How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Conclusion)

5. Commit to Reflect and Reward.

Once the task is completed, stop and observe what has been accomplished.  Take some time to enjoy the “fruits of your labor.”  Allow yourself to feel a sense of triumph and pride.  Next, evaluate what you learned and decide what you will do differently on future projects.  Conducting a postmortem will improve your future performance.  Finally, what was the nice thing you planned to do to reward yourself or your team?  This “reward time” is where you celebrate the great work done by all.  Having a reward before you at the start is also useful throughout the project to provide motivation and encouragement when things are not going well.

The next time you seek out “new worlds,” no matter how big or small, first work through these five steps.

·          Commit to Prevail.

·          Commit to Plan a Strategy. 

·          Commit to Manage Distractions and Interruptions.

·          Commit to Set “Time Frame” Goals.

• Commit to Reflect and Reward.

If you do, you will stay focused and finish strong and like the explorers before you, you will “unfailingly arrive at (your) chosen goal or destination.”

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Part 5)

4. Commit to Set “Time Frame” Goals.

A strategy requires deadlines as well as interim dates for progress checks.  Whether you use a project tracking program or a good old fashioned pert chart, determine a completion date for every component of the project.  Remember that some dates established at the beginning of the project will be unattainable and will need to be adjusted because of unexpected delays. (To be continued.)

How You Can Focus and Finish Strong (Part 4)

3. Commit to Manage Distractions and Interruptions.

Many articles have been written on how to eliminate and avoid distractions and interruptions. Unfortunately, elimination and avoidance doesn’t work.  Distractions and interruptions will come. It is the job of leadership to analyze them and determine their importance.  Based on your goals and objectives decide if something should be dealt with immediately, set aside with a future date assigned or simply ignored.

Competing priorities can also be very distracting; not to mention frustrating.  In this present economy, almost everyone is doing the work of more people then they were a couple of years ago.  So what do you do when you are already overwhelmed and someone asks you to take on an additional assignment?   The most productive way to handle this is to lay out the predicament with someone you trust or report to.  Whether you discuss it with your board of directors, consult with a management coach or talk to your boss, get advice on where your time is most valuable.  Many times you are not the only one who can handle the assignment.  With counsel and coordination, the need can be transferred or delegated to some other capable person. (To be continued.)