202: FOCUS Series Part 1: Focus Academy’s Shawn Blanc
Jan 5, 2022
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In this podcast, Shawn Blanc, a focus+productivity coach, discusses the importance of focus and practical ways to fight against distractions. He shares tips on scheduling what matters and prioritizing the 6 main areas of your life. The episode concludes with a reflection on whether your current actions are serving your goals and an invitation to join Shawn's Focus Course Academy.
Building personal integrity by making small commitments to oneself and following through with them is a key step towards being more focused.
Differentiating urgency from importance and aligning actions with values is crucial for maintaining focus and making intentional decisions.
Deep dives
Building Personal Integrity through Small Commitments
One of the first steps to being more focused is to build personal integrity by making small commitments to yourself and following through with them. For example, setting out your outfit for the next day before going to bed and wearing it as planned. This helps develop trust and confidence in yourself. By starting small and gradually increasing commitments, you can begin to make bigger promises and prioritize what matters to you.
The Importance of Clarity in Focus
Many people struggle with focus because they confuse urgency with importance. They get caught up in the demands and distractions of others, instead of identifying what truly matters to them. Having maximum clarity about what is important and aligning your actions with your values is crucial. Taking the time to assess the different areas of your life and choosing one key focus area can help you make more intentional decisions and prioritize your time and energy accordingly.
Recognizing and Celebrating Progress
Celebrating and recognizing progress is essential for maintaining focus. Setting milestones and goals, and then acknowledging and celebrating when you achieve them, helps build motivation and momentum. It also provides an opportunity to assess and reassess your priorities and determine whether your focus is still aligned with your goals and values. Regularly celebrating and reflecting on your progress helps you stay on track and make adjustments as needed.
The Power of Community and Accountability
Engaging with a community and having accountability can significantly enhance your ability to stay focused. Joining a group of like-minded individuals, such as in a live online cohort, provides support, encouragement, and the opportunity to learn from others' experiences. Being part of a community breaks the isolation and exposes you to different perspectives, liberating you from your own mindset and expanding your possibilities. The accountability and shared journey with others increase completion rates and make the learning process more enjoyable and effective.
This is the first of our FOCUS SERIES going the entire month of January to get us on solid footing in 2022. I hear from so many of you and the challenges, roadblocks and distractions that keep you from stepping fully into your purpose all boils down to FOCUS.
To kick off the series you’ll meet Shawn Blanc, long time friend of Ben and Havilah’s and focus+productivity coach with 20 years under his belt helping tens of thousands of people get clear and meet goals that previously eluded them.
In this conversation with Shawn and Havilah you’ll learn how focus is about having clarity about what really matters to you. Learn practical ways of how to fight back against the tyranny of the urgent. We all know how easy it is to get caught up in the moment of what is demanding your attention right ‘now’.
Learn how to schedule what matters - and how to follow through!
Shawn will outline what the 6 main areas of your life are and how to prioritize those. Take a deep breath and extend yourself some compassion: It’s impossible to give your attention to everything all the time. In the midst of hustle culture it’s easy to forget that amidst the noise.
As you head into 2022, realize that what got you here might not be what carries you any further. At the end of today’s episode you’ll be confident in knowing if what you’ve been doing is serving your goals moving forward and how to take action toward what is serving your goals!
Also, if you want to get connected to Shawn’s Focus Course Academy you can find that HERE.