How To Reset & Refocus To Get Back to Achieving Your Goals. The Power of a RESET DAY!
How often do you find yourself falling off track when it comes to achieving your dreams and Goals?
You know what you want out of life but seem to lose steam after a while.
What can you do to regain focus and get closer to living your life with purpose?
3 Distractions Getting In The Way Of You Achieving Your Goals!
“Imaginary” scenario: I am working on my goals and embracing my life’s purpose. Life is flowing by smoothly. I am feeling great about where my journey is taking me. I can see progress…Squirrel!!!!…wait…Where was I? What am I doing? Do I need to change course? Am I even any good at this? Am I wasting my time? Should I try this instead? Everyone is talking about this new thing, maybe I should try that as well.
O.K, I know “Squirrel Syndrome” is not an actual term for any “real” condition, but why not make it sound legit by turning it into a syndrome & while we are on the topic of syndromes lets add in Imposter Syndrome and Shiny Object Syndrome…I know these ones are “real”, right? So, for the purpose of dealing with our setbacks we are going to define these three as they apply to our lives, legitimate or not. Here ya go:
Squirrel Syndrome
Plain and simply put it is when distractions throw you off track. These distractions can be pretty much anything that happens in life, but in my opinion they usually come in the form of useless time wasters.
I believe that the primary cause of this lovely syndrome is the internet. Pre-internet if you wanted to be distracted you had to leave the house or have the phone ring, otherwise boredom would kick in & you would find something to do and most likely you would be able to stay productive.
Now we have streaming services that allow you to binge watch shows that you love. Have any of you ever had a binge weekend or watched multiple episodes in a row & then realized all the day has wasted away?
Or have you ever experienced social media sucking you in to endless posts that make no difference to your life or the achievement of your goals?
Or even just having information overload coming at you from all directions?
Everywhere you turn information is being fed to you whether helpful or not. It all needs to be stored somewhere and it competes for space in your brain with knowledge & wisdom, both of which can actually improve your life and allow you pursue your purpose.
It is hard not to become distracted unless you lock yourself in your room and shut down all the power. So please be aware of all those life sucking squirrels out there.
Don’t allow them to take up space in your mind.
Shiny Object Syndrome
A shiny object is a “new idea” that draws your attention away from what you are currently working on & steals the energy you have to start said new project.
You are now left with unfinished work, that clearly was a goal you had and you end up feeling defeated and overwhelmed with a growing pile of unfinished projects.
Let me know if you can relate to this at all?
You have a list of business ideas, but nothing gets executed.
You constantly start new goals, but never see them through to the end. Instead you move on to a fresh new goal that you haven’t grown old of.
You jump from one self-improvement course to another, drawn by the wild claims that each one promises, but you haven’t fully finished or implemented the first one you paid for and started.
Imposter Syndrome
Imposter Syndrome is the worry of not being good enough and the fear that you will be “found out”.
You don’t feel like the success you have had or the skills that you can provide are deserved or legitimate.
This one is the mother of all the soul killing syndromes. You will have experienced this if you have ever thought to yourself…
Am I good enough?
Who would want to listen to what I have to say?
Who am I to teach others?
What makes me so special?
They will see that I have no idea what I am talking about.
Other people are better than me so why bother?
I don’t know what I am doing.
It can be really hard to move past this one. You will definitely need some tools to encourage yourself and believe in your gifts & abilities.
If you don’t believe in yourself, why would someone else?
So what do these syndromes have to do with needing a reset day?
When you are working towards a goal or your purpose and you are constantly interrupted by the above distractions you will need to reset.
You will need to pause to clear your mind & environment and then start fresh.
A reset day is nothing more than it sounds. It is you taking some intentional time off from the pursuit of your dreams and re-evaluating your goals & refueling your motivation to get back to productively working on them.
You take a day, or a few, to refocus on your main life goals/purpose.
If you lose track and you don’t reset you wont move any closer to your dream…think of driving…what happens if you just change directions midcourse or just come to a full stop?
You get lost, you add hours on to your drive or get sick of driving and turn back.
Losing track and not ”resetting the destination” becomes more than a detour. A detour is a temporary change of course, but still has you heading towards the original destination.
Not resetting course becomes a roadblock…you are either heading in the wrong direction or are at a full stop.
How do refocus days help us achieve our goals?
Well, you start by working smarter, not harder…take the time off so that when you get back to it you are focused and being productive on the right tasks.
Another analogy (sorry but I love analogies & think they are a great way to learn)…think of reset days in terms of working out.
You build your muscles with weight training. You work hard lifting heavy weights and tear the muscles (the building process).
Then you take a rest day to allow your muscles to recover from the work and build-up stronger.
