Focus: A Practical Guide: Go Beyond Busy Episode 5

[00:00:00]

Hi, I’m Christine Abela from Oxygen8 Consulting. I’m a business consultant with a strong tech background helping small business owners move from chaos to calm and take their business to the next level. In this podcast, I share practical ideas and simple systems to make your business easier to run, more profitable and more enjoyable to own.

Some of the content is created with the help of AI tools, but the voice you are hearing right now is mine and everything is grounded in real world experience. If you’d like to learn more, get in touch or download free notes and resources, head over to [00:01:00] GoBeyondBusy.com.

Okay, so picture this, you’re running a business maybe doing, uh, a million to 10 million a year. You’re growing, things are happening, but it just feels like you’re constantly putting out fires, right?

Absolutely. Just reacting all the time.

Exactly. And every email, every little ping, it just pulls you away from, you know, the big stuff. Actually growing the business, maybe even making it simpler. Does that sound familiar?

Oh, it definitely does. That feeling of being overwhelmed, it’s almost like the default setting these days, especially for business owners in that bracket.

Yeah.

You’re putting in the hours for sure, but sometimes at the end of the day you look back and think, did I actually move the needle on what really mattered?

Right. It’s like our attention just gets chipped away bit by bit.

Uhhuh.

So for this deep dive, our mission really is to cut through all that noise. We wanna pull out the strategies, the actual tools you can [00:02:00] use, like right now, to get more focused and frankly more productive.

Yeah.

Especially if you’re that busy small business owner.

And we’ve looked at quite a bit, haven’t we? Guides on focus, productivity hacks, even the psychology behind why it’s so darn hard to concentrate sometimes.

We have. And what was the big insight? The thing that really stood out?

I think the key thing is. It’s not just about gritting your teeth and trying harder to focus.

It’s not just willpower.

Okay.

It’s more about understanding, you know, how our brains are wired, and then being smart about setting up your workspace, your habits, creating an environment that actually helps you concentrate.

Right. Working with your brain, not against it. Okay, so let’s get into that psychology bit first.

What’s actually happening up there when we’re trying to focus or more often failing to focus?

Well, the research, it basically shows our brains are just constantly processing this flood of information. Always filtering, trying to figure out what’s actually important enough to pay attention to.

Selective attention. Right.

Exactly. And there are kind of two main [00:03:00] modes for this. There’s top down focus and bottom up focus.

Okay. Top down sounds like…

Yeah.

…like I’m in charge, goal oriented.

That’s it. Precisely. Top down is voluntary. You decide, okay, I need to finish this report, and you consciously direct your attention there.

You choose to ignore that little buzz from your phone because you know it’ll derail you. That’s the goal, really.

The ideal state.

Yeah.

So bottom up is when the phone wins, when anything just grabs my attention.

Pretty much. Yeah. Bottom up is stimulus driven. A notification pops up, a loud noise happens outside, even just a random thought, bang, your attention snaps to it, even if it’s totally irrelevant to what you were doing.

And that happens automatically.

It seems to be our brains sort of default. Yeah. It’s wired to notice novelty and potential threats or opportunities. Which, you know, was great for survival back in the day.

Uh, maybe not so great for finishing a spreadsheet.

Exactly. And that leads to that finding that really surprised me. Even silent [00:04:00] notifications can mess you up just as much as a ringing phone.

Wow. Really? Even if I don’t look at it?

That’s what the study suggested. Florida State University did one, I think. Just knowing a notification might be there, even if it’s silent, was enough to hit performance on focus tasks.

Huh? The awareness itself is a distraction. It pulls on that bottom up system, so even if you ignore it, part of your brain is still kinda tracking it.

Man, that explains a lot because think about it as a business owner, you’ve got email, maybe Slack or teams, project management pings, social media.

It’s endless.

A constant stream.

And each one of those little interruptions, even if you just glance and think, I’ll deal with that later, it breaks your flow. And getting back into deep focus. Some studies say it can take like 20 minutes or more.

20 minutes. Seriously?

Yeah. So if you’re getting pinged every five minutes.

You’re basically never truly focused.

Hmm.

Wow. Okay. Understanding that is huge. So step two, what do we actually do about it? Our sources talked about creating a focus haven. What does that mean [00:05:00] in practice?

Right? The focus haven, it’s all about being proactive, taking control of your immediate space to deliberately minimize those bottom up distractions.

You’re designing an environment that helps your top-down goal-directed focus, win out.

Okay, gimme the practical stuff. What does this haven look like? What actions can I take today? Alright. Number one, probably the biggest impact, turn off notifications, especially social media and email. Just off.

All of them.

What if something urgent comes up?

Well, you can get clever. Maybe set up an auto reply for email saying you’re in focus time and will respond later. Give people an alternative way to reach you for genuine emergencies, like a specific phone number, but for 99% of things, they can wait a couple of hours, right?

