Overcoming Distractions: How Systems Keep You Focused

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Table of Contents

Podcast Description

Are you tired of feeling scatterbrained and constantly getting pulled in a million different directions? Do you find yourself easily distracted by shiny objects or overwhelmed by the chaos that comes with running an online business?

If so, this episode is for you! I’m sharing how implementing effective, strategic systems can be your secret weapon to staying focused and overcoming those pesky distractions.

They’ve been the saving grace for myself and many of my students, and they can be the same for you too.

Links Referenced in Episode:

▶ Learn more about the Systems Savvy Society

Connect with me:

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Episode Transcript

(Note: This is a formatted AI-generated transcript to make it easier for you to read through, but is not an optimized blog post. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors and filler words – it’s just how I speak LOL)

Episode Intro

Are you feeling scatterbrained or constantly getting pulled in different directions? Do you find yourself easily distracted by shiny objects or overwhelmed by all the chaos that comes with running an online business?

If so, this episode is for you. I’m sharing how implementing effective strategic systems can be your secret weapon to stay in focus and overcome those pesky distractions. They’ve been the saving grace for myself and for many of my students and they can be the same for you, too. Are you ready to learn how so? Let’s dive in.

Hey, I’m Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast where I’m on a mission to help online entrepreneurs, like you, focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelm goodbye. Here, you’re going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner. It’s your time to shine. So let’s get started.

Hey, Hey. Welcome to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast. I am so excited about this episode because we’re talking about systems. Systems is where my happy place is. This is what I absolutely love to do, and what I love talking about.

Last week I referenced five things that you should stop doing in 2024. And in case you didn’t really catch it, two of them kind of go hand in hand with getting systems implemented because you want to stop working in chaos and you want to stop relying on your memory, and systems is how you can do this.

Systems allows you to stop working in chaos and it allows you to not have to rely on your memory to remember when you need to do certain things or the tasks that are involved with even the small projects that, your first year, you’re never going to forget that next task. You likely will.

And so in today’s episode, we’re diving into the topic of overcoming distractions and how systems can truly keep you focused on what really matters and will move the needle in your business.

Understanding Distractions

So before we jump into the solutions, let’s take a quick moment to understand the nature of distractions.

In this digital age, our attention is constantly being pulled in multiple directions: social media notifications, email pings, never ending to do list and not to mention the in-person distractions as well: kids, partners, health, pets.

This can all feel like a never ending battle. But here’s the thing. Distractions are here to stay. The key to learning how to deal with distractions is how to manage them effectively because they’re not going away.

And that’s why in episode 9 and 26, I share different ways on managing these distractions instead of eliminating them because you won’t.

Yes, you might be able to eliminate some distractions, but it’s never going to be enough to actually help you never get distracted, or never get unfocused on whatever it is that you’re working on.

The Power of Strategic Systems

But the good news is that you can rely on your systems to keep you focused and remember exactly where you left off, even if you got pulled away five times and the last hour. You will know exactly what you were working on, where you left off, even if you don’t get back to it the next day or the next week, that is the power of systems.

Just imagine having a streamlined workflow that replaces your bizillion open tabs and keeps everything organized. You’re no longer having to waste time trying to find something you needed five minutes ago.

And having manageable and simplified workflows just makes it super easy for you to get tasks done better and faster. That is why I love systems.

In fact, one of my students, Megan, who I chatted with on episode 19, shared that before she implemented systems using my four minimum bucket strategy, which by the way, I will share it next week on the podcast, so stay tuned.

She felt like she was wasting over 10 hours a week, and now she gets more done, feels less stressed, and feels more accountable. That is the power of systems.

How Systems Keep You Focused

But not only do strategic systems help you become more efficient by getting tasks done faster, they’re also helping you ensure that you’re getting the right tasks done correctly the first time that you do it. They ensure that your plans line up with your goals and keep you on track.

Regardless, if it’s a task you started five minutes ago, one week ago, one a month ago, or even one year ago…having systems like these is a powerful way to combat that scatter brain tendencies since you’re not needing to rely on just your memory alone.

Instead, you’re going to have a foolproof system in place to keep you on track and ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

It also helps you organize your genius ideas, whether they’re digital product ideas, new offer ideas, content ideas, or any other amazing ideas that you get at the most random times. There’s a way to neatly organize them and quickly find them later when the time is right.

I don’t know about you, but I get my best ideas when I’m laying in bed. Maybe if you’ve heard of Lizzy Goddard, she talks about the shower gods and how you get some amazing ideas when you’re taking a shower.

That happens to me too. They happen when you’re more than likely not trying to get stuff done on your desk and that’s because you’re trying to relax. You’re letting your mind wander, and then that is when you’re open to receiving new ideas, even though you really don’t think that you are.

You may be like “ I’ll remember that when I get back to my desk.” I know I personally have done that and especially if it was 8:30 or 11:30 and I’m going to bed, I’m really tired and I’m trying to go to sleep and I get this really good idea.

I’m like, “Oh, there’s no way I’m going to forget that in the morning.” I always did. And then I would wake up and I’m like,”Oh, that idea was so good! I’ll come back to me. It was so good. It’ll come back to me.” And then it never did.

And then I’m just like, “ah, I wish I could have written it down”. And you might have a journal next to your bed, but then now you’re scrambling through all your pages in your notebook, trying to find that idea that you had two weeks ago. No.

You can do that and have them all neatly organized inside of a project management tool inside your strategic system. That is the power of having systems.

My student, Sasha, had over 500 blog post ideas in a to-do list app, which she considered to be useless since she couldn’t actually find what she needed due to the endless scroll.

Similarly, if you have that journal by your bed and you have dozens of pages to go through to find that one idea that you had a few nights ago, right. But now she’s using Trello and can find ideas based on certain topics, holidays, and categories exactly when she needs them.

All of this helps you remain focused on the task at hand because your mind is not wandering off, trying to figure out where you left that thing, where you put this genius idea, where the file went.

You’re not having to worry about any of that, and you’re just focused on the task at hand. Now. I could go on and on about all of the benefits of strategic systems and how they can reduce your overwhelm. But I do cover that more in episode 11, so take a listen to that one if you haven’t yet.

Episode Wrap-Up

Now I am really passionate about strategic systems, as you can see. They give you the three F’s that we all want as business owners. The three F’s are Flexibility, Freedom and Focus.

Inside the System Savvy Society, you’ll learn how to create strategic systems that actually keep you organized, focused, efficient, and less overwhelmed. Regardless of which project management tool you’re using.

I’ll share more about this new membership in the upcoming episodes, but to learn more about becoming a member of the society, head to https://cheerstoproductivity.com/sss. This year can be the year that you achieve more flexibility, more time, freedom and better focus.

Strategic systems are the solution, and I can help you get there. All right, friend, in next week’s episode, I’m sharing my organization strategy that I shared earlier, the minimum four bucket system to get your project management tool under control and you won’t want to miss it. All right, friend, I’ll talk to you again next week.

Thanks so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast with me Lucy Reyes. To get the full transcript and all the links mentioned in today’s episode, visit www.cheerstoproductivity.com/55. And before you go, make sure you follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening so you know once the next productive chats is released. Talk soon and cheers to your productivity and success!