Have you ever had one of those days when you just couldn’t seem to stay focused on anything? Maybe one of those weeks? Or maybe it’s just that way all the time?

If so, there’s hope and a solution that costs nothing and works 100% of the time to make your life better.

Brain experts say that each of us has a limited supply of “attention units.” They are the foundation of focus and provide us with the ability to stay on a task all the way to completion. They act like a shield against distractions and interruptions by amplifying our ability to concentrate. Attention units are wonderful things. 

The downside of attention units is that when your supply becomes depleted or, worse yet, empty, all of those benefits go right out the window. That’s when the slightest interruption gets you off track and makes it nearly impossible to get back on task. That’s when even the tiniest distraction becomes frustrating and annoying.

The cure for this productivity limbo begins with understanding the cause. What causes our supply of attention units to be drained and compromises our ability to stay focused?

Incomplete circles.

Floyd says that if psychiatrists could diagram the cause of a nervous breakdown it would look like one incomplete circle after another. For instance, you go on a listing appointment and leave without a decision. Incomplete circle. You show houses all afternoon and the buyer leaves you without a sit-down. Incomplete circle. You start sorting and importing your database into the new CRM but only get through the D’s. Incomplete circle.

An incomplete circle is anything started but left unfinished, unresolved, incomplete, or up in the air. Every single incomplete circle uses up an attention unit. Reach that tipping point when all the incomplete circles have used up all the attention units and you have “one of those days.”

So, write this down. If I start it, I finish it, or I don’t even start it.

The exception is on big projects, which are always broken into smaller tasks. 

This is what makes the daily decisions about what to start, what to delegate, what to eliminate, and what to make a first priority, all the more critical to protecting our focus. It will look easier to start any little thing I know I can finish quickly, something I know will give me a quick feeling of having accomplished something, but the real winners in this race tackle the tough things first. They go for the big fish first and leave the minnows and guppies for later in the day.

We need our highest and best energy for the important things.

This energy is abundantly available when we are not dragging around a bag of rocks full of unfinished, incomplete, and unresolved tasks from yesterday – and the day before – and the day before that.

Take this admonition to heart – If I start it, I finish it, or I don’t even start it.  You will find it increases your ability to bring all of your attention and focus to the task at hand, and get it done!

Are you in?