1. Plan Ahead - daily. I plan each day the night before. It's a simple plan. 3-5 things I want to get done that next day. 1-2 lines each. I usually handwrite it in a notebook.

2. Plan Ahead - weekly. I plan each week, too. I update it every 3-4 days. I review the results each week to make sure nothing's dropped and to plan for the next week.

3. Handle email once. Practice Bit Literacy. (Buy the book, practice the philosophy.)

4. Create DND periods for your self. Interruptions are not innovations.

• Tell your staff/family not to disturb you for an hour.
• Put your phone on DND.
• Turn off your cellphone.
• Quit email
• Sign out of IM programs.
• Benefits are two-fold.
  
  • you’re more productive;
    
  • your staff becomes more self-reliant, taking ownership of their area. 

5. Block your time. Work on a project for 30 minutes. Then move to the next project. Why?

• it keeps your mind fresh.
• you're making progress, albeit in baby steps, but still progress.
• you're not creating imaginary obstacles in your head.
• instead you're systematically, consistently, breaking down big projects into little 30-minute projects.

6. Take a break regularly. Get up and walk around. Go outside. Breathe. Look at the sky, the people. Keeps your mind fresh. Your mind relaxes and solutions come when the mind relaxes.

7. Twitter. Yes. By all means, Twitter. Then turn it off. Focus your tweets on adding value. (I'm still learning this one.) 

8. Buy a faster computer. There are great deals out there, now. And faster computers gets more done, faster. That makes you happy.

9. Talk to your customers, or at least one customer, every day. Do you have something more important to do? Use the Net Promoter Score to survey their loyalty. It’s 3 questions. It takes 5 minutes even with a shy customer. The customer you save may be your own...

Next week, I'll share my tips to in our personal life to bring focus back.