Yeah, probably. Okay. Notification’s off. That feels big, but doable. What else?

The phone itself, it’s a major culprit. Ideally turn it off completely during focus blocks.

Ooh, that’s tough.

I know it feels weird at first, but if that’s too much use do not disturb mode. You can usually [00:06:00] customize it. So only calls or texts from specific VIP contacts get through and honestly put it out of sight, in a drawer, in another room.

Out of sight, out of mind, literally.

Exactly. Then there’s the physical space. If you have an office door, close it. It signals do not disturb to colleagues, and it blocks out noise and visual clutter.

Simple but effective. What about noise? Silence? Music?

Yeah. This varies. Some people find silence deafening. For them, classical music or instrumental stuff, crucially, non lyrical can work wonders.

It fills the silence or masks other noises without grabbing your attention with words.

No singing along aloud.

Right, and finally, don’t underestimate good old organization. A messy desk wastes time and mental energy. If you’re constantly hunting for a pen or a file…

…that’s another focus break.

Exactly.

Tidy up. Have what you need. Easily accessible. Remove the friction. It’s all about making it easier to stay focused than to get [00:07:00] distracted. You’re taking back control.

Okay. I like that framing, taking control.

Now let’s talk digital because you know, we run businesses using technology. We can’t just throw our laptops out the window.

No, absolutely not. Tech is essential, but it’s also arguably the biggest source of distraction we face. This is where the idea of digital minimalism comes in.

Minimalism, like using less tech?

Sort of, but it’s more about being intentional. It’s not just about less, it’s about using technology purposefully for specific goals and reducing its power to pull your attention away when you don’t intend for it to. Recognizing your attention is precious.

Okay, that makes sense.

Yeah.

How do we do that? Practically speaking. Because “Use less tech” isn’t super helpful advice when my CRM is online.

Totally fair. One really powerful strategy is working offline when you can. Let’s say you need to write a big proposal. Do your online research first. Maybe print out key documents or save them locally.

Then disconnect from the internet while you actually write.

[00:08:00] Disconnect. Wow, that feels radical.

It can feel radical, but think about it. Zero temptation to check email, zero chance of a random notification popping up from some website. Just you and the task. The focus boost can be incredible.

Hmm, I can see that.

What else?

Just turning off devices you don’t actively need for the task at hand. Working on your main computer. Does your personal fan also need to be on and next to you? Does the smart speaker need to be listening? Maybe not. Power them down, move them away.

Reduce the potential entry points for distraction.

Yeah, exactly. And what about those moments when you’re working and a quick question pops into your head like, “Oh, I wonder what the latest stats are on X”. The urge is to immediately Google it.

Yeah. The instant gratification urge.

Right. The advice here is. Resist. Keep a notepad, physical or digital, right there.

Jot down the question or idea, then get back to your main task. You can batch all those little research queries and look ’em up later, maybe during a scheduled break.

Don’t let the small tangents derail the main effort.

[00:09:00] Precisely. It’s about being disciplined with your digital engagement during focus time.

Okay, environment tackled, digital world managed. What about time itself? It always feels like there’s never enough. Our sources had some interesting takes on managing time better.

They did. A really fundamental one is Parkinson’s law. Remember that one?

Vaguely.

Yeah.

Work expands to fill the time available.

Something like that.

That’s the one. If you give yourself a whole week to do a task that could realistically be done in two days, somehow it often takes the whole week.

Guilty as charged. So the trick is…

Yeah, set tighter self-imposed deadlines. Even if the real deadline is ages away, challenge yourself.

Can I get this draft done by lunchtime today? That bit of pressure, that constraint can seriously boost efficiency.

Yeah. Creating a little urgency. I could see that. What about those specific techniques like, uh, Pomodoro?

Ah, yes. The Pomodoro technique. Very popular, very effective for many people. The basic [00:10:00] idea is you work in short focused bursts, usually 25 minutes, followed by a short break, maybe five minutes.

25 on five off.

Right.

And after maybe four of those cycles, or Pomodoros, you take a longer break, like 15 or 30 minutes.

It sounds quite structured. Does it really work?

The structure is the point. It forces you to focus intensely for a manageable period, knowing a break is coming. This prevents burnout and keeps your mind fresh. And crucially, even if you finish your specific task in say, 20 minutes, you use the remaining five minutes of that Pomodoro to review, plan the next step or do something related.

You don’t just stop and check Facebook.

Ah, maintain the focus state within the block. Interesting. Okay. And then there was Eat the Frog. That name sticks.

Haha. Yeah, it’s memorable. It comes from a Mark Twain quote, basically saying, if you have to eat a live frog, do it first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you all day.

So the frog is…

Your biggest, ugliest, most important task, the one you’re most likely to put [00:11:00] off.

