How To Focus On What’s Important

Let’s face it: Even as business leaders, we can’t pay attention to everything at once.

Doing so would be overwhelming. So, we filter things out. It’s the way we function in the world. We operate on autopilot. Our neural networks and muscle memory get us dressed, drive us to work and get us logged into our computers so that we can focus on crafting that important announcement at the 10 a.m. meeting. Some even attempt to “multitask” (a neurological and physiological impossibility) and switch their focus back and forth between competing demands.

But as an executive coach, I’ve seen that the challenge each of us faces is still in managing our attention. The more intentional you are about this, I believe, the more productive you can be. There are two things that I’ve observed trigger our attention: priority and change. It is important to pay attention to both.

Priority

All too often people find themselves challenged by “time management.” Back-to-back meetings, reports to read, text messages to respond to and a multipage to-do list all clamor for attention. For some, the “squeaky wheel” is given priority; for others, it is the degree of urgency that claims their attention.

In fact, I’ve found the most effective approach to time management is to focus on priority management. Quite simply, given what you are setting out to achieve, what is the most important thing that you can be doing in the block of time you currently have available? Priority is not given based on the urgency of an activity or request, but on its importance.

Note that the starting point here is outcome focused, not activity focused. By paying attention to the outcome first, you establish your priority. You also open the possibility of achieving it in different ways. For example, the priority might be to provide the boss with the information they need to make a critical strategic decision. By its very nature, this focus tends to call for paying a different level of attention than simply saying, “I have to write a report for the boss.” There might be other ways to provide them with the information. Or, if they are expecting the information to come in the form of a report, it might be that there are others who can draft the report for you.

“Priority” is singular. A single priority has your attention. Having several priorities, unless you are intentional about your focus, has your attention hopscotching from one to the next. This means that none is the singular subject of your focus.

which only you can do. Then pay attention to it.

Change

Change is the second attention trigger. It pulls us out of autopilot so that we can respond to whatever the disruption is. It might be a small change. Perhaps there is road construction ahead, and you have to alter your typical route to work. If the new route is on familiar roads, you are likely to go back to autopilot quickly; if the roads are unfamiliar, the change will continue to draw your attention.

The change might also be a significant one. For example, perhaps you received a promotion, or there was a significant shift in how your work is to be done (or even what work you are doing) as the result of a new strategic initiative. Such changes can be highly disruptive over extended periods of time as you pay attention to learning new ways of thinking and the skills that they require.

If the change becomes the priority, keeping up with your other responsibilities will quickly slip, resulting in a loss of both quality and productivity. If current responsibilities remain a priority, little if any attention will be focused on the change; momentum will be lost, and the change will fail to deliver on its promise. Be intentional about paying attention.

Anchors

The more quickly you can move through a change and make it your new reality, the more quickly you can refocus your attention on other priorities. The challenge, however, is that the more fully you focus on the change, the more overwhelming it can become. It can begin to seem like “everything is changing” because that is where you are paying attention. That is why anchors become so important during change.

As I have written before, anchors are those things that provide you with a sense of security and stability. They might be people, places, things or even beliefs. When you are heavily engaged in change, giving specific anchors priority and turning your attention to them will help to lessen the sense of disruption that the change is causing.

All too often, much like the anchors that boats use, our anchors are below our consciousness. For example, at one time, a new relationship was a change that you intentionally invested in every day; now you likely live day in and day out without paying any special attention to it. Knowing what your anchors are before you need to call on them will make it much easier when you do.

Pay attention to the outcomes that are your priorities. Pay attention to the changes you need to make. And pay attention to the anchors that will keep those changes from being overwhelming.