Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast

Staying Focused On What Matters Most

If you are still writing yourself a list, be sure to check out this quiz because that is the first place that we want to start. You want to make sure you have a really great system in place. Once your routines and time blocks are in place, there might still be days when you aren’t feeling up to accomplishing the task at hand. I experience these days as well. Rhythms, habits, and discipline are very important, even if you aren’t a super habitual person. Make sure to consistently build in time to do nothing, just to be alone, play, or have fun.

If you struggle with a lack of motivation often, I completely understand. Today we will discuss seven steps in how I battle my own lack of motivation. I have had a roller coaster of my own challenging health journey. I have really great holistic professionals on board helping me through these things. So if you are in a similar boat, this list of seven steps to staying focused is sure to help you! We all have highs and lows throughout the month. That is a normal thing for women.

As a wife and mom, people still have to be led and fed in my home. Even when I don’t feel like it, there are still plenty of things to get done. So, how do I stay super productive? That is the question.

Systems Help With Staying Focused

I think you should give yourself more credit than you probably are. More than likely, you are insanely productive, but might not have systems in place. My systems allow me to be extremely effective when my energy output is pretty low on a regular basis.

That is why I put systems in place to begin with. In the past I didn’t have the energy to be able to take care of my family the way I wanted to. I had to focus on taking care of myself in order to even be able to show up. That’s truly why Systemize Your Life came to be. I couldn’t stomach the idea of just laying around all the time or just focusing on myself all the time. Other people needed me and other things needed me. I wanted to be able to juggle everything on my plate, so I got my systems in place.

Having A Home Management System Helps Tremendously

When I got systems in place, it helped tremendously. Having a home management system is not really even something that I think twice about anymore. It helped so much to reduce the amount of energy that I was expending every single day to get less outcome than what I’m getting now. On the Enneagram, I’m a one wing two, which means I strive to be my very best at all times. All while I’m trying to nurture, serve and give in love everything in my within arms reach my whole heart. Balancing those two things requires a lot of energy for me internally.

Seven Steps To Staying Focused On The Task At Hand

#1 – Envision The Final Result

#2 – Reward Yourself With Treats

We recently got a puppy and the type of training that we have chosen to implement with him is to reward everything with a treat. It’s a “Yes” and then we mark it with a treat. The same thing works great with us humans, too! Finish the dishes? Grab some dark chocolate! I have really great boundaries with food so it can be my motivation.

So, what are the rewards that will work well for you? Maybe it’s Netflix that night, but not if you don’t have good sleep hygiene and boundaries. It can also be a trip to Target with the debit card in hand, if you have solid boundaries with your budget. Think about what you will reward yourself with and dangle that carrot.

#3 – Think About When You Didn’t Follow Through 

Use what went wrong in the past, when you weren’t staying focused, as a motivation. Use it as a tool. What happened when you didn’t pre-pack the lunchboxes and backpacks and have the water bottles ready to go the night before? When you think about what happened when you didn’t follow through, it sets off a chain reaction for your entire day or entire week.

If you don’t want to sit and have that budget meeting, what will it prevent you from being able to do? What happens when you keep over spending? You’re still in debt. You still don’t have money for the things you want to have money for. That’s frustrating. Speaking of budgets, when you become a student inside of Systemize Your Life, you gain access to budget spreadsheets there.

Take the time to think about what is it actually going to look like if you don’t do the task ahead and ask yourself: Is it worth it?

#4 – Analyze Your Goals: The Ultimate Way To Stay Focused

Analyze your goals and determine what is really worth it to you. Sometimes we create plans that are really lofty. Sometimes being highly productive and living at that standard, in that caliber, with that intensity, for so long isn’t actually worth it. It’s important to have a dialogue with yourself to determine what is and isn’t worth your time and energy.

Having a relationship with yourself where you trust yourself and build upon that trust. The dialogue that we have with ourselves is the number one leading guide and voice that we have. Some of us choose to partner that with faith, and some people are on their own and they don’t. In the process you have to build trust that when you tell yourself you’re going to do something you’ll follow up and actually do it.

#5 – Look For Another Place To Put The Task

I look for another place to put the task that is honest and still holds integrity. When my week is completely full and there is not a place to move the task, that is my answer. Not doing the task when I said I would is out of the question. The task has to be accomplished within the original plan.

If you are systemized, you will know whether or not it can be plugged in later in the week. Only do this if it won’t throw everything else off. If there is a chance of your week being thrown off, take that as your sign to follow through with the original plan!

#6 – Ask For Help

Absolutely ask for help and lean on other people. I ask for help from my mom to come over, ask my kids to complete tasks, or ask my husband to come sit with me in the closet while I fold my laundry. I delegate a lot in my life and always have. Delegation is my superpower, and it needs to become yours.

Delegation is a huge part of why I do so much. So many people tell me they want to do it on their own. However, when you do everything on your own and don’t ask for help, it’s hard to get very far. That’s the reason we have one another. We may be passing up the opportunity to empower someone or get to know someone better by passing up help.

Asking for help is a skill that many people lack. Just a direct ask. I don’t beat around the bush. We just get really clear and if they don’t help, that’s fine. You can either find someone else to help you or figure out if there is another way for that person to help you.

#7 – Knowing How To Take Care Of Yourself

It is so important to understand what your body needs and what your boundaries are. I’m honestly still learning what this looks like in this season. I think we’re always going to have to continue to learn what our needs are. Our bodies change over time.

“It is so important to understand what your body needs and what your boundaries are.”

In every aspect of your life, you need to know what your boundaries are. Know how to take care of yourself to set yourself up for your work block: snacks, hydration, sleep, etc. Be able to recognize your symptoms of burnout. When you are taking care of yourself, you can proactively prevent that burnout from happening in the first place.

I hope that you find these seven steps helpful and I hope it encourages you to show up for yourself time and time again. Remember to take care of yourself. Focus on the power you have with the thoughts that you create. I hope this makes you smile and feel a little bit better about creating systems in your life. It is sure to be an absolute game changer for you.