The one I dread.

Exactly. The idea is – tackle that task first thing in your workday. Get it done.

Why first?

Couple of reasons. One, you have the most mental energy, typically. Two. Getting that big thing out of the way gives you this huge sense of accomplishment and momentum for the rest of the day.

And three, it’s not hanging over you draining your background, mental resources, just thinking about it.

Start with a win. I like that.

Yeah.

Now all these methods seem to point towards doing one thing at a time. What about multitasking? I always felt like I was pretty good at juggling stuff.

Yeah, that’s a common belief.

But the overwhelming evidence from cognitive science says we’re actually really bad at it. True multitasking, doing multiple attention-demanding things simultaneously isn’t really something our brains do.

So what am I doing when I think I’m multitasking?

You’re usually task switching. Rapidly jumping your attention back and forth between tasks, like writing an email, quickly checking a slack message back to the email glance [00:12:00] at your phone.

Okay, yeah, that sounds familiar.

And each one of those switches has a cost. It takes time and mental energy to disengage from one task and reengage with another. It breaks your focus, introduces errors. For anything that requires real concentration, singletasking – focusing on one thing until it’s done then moving on – is almost always more efficient and produces better quality work.

Okay, message received. Focus on one thing. Now we’re talking about these intense focus periods- Pomodoros, eating frogs.

Mm-hmm.

But the sources also stress something that feels a bit counterintuitive. Taking breaks.

Hugely important. Breaks aren’t slacking off. They’re fundamental to sustaining focus and productivity.

Think of it like interval training for your brain. You can’t sprint constantly.

Right. So what are the actual benefits? Why step away?

Well, first off, paradoxically. Breaks often lead to more getting done overall. Short, regular breaks help prevent mental fatigue, allowing you to come back refreshed and maintain a higher level of performance for longer.

You avoid [00:13:00] that slump where you’re just staring at the screen, not really processing anything.

Recharge the mental batteries.

Exactly, yeah. Second. Breaks are amazing for creativity. Ever had a great idea pop into your head while you were in the shower or out for a walk?

All the time.

That’s because when you step away from actively trying to solve a problem, you give your subconscious, more diffuse brain networks, a chance to work on it.

You often come back with fresh insights.

Let the background processing do its thing.

Precisely. And third, movement. Sitting still for hours isn’t just bad for your body, it’s bad for your brain. Getting up, walking around, stretching during breaks, gets the blood flowing, delivering oxygen to the brain, keeping you alert.

So breaks are non-negotiable, really. Part of the focus system.

Absolutely essential. Whether it’s the Pomodoro’s built-in breaks or just scheduling short walk breaks every hour, you need them.

Okay, makes sense. Now, let’s zoom out a bit further. Fueling the machine are actual bodies. How much does physical wellbeing impact mental focus?

Massively. [00:14:00] It’s foundational. You can have the best time management system in the world, but if you’re running on empty, physically or mentally, it’s not gonna work well. Our sources really hammered home two key things here. Sleep and diet.

Sleep, the eternal struggle. We know we need it, but how directly does it link to focus during the workday?

Incredibly directly. When you’re sleep deprived, and that means consistently getting less than, say, seven-ish hours for most adults, or having erratic sleep schedules, your prefrontal cortex takes a major hit.

And the prefrontal cortex is?

That’s the brain’s CEO. It handles planning, decision making, working memory, and crucially – regulating attention.

That top-down focus, we talked about. Skimp on sleep and your ability to concentrate, make good judgments and resist distractions plummets.

Yeah, so aiming for that seven – nine hours and trying to keep bedtimes consistent is actually a productivity strategy.

One of the best. Sleep is when your brain consolidates memories, clears out metabolic waste.

It’s essential maintenance for high performance.

Okay. And [00:15:00] diet. What’s the connection there beyond just, you know, general health?

It’s all about energy regulation for the brain. Your brain uses a ton of energy. If you’re fueling it with sugary drinks and highly processed foods, you get those quick energy spikes, sure. But then you get the inevitable crash.

The 3:00 PM slump.

Exactly. That makes sustained focus incredibly difficult. The advice is to go for complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, healthy fats, things that provide a slower, more stable release of energy throughout the day. And hydration. Don’t forget water.

Even mild dehydration can mess with your mood and concentration.

So good sleep, steady energy from good food, plenty of water. It’s like the basic building blocks for a focused brain.

It really is often overlooked, but absolutely critical.

Okay, we’ve covered a ton of ground environment, digital habits, time management breaks, physical fuel.

How do we make all this stick? How do we turn these ideas into actual lasting habits? Because knowing isn’t the same as doing.

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? [00:16:00] And the answer consistently across the board is, well, consistency. It’s about repetition.

Practice makes permanent.

