4 steps to regain your focus
/It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life. Whether at home or in business, you can feel overwhelmed by deadlines, demands and a never-ending To Do list! Frustrating, right? Stressful too.
So while you might be doing a lot, it’s not moving you in the direction you want to head. Or maybe you’ve come to a standstill - you don’t know what to do or where to start because you feel lost and directionless.
Before judging yourself harshly or criticising yourself for getting sidetracked, pause and breathe. Because nothing good or useful will come from giving yourself a hard time.
Step into the drivers’ seat
While life can feel full of pressure to be and do everything, it’s important to check-in and make sure you’re in the drivers’ seat. Because if you’re not in that all-important seat, you’re more likely to be pushed and pulled by whatever happens around you and by other people.
So before I share the 4 steps that can help you regain your focus, commit to being in the driver’s seat. After all, this is your life, your business. Simply put, you’re the best person to decide and guide where you’re heading and what needs your attention.
Have you done it? Have you declared (out loud or written down) your commitment to being in the drivers’ seat?
Yes? Great.
Now you’ve made that commitment, let’s take a look at the four simple but powerful steps you can use to refocus on what’s important to you. Collectively, I refer to them as the RESET process (or sometimes the 4Rs).
You’re about to move away from constantly reacting to being more conscious; to setting a course that’s right for you and taking purposeful action.
The RESET process
Each step of the process has a specific role in helping you regain your focus. The more you use these steps, the more familiar you’ll become with them and the more confident you’ll feel when using them to make decisions.
Grab your Live Well Life Planner or if you don’t have one, use your journal or a notebook (avoid loose pieces of paper as these are easily lost). This work is best done with a mindset of curiosity because remember, judging or criticising yourself for getting off track won’t help.
Review: What’s going well and not well?
Write down your successes, achievements and proud moments. Nothing is too small to include here, if it matters to you, write it down. Once you’ve done that, write down what hasn’t gone well, what you didn’t do or didn’t do as well as you would have liked. Add to the list anything else that’s causing your stress or frustration.
Reflect: What lessons have you learnt and what are you grateful for?
Even when we go off track or feel like we’ve lost our way, there will be lessons to take note of. So rather than criticise or judge yourself, be curious and ask yourself what you’ve learnt from everything that’s gone well and not well. The other part of this step is to identify what you’re grateful for. Often overlooked, the things you’re grateful for play an important role in how you move forward.
Release: What do you need to let go of?
You wouldn’t carry around a full suitcase day in day out, right? It’d get heavy and weigh you down or hold you back. Well, there’ll be “things” - possessions, beliefs, roles, responsibilities, jobs on your To Do list, relationships and more - that you no longer need but are still carrying with you. Write down what it’s time for you to let go of and give yourself permission to release them.
Reset: What do you want to focus on and what are your next immediate steps?
You’ve identified where you’re at now, the lessons you’ve learnt and what you’re grateful for, plus you’ve said what it’s time to let go of, so now you’re ready for the final step. Visualise where you want to head, remind yourself of what matters to you and what you value, then write down what you choose to focus on. This might be a mix of goals, specific actions and new habits or standards you want to develop.
Learning to pause and work through these 4-steps will help you regain your focus on what matters. This is a process that you can use daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually or anytime you feel unsure, lost and directionless.
Want help and support to use the 4-step RESET process?
Join my free Facebook group: RESET with Tracey Hancock
RESET is a community for people who want to take charge of their life but don't know where to start or how to do it. Or maybe you do, but you're holding back and it's flippin' frustrating!
Here you’ll learn the process and gain greater clarity about what you want and the confidence to refocus your attention on what matters to you. Plus, you'll have the support and encouragement of the group.