Do you often set goals but never follow through? This usually happens when the new year rolls around.
We make all these resolutions, but according to Forbes Magazine only 8% of people actually stick to their resolutions. Most of the time this occurs because we get overzealous or eventually lose interest in our goals.
Why so difficult?
I know how difficult it is to stay on track especially when you are working full time, have a family and are trying to get into a CRNA program. And in today’s world, distractions are just a click away. I often find that even during quiet times I can’t turn my brain off long enough to just concentrate for a few minutes.
But the ability to concentrate and focus your mind is critical to your success, learning new things, achieving your goals and mentally staying dialed in. This requires you to work on building up your mental muscle. So, the more you use it, the stronger it will become.
There is hope
The good news is improving your mental focus is achievable, but it will require some work on your part.
Here are some tips and tricks to help you develop laser focus and concentration so you can check off goals and get closer to applying to CRNA school.
Tips and tricks to get focused
1. Find your why or purpose- Before you start working towards getting focused, you must first assess your “Why” or purpose. There is nothing more motivating than knowing you have a purpose in life to help others and therefore know where you want your nursing career to go. Nearly everyone knows WHAT they do in their profession, some know HOW but only a few know WHY they are doing it.
Definitely, knowing your purpose helps you overcome obstacles, difficulties and setbacks when they occur. It increases your motivation and plays a key role in your well being, which ultimately makes you more focused on completing your goals.
2. Limit your distractions- We live in a distraction filled culture that is damaging our productivity and focus. It is robbing us of precious time to complete things that count. As a result, people spend so much time underperforming in life and career.
While minimizing sources of distractions isn’t always easy, one way to deal with them is to set specific times to be left alone. Find a calm relaxing place where you are undisturbed. This may just be a room in your home, a coffee shop, the library, or even in your car.
Unfortunately, all distractions are not always from outside sources. The ones we tend to struggle with the most are internal like worry, anxiety and right now exhaustion from work. These types of distractions can be challenging and quite difficult to avoid.
But some tricks you could try are getting a good night’s rest, thinking positively and if you do find yourself wandering off consciously bring your focus back to center.
3. Break your goal into manageable chunks- Again, just like with New Year’s resolutions we are good at setting lofty goals and then become overwhelmed with thinking how in the world are we going to accomplish it. Like with CRNA school, right? I know because I felt the same way.
Once I got accepted into my program, it hit me that I only had 3 months to find a place to stay, rent out my home, get my kids settled into new schools and that didn’t even include anything about my program. I literally had a panic attack thinking what have I done.
But once I gathered myself, I broke everything down into small manageable steps. We made the move halfway around the country and the rest is history.
4. Reach out to like minded people- Having key people in your life and corner will influence your success. Your ability to surround yourself with people will not only keep you focused but it will also motivate, inspire and hold you accountable.
5. Set dates in your calendar- I’m not going to lie, scheduling is a boring task I don’t look forward to. But I know that if I take time to schedule a task and place it in my calendar, then this keeps me focused, organized and holds me accountable to see it through.
One of the best ways to do this is by making note of important dates and deadlines. You may be a pen and paper type of person like I am or just use an online tool such as Google Calendar or maybe a project management tool like Trello or Asana.
So, start your year off right by working on your laser focused mind today. Because it may be the determining factor in whether you get your goals accomplished on your way to becoming a CRNA. Remember you can always refer back to these tips to help you along in your CRNA journey.
P.S. Also the membership site + community forum is in the works. Get on the waiting list right now to be the first to know when we launch AND receive a special launch discount!
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