In a world of constant distractions, learning to achieve and sustain a laser-like focus on your priorities gives you an enormous competitive advantage in the marketplace – as well as enormous benefits to your personal life. If keeping your focus has never been harder, the payoffs have never been better. How do you achieve laser-like concentration? I’m going to share with you seven principles of achieving and sustaining an intense, productive and energizing focus.

1. Keep the Big Picture in Mind. To successfully sustain you focus, you must first have a big-picture view of your goals and priorities, and a clear vision of what you hope to accomplish. After all, achieving an intense and sustained focus is not an end in itself, but a powerful means of achieving your long-term goals. The clearer, and more specific and more vividly you visualize the big picture of what you hope to accomplish, the more successfully you can focus on the means of achieving it.
2. Set Goals That Excite You. One characteristic shared by virtually every highly successful person is that they had big dreams and specific goals. The higher you aim, the higher you’ll go – even if you fail to hit your target. And if you shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll still land among the stars.
3. Be Mindful. By targeting your attention with laser-beam accuracy to the matter at hand, you are literally unable to entertain destructive thoughts. Concentrating on the present reality eliminates fear of future possibilities. In this way, being mindful not only increases your effectiveness, it enhances your peace of mind.
4. Track Your Progress. When you see the advances you have made, it is easier to concentrate on covering the ground that remains. Tracking your past progress enables you to enter unfamiliar terrain with the confidence that comes from success and experience. Some strategies that will help enable you to monitor and accelerate your progress include setting deadlines, taking time for re-evaluation and allowing for adjustments.
5. Use Time As Your Servant. Counting time is not nearly as important as making time count. Here are some management strategies that will help you stay focused:
   —-Tackle the most difficult aspects of your mission during your “prime time” – your period of greatest productivity and energy.
   —-Deal decisively with interruptions. Think and write down ways to prevent such interruptions from happening in the first place. It is best to avoid them whenever possible.
   —-Learn to say “no.”  Sustaining your focus on your priorities will require that you decline invitations, refuse requests, and even pass up some interesting opportunities.
6. Keep Your Balance. The purpose of keeping your focus is to enable you to spend your time and energy on the people and things that are most important. Just as keeping your balance is essential to enjoying the benefits of your achievements.
7. Anticipate Obstacles. To sustain your focus and achieve your goals, you must not only anticipate obstacles, you must prepare for them.