You will need rest days when it comes to building your purpose and achieving your goals…physical, as well as mental. So be sure to take the time & when you find yourself encountering a road block take even more time and really recover before you get back to work.
Getting temporarily stuck and running into road blocks happens to us all…but if you don’t reset you may end up stuck there permanently.
So be sure to watch for the signs that you need to reset/refocus and then take intentional action to recover.
What are the signs that you need a reset day?
How do you know when you are going off course and need a reset?
Well, self awareness is the key here. You will start to see a pattern…pay attention long enough to your behaviors and you will know what the patterns are. “Wait, I am doing it again. It must be time to reset”.
Once you are aware of the patterns, the warning signs of impending doom (ha ha), then you can evaluate the situation and see what is triggering you.
This is where the 3 syndromes come into play. The cause most likely falls into 1 of them.
“My personal story of needing a reset…I have very clear goals of how I want my life to unfold. I know the steps and the work it will take.
However, I like everyone else, still get sucked into the 3 syndromes. I question if I am good enough. I get distracted sometimes very easily, especially by my children.
My mind starts to race ahead in anticipation to the next step or stage of my plan, before I have completed the previous task.
I need to stop and reset very regularly. The longest that I personally can go is a maximum of 2 weeks. At this point I start to fizzle.
So, out come all of my vision boards & roadmaps that will lead me to my purpose and ultimate goals.
I review and rewrite them. This brings me a renewed purpose, focus and excitement to achieve all of my life dreams/ goals.”
Here are a few of the signs to look for that will indicate if you are being distracted by the 3 syndromes:
You have a hard time focusing on a task.
You are lost for ideas.
You have too many ideas.
You have analysis paralysis. You spend so much time going over your plans and goals but you never actually get to work on them. You “analyze” to the point of being too “paralyzed” to take action.
You feel defeated or overwhelmed.
You are not completing tasks or your goals that you have set for yourself.
You are procrastinating working on your goals and purpose.
You start to question if it is the right dream and if you are the right person to accomplish it.
How To Successfully Reset & Refocus.
Time Frame & Regularity
Decide if you are going to have a reset day, days or a week.
It is entirely up to you and the amount of time it will take you to truly reset and refocus. If you prefer to be more preventative and not take a reset once you are struggling, then create a routine for yourself. Maybe do a mini-daily check-in on what distractions you are facing and what mindset shifts you may need.
Look for any roadblocks or barriers and create a solution to void them. Or if daily is too frequent then maybe schedule a day once a week or once a month.
The important factor here is have a plan & know the signs to stop and refocus your efforts.
Awareness
In order to be successful in life you need to have a strong self awareness. You need to see the patterns of the behaviours that make you successful and the triggers that stop you from achieving your goals.
You need to watch for the signs, have regular check-ins and a plan in place to implement change.
The easiest way to detect patterns is by tracking them. Take out your journal and keep a general list of your day…what you did, how you felt, who you were around, any patterns detected good or bad.
Be aware and look for any indicators of what made you successful that day or not. The clues will be in the patterns.
If you notice that everyday that week you finished your particular task/goal, then look at all the determining factors present…i.e. no visits to social media, your house was clean therefore you didn’t have to allocate a lot of time to cleaning or having your mind feel cluttered by the state of your environment. Maybe there was a pattern of late nights and you felt sluggish and unproductive all week.
You may also find that if you around certain people you may end up feeling drained and not motivated or the opposite may be true and certain people may recharge you.
Once you are aware of what helps and what doesn’t, only then can you make a plan for change.
Silencing The Noise
You need to stop and silence all the noise from distractions, over stimulus and the pressure that you are putting on yourself to succeed.
Stop and pause for a moment. Try some prayer or mediation. Shut down technology and step outside. You will be amazed at how much more clarity you will have once you have calmed your surroundings and mind.
How long should you sit in silence? Until it feels good. The point is to feel calmed.
For example: If I am feeling anxious or overwhelmed I like to go outside…sit on my porch, tend to the garden or go for a trail walk. I find that as little as 30 minutes outside works wonders on me and I have achieved calming my mind and body.
Again, this is all directed towards what works for you…try things out and see for yourself. What works for me may not be enough for you.
Accept That You Are Human
There is no shame in needing a reset day. It does not mean you are weak. It means that you are not a robot and that constant stimulus will affect you.
It means that you are human and the fear of not being good enough will sneak in from time to time…it can happen and will likely happen again and again.
All you are responsible for is understanding what is occurring and taking action to move past it. Don’t dwell on it and let it manifest into something bigger and more difficult to move past. Accept it, tackle it and move on. Do not feed it even more of your energy.
