Get focused
In these times of exams, projects, deadlines, work, hobby’s, family and everything else we need and want to get done in our every day lives, focus and staying organized is more important than ever! I’m not saying we can’t do it all because we totally can (!) but sometimes it’s important to remind ourselves of just that, and gather the tools of how to get there! Here are my best tips on how to stay focus and organized working towards my goals.
– Write every single thing you need to get done down on paper, in a calendar or on you phone. It doesn’t matter where you choose to keep your “to do list” as long as everything is collected in one particular place and you remember to look at it every morning!
– Sit down with your partner, friends, nanny or other support person to plan ahead week by week. You need to know ahead of time what to do and focus on day by day, hour by hour.
– Be realistic! You will need to take time for lunch, grocery shopping, exercising and other things that are part of regular life.
– Do what you need to do when you need to do it. Stick to your deadlines!!!
– Say no without explaining! I can’t stress this one enough and I suck at it myself. I have to learn not to take on more jobs, projects and responsibilities when I know I don’t have the time to do so.
– Prioritise. If you have a really tight schedule turn down invitations, events and other time consuming things that only result in feeling guilty. Explain the situation to your friends and family and make sure to contact them as soon as you have more time on your hands again. They will understand!
– Do not neglect you health! There is no better time to take extra good care of yourself as when you have your hands full and feeling a bit stressed.
– Be present. If you work then work and if you spend time with your family do that without any disturbance and thoughts about could haves, should haves and would haves. I have invented a new rule for myself. When I’m with my daughter I focus on being present with her without glancing at my phone every other minute and trying to answer just that one email I need to get done.
– Accept that no one is perfect! We might be able to juggle a million different things all at once, but we are not perfect! Sometimes things don’t turn out just the way we wanted and sometimes we don’t perform as we could have if we had been able to give our very best. That’s life so we’d better just accept it and move on.
– You will never be done with your “to do’s”. There will always be new tasks, deadlines and things to accomplish, so remember to enjoy the journey (also known as life) and focus less on the destination.
Picture by Vilma P
7 Comments
Thanks for this post! It’s really important to get back to this kind of basic stuff when there are many things going on. I still have to disagree with you about something… It’s about that thing you wrote about turning down invitations etc when your schedules are extremely tight. I personally have learned that it’s good to stay social as well. The time you spend with your friends or attending to other social activities doesn’t have to be that long, but it propably gives you more than it takes. For me it’s time to get my mind out of stressing things and after that you’ll have even more energy to concentrate on your work or whatever. That’s why I think you shouldn’t turn down invitations because of the stress, that may be the only thing you need when times are extremely stressing :)
Thanks for you comment! I so agree with you that for some people it’s very important to re-charge by thinking about something else for a minute but that just doesn’t work for me. I have to focus 100% on what I’m doing and save the fun for later when I’m done. Otherwise I can’t enjoy it and I only struggle with a bad conscious :/.
Love the way you thinking girl ;) Have a great night!!
You too <3
Thanks for this post Sofia! I read your blog every day but I have never commented on any post until now! I totally agree with your philosophy and as young professional in the hectic finance industry this was exactly what I needed to read to remind myself to focus and prioritize on the “to do’s” while still being present and enjoying the ride. Thanks for that! I also remember you mentioning that you used to live in Canada, so I just wanted to say hello from another Finnish girl living in the city of the Canucks! ;)
Love Canada <3! I think I needed this post myself. Sometimes it's just very much needed to point out even the most obvious things for oneself :).
Hi Sofia! I saw your picture with this dress somewhere and I would be thrilled to buy similar for this summer! So, do you remember where have you bought it or which brand is it? Thank you so much if you have time to answer this! Have a lovely week. <3