Pretty much. A habit is just a behavior that becomes automatic through repetition.

The more you consistently say, turn off your phone notifications, when you start a focus block, the less willpower it takes. It just becomes the default thing you do.

So how do we build that consistency? Because it’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to change everything at once.

Exactly. Don’t try to implement all 20 things we’ve talked about tomorrow morning.

That’s a recipe for failure. The key is to start small. Pick just one, maybe two manageable habits to focus on first.

Like what? Gimme an example.

Maybe it’s just committing to doing one Pomodoro session before checking email in the morning. Or maybe it’s just putting your phone in another room for one hour each day, something achievable.

Start small, get a win.

Yes, and be specific, not “I’ll be less distracted”, but “I will close my email tab between 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM every day”. And tracking your progress can really help [00:17:00] too. Just ticking a box each day you do it, builds momentum and reinforces the habit.

Makes sense. Be patient, be consistent. Start small.

It takes time. Absolutely.

Yeah.

But the payoff in terms of sustained focus and productivity is huge.

This has been so valuable. It’s really clear that getting focused isn’t just one thing. It’s this whole system involving our environment, our tools, our time, our bodies, our habits, and honestly for that small business owner juggling the $1 – $10 million turnover, managing staff, clients…

Yeah.

…trying to implement all this can feel like, well, just another overwhelming thing to do.

That is such a valid point. You’re already spinning so many plates, and this is where getting some outside perspective, some expert guidance can be incredibly helpful. Our research, especially looking at resources for business owners, often highlighted the value of working with a consultant .

Like a business coach?

Yeah. Or a consultant. Specifically one who really understands the tech landscape, but can communicate in plain English, someone who gets the pressures you’re under.

Right. Someone who can help tailor these [00:18:00] general principles to my specific business, my specific tech stack, my team.

Exactly. Someone who can provide practical, non-technical advice to help you use technology to simplify and grow, rather than letting it run your life and fragment your attention.

Actually, speaking of which, our research kept pointing towards one particular resource perfect for this audience. Christine Abela. That’s A-B-E-L-A. And her podcast Go Beyond Busy.

Go Beyond Busy. Okay. I think I’ve heard of that one.

Yeah, it’s really targeted. Christine focuses specifically on helping owners of businesses in that one to $10 million range.

She has a strong network, a really practical, approachable style, and the whole podcast is about finding smart ways to grow and simplify using tech effectively.

So not just about growth at all costs, but simplification too. That sounds appealing.

It really is. It’s about making technology work for you, helping you gain focus and control, not the other way around.

She can help translate these focus principles into concrete actions within the context of running that kind of growing business.

That [00:19:00] sounds incredibly useful. So where can people find out more?

We definitely recommend listeners check out GoBeyondBusy.com. You can find show notes. She often has free downloads and resources related to the topics, and you can find out how to connect with Christine directly.

If you’re feeling that overwhelm and want practical, tech-savvy advice tailored to your business size, she seems like a fantastic resource.

Excellent recommendation. GoBeyondBusy.com.

Okay. Let’s try and wrap this all up. If we had to boil down the key takeaways from this whole deep dive on focus, what would they be?

Okay. Well first, understanding the psychology, right? That top down versus bottom up battle for our attention. Second, actively creating that focus haven, managing your physical and digital environment to minimize distractions.

Got it.

Environment is key.

Third, mastering time. Using things like Parkinson’s law awareness, maybe Pomodoro, definitely eat the frog.

And really committing to single tasking for important work.

Time management and single tasking.

Yep. Fourth, [00:20:00] the absolute necessity of breaks. They aren’t optional, they fuel productivity and creativity. Fifth, fueling yourself properly. Sleep, diet, hydration are non-negotiable foundations.

Basics matter a lot.

And sixth, making it stick through habit formation, starting small. Being consistent.

And finally, recognizing when expert guidance, like from Christine Abela at Go Beyond Busy, could provide that tailored support to actually implement this stuff in a real world business context.

Exactly. That sums it up pretty well.

Okay, so here’s the final thought to leave our listeners with. Thinking about everything we’ve covered today.

Right.

What’s the one change? Just one thing you could realistically try this week, starting tomorrow, inspired by this deep dive, that could have the biggest impact on your focus and productivity.

Just pick one thing. Maybe it’s turning off email notifications for an hour. Maybe it’s eating the frog. Maybe it’s taking a real lunch break away from your desk.

Whatever it is, pick one. Experiment. See what [00:21:00] happens. You might just surprise yourself.

Thanks for listening to Go Beyond Busy. If something in today’s episode struck a chord or you’d like support to get your business to the next level, head over to GoBeyondBusy.com. You’ll find more resources there and an easy way to get in touch. I’m your host, Christine Abela from Oxygen8 Consulting, helping you to fall in love with your business all over again.

Thanks for joining me.