free to proactively create the life you really want.
At Psychologies, our slogan on the front of the magazine is ‘your life, your way’. Our readers are passionate about creating a life that works for them on their own terms. But, as we all know, that's difficult to do when we find ourselves distracted, overwhelmed and frazzled. How can you even begin to ask the bigger questions (What do I want? Where am I going? What do I want to create?) when you're squashed flat under a giant to-do list? This book encourages you to create the space and time to identify what really is stealing your time and attention so you can create a strategy to focus on what really matters to you – with the help of the most renowned and respected productivity experts in the world.
I believe this book will not only save you time but quite literally save your life – one minute at a time. Are you ready? OK, let's focus.
INTRODUCTION
How are you today? We would hazard a guess that your answer will be along the lines of ‘I’m so busy’, ‘I feel so frazzled’, or ‘what am I doing even reading this book, I’ve got so much to do!’
However, we also suspect that you know in your heart of hearts that life’s not supposed to feel like this. You’re not supposed to feel like you’re in a hamster wheel that you can’t get off; that life is a ‘whirlwind’ or ‘one never-ending to-do list’. You know there has to be another way – but what is it?
Well here it is: Real Focus. We suspect that the reason you’re reading this book is because you feel your lack of focus is causing you problems in your life. Perhaps you feel overwhelmed by how much you have to do every day in the time available; or you’re unclear about your goals and what you really want. Maybe you’re sick of getting to the end of another ‘manic’ day and thinking: what have I actually achieved?
You probably look at other people and think they’ve got it all worked out (we can pretty much guarantee, they haven’t). At the end of the day though, this isn’t about anyone else, it’s about you; it’s about creating a life that allows you the time and space to do everything that matters, and spend time with those that matter too. We feel that’s what Real Focus is, in a nutshell: doing what matters. It’s kind of simple and yet tricky all at the same time.
The good news is that anybody can achieve it when they know how; and this book is the first step.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
First of all, it’s important that you use this book in the way that benefits you the most. All we want is for you to take away as much as possible to help you in your personal journey towards better focus. To that end, we’ve split this book into three, clear sections so that you can dip in and out, read from front to back, or in whichever way you wish.
Part One is called How Focused Are You? This section will help you to look at how you feel now (how your lack of focus might be affecting your life), and what life could look and feel like if your focus improved. We have also put together a list of what we, at Psychologies, feel constitutes Real Focus. It’s meant as a helpful list of goals if you like, but you can add to and omit as you see fit, curating your own personal set of goals. Perhaps you’ll want to stick our list up on your fridge, or use it as inspiration for your own.
Part Two is called Why Do You Lack Focus? Covering key issues like time management and work/life balance, this section will help you to identify the issues that might be standing in the way of you reaching your potential and hindering your efforts to become more focused.
Part Three is called How Can You Become More Focused? Taking everything we have learned and explored throughout the book, this section is packed full of tips and strategies for you to ‘practise’