More focus in 5 days: The Vertellis Challenge

We first posed this challenge to our free Online Community. You can either take it on alone, or you can join our community and tackle it together with other members! Not being alone in these challenges will increase your chances of completing them, help you to connect with others and ensure you get the most out of these 5 days. Whatever you choose to do, we hope you enjoy this challenge!

The Vertellis Challenge: More focus in 5 days

Day 1:

Why is it that you’re lacking focus? Could it be that you’re distracted too easily? Well you’re in luck, because that’s exactly what today is all about: distractions! Take anything that’s distracting off your desk. A nice side-effect of today’s exercise is that you’ll end up with a more organized work space. So get rid of any knick-knacks that are just catching dust, clear out your drawers and throw anything out that diverts your attention from your work.

Bonus tip: Put ONE thing on your desk that serves as a reminder to stay focused. This can be anything: a lucky charm, a scrunchie or a plant. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it works for you!

Day 2:

Today we have a question for you that you can ask yourself whenever you’re about to start something new.

Why do you want to tackle this project?

Write the answer to this question in your journal. After you’ve done that, repeat this process five more times. This will help you figure out your true motivation. If you then lose focus at any point in the future, knowing your initial motivation will make it so much easier to regain it, especially when this motivation comes from deep within you. 

Day 3:

HOW you set your goals also has a big impact on your ability to focus! Are you familiar with the SMART method? It’s a tool to help you formulate your goals as follows:

S - specific: What exactly do you want to achieve?

M - measurable: At what point have you achieved this goal?

A - attractive: why do you want to achieve this goal? (remember day 2!)

R - realistic: is this goal really doable?

T - termination: When would you like to have reached this goal?

SMART is an effective yet simple tool that helps you to formulate your goals better, achieve them faster and make your successes more visible!

Day 4:

Did you know that the first 72 hours after setting a goal are crucial to achieving it? In fact, they are often the deciding factor.

For that reason we’d like you to really think about what you can do within the next 72 hours that would help you achieve your goal.

Staying focused will get so much easier once you’ve properly started pursuing your goal!

Day 5: 

Sometimes you’ll find yourself getting bored with your project while you’re in the middle of it, even if you were initially super motivated. This means you lose your focus! To help you work through these moments, we’ll briefly travel into the future.

Answer the following question in your journal: How does it feel to have reached your goal?

This question goes together with the one from day 2 really nicely. Reaching your goal, or even imagining it, restores your motivation and drive. That’s why it should be easier for you to focus again after completing this exercise. Whenever you lose focus, become unmotivated, or just when you’re reading through your notes in the morning, you can think of that feeling of accomplishment to help you get going again.

Bonus tip: Use the Pomodoro technique!

We really enjoyed this challenge, so we’ve decided to give you a bonus tip! 😍 

With the Pomodoro technique you focus on one thing for 25 minutes, and then you take a 5 minute break. You repeat this process 3-4 times (depending on your preference), after which you take a longer break. During the 25 minutes of work you put your cell phone away, and after day 1’s exercise there shouldn't be anything else on your desk to distract you either!

We hope that you enjoyed the five-day challenge and that our tips come in handy in your day-to-day life. We’d love it if you came to our free online community and exchanged ideas with other members with similar interests, who are super excited to get to know you! Click here to become a member for free.

Hopefully see you soon in the Vertellis Community!