How To Get More Done - Concentrate!

I was driving back to the office the other day and noticed a general trend in people's driving habits which got me thinking about business.

I was driving along a dual carriageway approaching a set of traffic lights. Both lanes went straight on. The traffic in the left hand lane was backed up with about 12 cars sat in a line but the right hand lane was empty. So I moved into the right hand lane and instead of having to queue up behind the others, when the lights went green, I sailed on effortlessly.

This got me thinking, why do so many drivers just "happily" sit in queues instead of going in the other lane and making effortless progess. I thought at first that perhaps it was a British thing. We're well known as a nation who "like" to queue for everything!

But as I continued my journey I noticed other drivers dithering and not making progress; being slow to react to traffic lights changing and sitting behind slow vehicles like lorries and buses. Now please don't get me wrong; this isn't about speed or getting from A to B in record time. But it's about people being focused on the job in hand and doing it well. I realised that many of the drivers I journeyed with that morning were not at all focused on the job in hand. They weren't concentrating on driving. They were oblivious to the traffic. They seemed to be in their own little worlds.

And I think this is something we all do from time to time when we're driving. Overtime, driving becomes second nature. (If you're a learner driver, then I do feel your pain! I promise you it does get easier wth practice!) So we don't concentrate on driving as much as we should. Instead we sit in traffic thinking about our lives; the work we have to do; the problems we're currently having; dreaming about that special person we just met etc..

Get in the game!
Which is why we end up sitting behind the slow vehicles and sitting in a long line of other cars. It's not that we really like queuing! I just think we're "not in the game", as Billy Cox would say. We need to get in the game! We need to really focus on the job in hand. We need to concentrate! Can you imagine what better drivers we would be if we concentrated. If we lived and breathed everything about the car, the noise of the engine, all our surroundings, the traffic lights, the speed, the steering wheel, changing gear at the right time and if we remembered our Highway Code. "Mirror, signal, manoeuvre". How many times have you seen someone start to pull out into your lane before they have indicated? It happens all the time.

Start focusing
It's the same in business. We are not concentrating. We are getting distracted. We don't focus intently on each task as we set about them. We let other things get in the way and disturb us. It's understandable really. With so many applications open at one time on a PC or Mac how can expect not to be disturbed?! An email drops into your in box; a new tweet arrives in Tweetdeck; a phone call.

Wouldn't it be much better if we set out with the right intention? Close all the applications on your computer and just leave open the one you are using for that 20 - 30 minutes. If you are working on your next email marketing campaign and you're writing the content for one of the follow up emails. I would write it in Word first. Close all the other programs down and just leave Word open. Close all your browsers, close Outlook or whichever email client you use. Switch off your mobile phone and divert your phone. And then just focus - concentrate - on the task at hand.

You'll be amazed at how much more effective you will be. You might even stop sitting in traffic and start to pick the empty lanes at traffic lights! Please try it and let me know how you get on.