Two simple tools for clarity and focus

I would love to share with you two tools from my coaching toolkit to help you gain clarity and utilise your focus. These tools can help you navigate busy or uncertain periods, adjust to change and feel more in control. Best of all, you can use them straight away and they are quick to do.

Tool 1: Clarity

Brain dump exercise

What you will need: two pieces of paper and a pen or pencil.

Step 1

It’s time for a brain dump. You can do this right now. It’s simple, and you may gain clarity quickly.

Grab yourself a piece of plain paper and a pen or pencil. Now, I would like you to make a list of everything that is on your mind that “needs doing”, or that you would like to achieve in the next seven days. Take as much time as you need to compile this list. Maybe even grab a cuppa while you’re at it.

Write everything down on this list, from household tasks to subscription renewals, bills to pay, invoices to send, workouts to do, meals to make for the week, shopping prep, sewing a button back on your shirt, self-care, appointments that need to be made and scheduled, birthdays, children’s homework tasks, gifts to buy, financial paperwork to work through, bookkeeping and checking in on your parents. Have a brain dump and get all those thoughts that are spinning around in your head onto that piece of paper.

Step 2

Well done on getting your brain dump sorted. Now, it’s time to make one more list, so grab yourself another piece of paper.

This second list will comprise the items from your first brain dump list, but this time I want you to prioritise your brain dump tasks by urgency. Put your most urgent tasks at the top of your list and the non-urgent tasks at the bottom. Tick off the tasks from list one as you go along so you don’t have any duplicates.

You can also ask yourself, “Is this task time-sensitive and in need of immediate attention?” and “Can I push this task to next week?”

When you’ve completed both lists, take a deep breath in and out. Congratulations, you have taken control, gained clarity and taken a step forward. I hope you feel lighter and brighter knowing that everything has been listed and prioritised. You now know what you need to do this week and which task needs direct action to enable you to move in the right direction. Now, let’s put this list into action.

Tool 2: Focus

The one thing exercise

What you will need: Post-it notes and a pen or pencil.

It’s time to combine the clarity tool with the focus tool. This can equip you with what you need to feel more in control and ready to move forward. This is my number one productivity tool, and it is really easy to put into place.

So, how does it work?

Step 1

Grab your second list from the brain dump exercise above and three Post-it notes.

Write your three most urgent tasks for the day on each Post-it note. Get to work on your first urgent task with your full, undivided attention and focus. Don’t stop working on that one task until it is done, aside from short breaks when needed, depending on the duration of the task at hand. When you have completed that task, move on to the second urgent task and then the third.

Step 2

When you have completed all three tasks, you can start the process again with tasks four to six, and again with tasks seven to nine, or until you have finished your set working hours. Clear, concise and actionable tasks are the most successful.

Tiny wins in the right direction are the aim of the two tools I shared above. Following these steps will give you an excellent chance of succeeding, especially when your mind is dealing with a lot.

Remember, slow and steady progress is still progress.

Having smaller, manageable tasks on your list will increase the chance of getting the job done. If you have written down any projects rather than tasks, now is the time to break those down into smaller mini-tasks that can be scheduled on your Post-it notes.

Example

Project: Schedule all social media posts for April.

Smaller mini-task from above project: Write one social media post, find an image to accompany it and schedule it. Repeat across the week.