Example. We all know that working out will exhaust our body. Imagine if we let that stop us from working out…the fear of being tired or that we aren’t strong enough for the process. We would quit and never get stronger.
Instead we accept that sore & tired muscles are part of the process and we rest & refeed our bodies. Then we get back to work the very next day…we accept this and that we are human, not super hero’s that need no refueling.
Refuel Your Mind
There is more to a reset than just taking a pause or a break.
After you have silenced out all the noise and calmed your mind & body you will need to refuel your energy & creativity.
Allow for some fun in your life and look for inspiration to carry you to your next level. Take time to renew your brain and allow inspiration to move you towards your goals once again.
Find some new inspiration…nature walk, art, hobby
Reading
Journaling / writing
Vacation
Review your dreams & goals
Back To The Basics
Now that you are rested, calm, inspired and motivated to move towards your goals with a renewed energy it is time to go back to the basics.
Start with the building blocks of your goal attaining plan.
Go back to your Vision Board, look over your Road Map to your Purpose Plan and review all the goals that you have written down for your life.
I find that if I recreate my plans and boards it helps reignite the fire to achieve these goals that I may have lost in the process of becoming over run by the distractions.
I need a refresher of what my goals are and why these particular goals are important to me.
Be clear on what you want so you know what you are working towards.
Create An Environment That Supports Success
Now we are back on track. We are reset and back to working hard to achieve our life goals.
We know the importance of checking and evaluating if we need a reset, but lets not forget to set the optimum working environment to be successful. This can be your physical surroundings as well as your physiology.
Shut off social media. When you have committed a certain amount of time to your work, turn off all possible distractions. Shut of your cell phone and television etc. If you need to access the internet for your project do so intentionally.
Be aware of what the task is and stay focused. Do not get sucked into checking your business email, which then directs you to a social media page, that will then lead you down a long path of scrolling…keep the focus.
Schedule a block of time to “quarantine’ yourself away to work. Decide where you will work and when. Block that time off for nothing else. Notify your family, if you work from home, that between this time and that you will be busy and are not to be disturbed. Set the routine and your family will learn, hopefully (I have young kids so understand this all too well), to respect the boundaries.
Make sure that the space you are working in is quite and comfortable and has all the tools you will need to be productive. Make sure that your computer is set-up, pens & paper and books etc. Don’t need to stop part way through you session to go and search for something. That is a distraction.
Declutter your home and work space... allowing for less physical & mental distractions. If there is less stuff around, you will be less likely to fidget with things, have less “mental clutter” of the to-do’s around the house.
Have a clear clutter free space to work in at the minimum. Have your space be inviting, calming, inspirational and be surround by things that make you happy.
If you don’t understand the importance of this, try to work in a cluttered space and then empty it out and go back to work. You will physically feel a difference. It is like magic.
Change your physiology. We also need to prep our bodies so that we are ready to work productively. If I find myself in a place that I have lost motivation or I can’t think clearly…I will workout.
If you workout prior to a work session, it increases your energy and clears your mind so that you find it easier to get to the task and remain focused. It gets your bodies energy flowing, as well as your creative energy.
Conclusion
Losing focus is common when working towards your goals. It can be a long road to success and a lot of blocks & barriers can pop up.
Lack of focus may easily sneak in to distract you from your dreams, but it is also very easy to rectify.
Keep your focus, check in regularly on your dreams & progress and go easy on yourself…what fun are your goals going to be when you reach them all beat up.
Thanks for reading and share in the comments if you have any ways that help you reset and refocus when trying to achieve a goal…big or small.
“Just a testament to how important refocusing and resetting are..it took me weeks to get this article finished. I was distracted with the idea of creating a course, other blog post ideas, camping with the family, trying to get my house in order during the summer months while all the kids were here all day (plethora of distractions!!!).
I would start to type and then BAM…distracted. I found it comical that the hardest post for me to focus on was one about refocusing…irony. So, what did I do.
I stopped everything I was doing and decided my clear goal was to finish this one article, obviously one I need to add to my daily life at this particular moment in time.
I made a commitment to start on nothing new until this one was finished. I blocked out an hour of complete silence and distractions at home by locking myself in my room while my kids were downstairs (supervised by dad of course).
I committed one day of solid work and progress to get as close to completion as possible. I know I can accomplish a lot in one hour so I committed to just that, if more time was granted to me I would take it but if not I am happy with that chunk of time. I was able to write a lot of content and that gave me the motivation to keep going. I cleared 1 hour every morning for the next 4 days and finished the post.
My house is quite from 7-8 am so I grabbed my coffee, turned everything off except my laptop and I got to work. Ta Da! It worked…the post is done and with minimal hairs pulled out. It all comes down to being aware of the distractions and avoiding them. Make a plan that works.”