Uninterrupted Thought: Power of Focus – Blissdom 2013

It is time to protect your writing process. your thoughts are your raw materials, under constant barrage of distractions. Twitter! Facebook! Instagram! For the love of all the glittery, Pinterest! Imagine what you would create if you secured uninterrupted thought. Megan Jordan leds this session.

“Concentration is the secret of strength.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

What are your current projects? You probably have more than just one like your own blog, contributor gigs, consulting and life. First thing you need to do is TURN OFF the push notifications. The ones on your phone, your tablet, your computer. A notification is anything that makes a noise or pops up, often times they are email, Facebook and calendar.

What are some of your obstacles to sitting down and writing a blog post or editing a video? These usually are small kids at home, work, school volunteering or sports.

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” Unknown

It is time for you sit down and write goals. First, focus on short term goals like traffic goals, engagement goals, invitations to events, landing a column or regular writing practice. Next think about long term goals, such as support family with blog income, secure a literary agent, publish a book or create consistent long-term storytelling material. Now ask youself, how long would you ideally like to write each day? How much would you like to produce each week? Now focus on your current projects first thing in the morning before multitasking.

“You need to pour yourself out before you fill up with other people’s ideas..” Tsh Oxenreider

“It’s not the daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” Bruce Lee

Set boundaries in your daily routine. First, check email or check twitter in the morning. Next, focus on the priority task in your current projects. Do this task for at least 30 minutes. Give yourself a break – maybe tend to one of the distractions for 15 minutes. Go back to the original task. Repeat.

Your time is exponentially better spent focused, in uninterrupted thought, on your prioritized project.