Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

If you haven`t figured it out yet, I`m an OTR driver. Hi, I`m Zactoria aka Socialbuterfly. I`ve been driving for 6 1/2 years and still learning. Prior to driving, I was a crewleader for the upholstery dept. at a major boat manufactor. I have some ideas for the woman behind the wheel (we need our "feel good moments" out here as well). I`ve also relocated in the last year, purchasing a new home in Texas. I also have some ideas I`m working on that I couldnt find anywheres, not even on google and google patent search. I do have a slight problem though, I can`t seem to focus on one item long enough. I can see the items completely finished. I`ve even created one while in the truck, ohhh, it got a lil messy trying to use a jigsaw, drill,screwgun, and my sewing machines. I`ve come to a conclusion, if I mouth the words "why don`t someone invent a this or that" I get to thinking. Can someone give me some advise on trying to stick with one thing at a time or is it really a problem trying to work on more than one thing at a time?

Hello socialbutterfly.  Thanks for the post.  I can honestly relate with this problem.  It is hard to concentrate at times on what you really need to be doing when something else grabs your attention.  I am actually working on my small business and am always thinking of new and innovative ideas to become more efficient.  However, some days just fly by.  Do what you love and keep your positive energy.

Alexis

People may not remember it, but for a while, back around the 50s-70s, there were a number of self-help books and seminar-type events designed to help people focus.

Mental discipline is a skill, and like any other muscle, it must be developed if you don`t want it to atrophy. These days, younger people hear about the historic interest in meditation and connect it to weirded-out hippies, oddball gurus, and other fringe nutcases. But meditation came into prominence more as a tool for this mental discipline.

(One caveat on the aforementioned link: to the best of our current knowledge, you cannot increase your IQ. You can maybe vary plus or minus a couple of points, but claims that a product increases IQ are likely not true.)
Your concentration, attention, and focus, are yours alone. They`re part of your mind (and brain). If you know that you don`t have any biochemical reasons for lack of focus, then the only thing left is a) personal psychology, or b) external influence overload.

As an example of external influences; suppose you`re trying to work out a way to build a Device while you`re driving your truck. It`s snowing out, you`re hearing about multiple spinouts, and there`s word that the bridge up ahead likely is going to be closed soon. If you`re having trouble focusing on your Device at that time, it has to do with external overload, not psychological problems.

Just a casual search through Google brings at least a few links to products designed to help improve mental focus. You`d have to research them, try a few, and find the method that best works for you.

(One caveat on the aforementioned link: to the best of our current knowledge, you cannot increase your IQ. You can maybe vary plus or minus a couple of points, but claims that a product increases IQ are likely not true.)