Here’s the deal…we all want to and need to accomplish specific tasks to be successful in what we do.  If you are employed, you better do your “job” or you won’t have one.  And if you are self-employed, well…you know this better than anyone, you have to stay productive.

Successful people are driven and focused.  They may not be caught up on episodes of Survivor, Heroes, How I met your mother, or any other TV shows, but they have their priorities straight.  If you are caught up on your favorite TV shows, maybe you are just much more efficient than me

This post is geared towards freelancers, entrepreneurs, and business people…there is some overlap to those working traditional W2 jobs.

1. Make a list, People like lists!  A list is easier to skim and read if needed.

By making a list, you are creating action items for yourself.  You can look down at that piece of paper and follow it…don’t worry about how big the items are, just make a list of no more than 5 items you MUST get done and prioritize them in order of what is MOST important.  Why limit to 5? To not overwhelm you with a list of the top 182 things you must accomplish this week.

There are different ways of determining what’s most important…that’s for another post Coming soon…

Keep your list handy, it’s funny how our minds forget what’s next and while we try to remember we take a quick peek at Twitter, Facebook, Break, or some other distraction.  Once you are done with item #1, CROS IT OFF.  Seriously, take a marker and feel a sense of accomplishment by marking it complete.

Now, if the project or task is too large for one sitting, you may have to time box it.  Which means, creating a time limit and working on it with determination and focus during that time box and then if needed, creating another time box on a different day to re-visit the project and continue to make progress.

Thoughts from twitter: @acclimedia - When a deadline is looming, I always take a step back and create an action plan of what needs to be done, complete w/an outline.The key is to organize into mini tasks you can ‘check off.’ If it’s a writing assignment, get a shell down on paper you can expand upon.

2. Close your email program, don’t just minimize it.

Close it down, you are less likely to hit the Send/Receive if it’s closed and you have to wait for it to re-open.  In almost every case, email can wait. If something is EXTREMELY important, they will call.  Checking email every few minutes creates distraction that is hard to recover from, do it often enough and you will rob yourself unknowingly.

Suggested by @kristofcreative

3. Get your groove on.

Put on some music. I prefer to zone out, I have a play list in iTunes for working out, for chilling, and for productivity.  You know what gets you going, make a play list, put on some head phones and get cracking in your “productivity zone.”

Suggested by @idesignstudios - Selene actually suggested TOOL specifically.

4. Know your vices.

Turn your blackberry/smart phone off, fill up your water bottle - you know what defeats you. Admit it and then overcome it.

We love to be connected, but studies show that multi-tasking doesn’t help much.  By dividing our attention, we cheat ourselves of valuable productivity.  Know your vices. Let me say that again, KNOW your vices and take control over them.  If you have a bad habit of hitting up Facebook while you are “thinking”, stop it.  Make it a reward…set an alarm, after X number of hours of focused attention on your project, then you can chill on Facebook for Y number of minutes.  If you get up often to get a drink, fill up your water bottle ahead of time.

Suggested by @minjae - turn off your blackberry

5. Turn off twitter, TweetDeck, or whatever you use.

If you aren’t on twitter…you need to be, it’s a GREAT networking tool.  But it’s also the essence of wasted utilization when used incorrectly or at the wrong time.  The Internet NEVER stops.  Twitter NEVER stops, you can not keep up with it all…you may be able to with 500 followers, but you can’t at 60,000 followers.  Don’t worry about it, you will miss something at some point and that’s okay.  Life goes on, when you get back on you can contribute and interact, but feel okay about missing a few things.  The productivity trade-off is immense.

The same goes for Digg, RSS Blog feeds, etc.  Block out time for those; don’t let them steal your time.

Suggested by @andysowards

6. If the van is rocking, don’t come knocking.

Let people know that you are in a “Do Not Disturb” state of mind.  People will respect it and if they have an emergency, they will interrupt you.  The point is to let others know that you wish to not be disturbed so that you can focus.  If you don’t tell them, you can’t blame them for the distraction.

7. Keep it clean.

When your work space is organized, it’s easier to keep your mind organized.  A cluttered environment creates opportunities for distraction, frustration, and excuses.  You’ll stay more organized in your thoughts and you’ll be able to accomplish more if your workspace is organized and geared for productivity.

5 ways to stay de-cluttered by the Container store - more lists

8. Be prone to action.

The longer you delay, the more time you are wasting by thinking about what you need to get done.  This is a tough mental block…aka procrastination.  Just know that those prone to action succeed more often…I’m not saying you should give up if you are a lazy SOB, but if you were that lazy then you probably would not be reading a blog post on how to focus and get sh*t done.

9. Take control of your most valuable resource.

I directed a large tech team at a publicly traded company and the culture of that company was very reactive.  It took me a while to get out of the mindset of sitting there and waiting for a fire to put out.

Take control of your day and decide what you will get done, choose what will bring the highest results and choose what you will focus on.  You can still block out time for those reactive moments because we all know that fires will come, but you don’t have to let them rule how your day will be spent.  After all, that’s what you are doing - spending your most valuable resource - decide ahead of time how you are going to spend your time.

10.  Be present, physically and mentally.

When you are spending time with your family, do you have a hard time letting go of work?  If you spend your work time focusing on being productive with business related tasks then it becomes easier to spend your family or personal time just focusing on things other than business.

The more productive you stay in your business the easier it is to feel accomplished and let go during personal time.  Your family and your friends will appreciate this.  As they fret, you’ll be the one that “has it all figured out.” 

10.5. Keep true to your purpose.

Why do you do what you do?  Are you trying to make a difference in the world? Are you trying to provide for your family?  Are you saving up for an Aston Martin Vanquish?  Whatever your motive, keep it in mind…determination follows passion, what is your passion and purpose?

Focus, stay determined, and most of all - Don’t let it beat you!

I KNOW you have a tactic that I didn’t mention…how do YOU stay focused?

If you are like me, your to do lists range from using your email inbox to using sticky notes.

I don’t have to tell you that none of those work very well.  In search of a better option to help organize, we started using Basecamp by 37 signals.  There are other GTD (Get things done) applications, but we use this for our business communication so it was natural to use it for daily organization and personal organization.

I started with creating a personal project…these are personal items I need to do, i.e. get the oil changed, take my daughter out on a date, you get the point.  From here, I can create To-do lists daily…and anything left from the previous days list I can move to the new list for today and then prioritize the to-do items.

This gives me rolling to-do lists and I can see what’s been carried over from last week and what’s new.  I can organize them by priority or when something is due by setting a milestone.  Each morning, I create a to-do list for the day and fill it based on appointments, emails, previous to-do lists, project tasks, or obstacles any of our programming teams are facing.  This let’s me see everything that needs done and let’s me choose what’s most important and get it done first.

In addition, I can also use Basecamp to track time for each item…I haven’t found a really good use for that yet with my personal lists, but I’m sure I will.

Remember to stay organized > stay efficient > make progress in business and your personal life.