We live in a very fast-paced world and often find ourselves so busy each day just doing what needs to be done that we feel overwhelmed. There never seems to be any time to work on our businesses, to market to new clients, to come up with and implement new ideas.

I recommend you schedule 15 minutes twice a day to focus on you, your business and goals. You will find the benefits to be tremendous. The ideal times would be first thing in the morning and last thing at night. When you first get up, take 15 minutes to write down your thoughts and outline your goals for the day. I often find that I wake up in the middle of the night with ideas. So I keep a pad and pen next to my bed and jot these things down. Then in the morning I can use that as a basis for writing for the day. Keeping an ongoing journal of your thoughts and ideas is a great way to make sure you don't forget any of them. You can always go back to them at a later date.

Take a second 15 minutes the last thing at night to write down your accomplishments. This will help you relax and focus on the positive things that happened throughout your day. You will find you sleep much better, wake more refreshed and think more clearly.

Use these two 15 minute periods to relax, take a deep breath, and then let it all out. Then focus on something specific you want to accomplish or that you did accomplish that day. You will find that you become more productive by taking 15 minutes twice a day to focus on your business goals.

What do you do to stay focused each day?

I felt that this last week I didn't get much accomplished. I often keep a journal noting things I want to get done or have done. So I checked. I had journaled one week ago today all the things I did in the first two days of last week and several things to accomplish within the week. And guess what? I had done them all, and a bit more!

So I suggest you note your accomplishments and then go back and give yourself a pat on the back for what you did get done. And stop dwelling on what you didn't get done. I can tell you from personal experience it doesn't accomplish anything; it only makes you feel bad about yourself.

Noting all the things I did get done has re-energized me. I had started to feel sluggish, thinking I wasn't accomplishing much. But once I saw what all I did accomplish, it motivated me to want to do more.

So get out your pen and paper and write down what you've accomplished so far this week. Then start your list of things to accomplish the rest of the week. Let me know how it goes.