Blogs by Ella Fisher

Staying focused, to me, means this: you want something, you take the right steps, and you don’t let yourself get distracted. When things get difficult, you look for a solution. But what does staying focused mean to you? In today’s busy world, it’s more important than ever, because otherwise you get overwhelmed by all the little things that don’t actually matter.

Take social media, for example. It’s probably the biggest distraction for most people. Of course, it can be inspiring, but in many cases, it’s not. When my focus starts to fade, I notice that the things I truly want slip away. Sometimes they even disappear from my mind completely, and I end up asking myself, Why am I even doing this again? Luckily, that last part doesn’t happen very often.

My biggest distractor isn’t even social media—it’s the feeling of always wanting to be available for everyone. Yes, I’m talking about my phone. Thankfully, I’ve gotten better at putting it aside. When I’m visiting someone, I barely touch it. I’m sure you’ve been at a birthday party where everyone is staring at their screens—that really needs to stop. If you want to be available to people, then be available in real life, not just through your phone.

My concentration drops instantly when I leave my notifications on. When I’m working on a book and my phone keeps buzzing, I’m pulled right out of my creative flow—and that’s such a waste. When you’re walking down the street glued to your screen, you don’t see anything happening around you. I’m guilty of this too, especially on the school playground, mostly because I’m not in the mood to socialize with all the moms. But sometimes something nice happens, or you run into someone, and you miss it because you’re staring at your phone again.

From my own experience, I can tell you this: multitasking is a terrible habit. You simply cannot do two things at the same time and expect perfection—if that’s your goal. No human can. Whatever you do second will distract you from the thing that should have your full attention. The biggest misconception about multitasking is that it helps you finish everything quickly. Maybe there’s a grain of truth in that, but the real question is: how good is the final result?

Here’s how I usually determine what matters in my life:

1. Listen to your intuition—if something doesn’t feel right, don’t give it attention.
2. Does it add value? Then do it.
3. Does it make you a better person? If yes, there’s your answer.
4. Is it positive or negative? Does it drain you or give you energy?
5. What’s the impact if you don’t do it?
   
   

My main goals—the ones that deserve my attention—are my job and my writing. My job supports my family, and my writing supports me, emotionally speaking. Writing is my passion, and nothing in this world makes me happier. I couldn’t go a day without it. I give my best at work every day, I try to think along with the company and my colleagues, and I write daily for either work or my blog. But I could be doing better. I could make my writing goals more concrete by promoting myself more as a writer and reaching out to English-speaking publishers. According to ChatGPT, that’s where my market is.

If I didn’t stay focused on these two things, I could lose both my job and my positivity—because writing is what keeps me balanced. Writing makes me feel alive; it’s where I put all my energy and creativity. Without it, I think I’d be unhappy. But at the same time, life is unpredictable. Maybe something else would take its place someday. That’s usually how I look at things that have an expiration date. Not that writing has one—but you never know.

People often fall back into old habits and don’t reach their goals because they do things with resistance or convince themselves that the path is too difficult. Many choose security over taking risks, even if that means losing the very goal they wanted. And that’s a shame.

I sometimes have negative thoughts too—totally human—like: I’m not going to make it, This takes too much time, or in terms of writing: What makes my book unique? Who even wants to read it? Those thoughts distract me and sometimes make me stop writing temporarily.

I’m lucky with my family—they give me full space to work on my books alongside my 32-hour workweek. When I’m working (at home or at the office), I prefer silence. At the office, that’s not always possible, but that’s okay, because I actually enjoy working with people. But when I’m writing at home, I don’t play music, my phone is on silent, and recently we even removed our doorbell—honestly, life is so much more peaceful without kids ringing constantly. Hot tip from me.

A routine helps a lot. For work, I schedule everything in my calendar, including the number of minutes I want to spend on each task—basic time management, but it works perfectly for me. For writing, I set up my laptop, my notebook, ChatGPT for research, a cup of coffee or tea, and go.

I truly believe you can train your focus like a muscle. Remove distractions and you’re already 80% there, at least in my experience.

Things I do daily to stay focused:

1. Keep my phone out of sight and notifications off.
2. Write every day—if not for my book, then for a blog or my positivity journal.
3. Drink enough water, take care of myself, and take breaks from the screen.
4. Walk the dog.
5. Read or listen to things that help me grow.
   
   

I’m convinced that setting priorities helps you reach your goals. But with my books, I slacked off these last few months, and now I’m paying the price. I could have been finished, prepared a pitch for English publishers, but because I prioritized other things—or even things that didn’t matter at all—I didn’t achieve it. When something unexpected happens on my writing day (Monday), I get irritated. I tell myself I’ll write during the week, but usually I’m too tired. If someone has the golden tip for this: I’m all ears.

Sleep is extremely important for concentration. When I haven’t slept well, I’m not sharp, and it shows in everything I do. Too much sugar also ruins my focus—I either crash or get hyper and start doing random things (multitasking again, and you know how I feel about that).

Since I started going to the gym regularly—which I consider fanatical because I never did it before—I’ve noticed a real positive change. My mood is better, I have more energy, and that helps with staying focused.

To reduce mental noise, I came up with this: tell ChatGPT your problem and then do writing exercises. It really helps. Maybe not overnight, but after a few weeks, you’ll definitely feel calmer.

When I’m stressed—about traveling, for example—I start making mistakes. I forget things or drop things. Then I tell myself (something I learned from Mel Robbins): You’re allowed to feel this way. It’s okay. So simple, but so effective. The feeling usually fades immediately.

Mindfulness isn’t really my thing. Someone once gave me a mindfulness book for my birthday (which now makes me wonder—do I really seem that stressed?), but even flipping through the first few pages made me tired. Meditation also isn’t for me—too many thoughts pop up. Maybe a meditation teacher would tell me I’m doing it all wrong. But breathing exercises, as long as they’re not too “floaty,” do help me.

The value of single-tasking is that you give something your full attention. You take your time, you can check your work properly, and the end result is good—maybe even perfect. Isn’t that what we all want?

Even though I’ve said many times that phones cause distractions, I think you can use them to improve your focus.

For example, as a writer:

1. Follow only authors (create two accounts: one for you as a writer and one for friends). I just came up with this and I think I’m going to do it soon.
2. Use social media to promote your work.
3. Use your phone as a timer. Set it for 10 minutes and work on one task without stopping. It’s surprisingly satisfying.
   
   

Sometimes doubt gets in the way. What I’ve always been taught is: when in doubt, don’t. But sometimes you can also work through the doubt. When I’m writing a new chapter and don’t know where to begin, I doubt whether I’ll finish it. But I force myself to write anyway—even if it’s nonsense at first. Often something beautiful comes out of it. I think this applies to everything: push through and see what happens.

Procrastination fortunately isn’t something I struggle with, so I can’t give advice except: just do it!

What I don’t do enough—but should—is check-in moments to see how far I’ve come with my goals. It’s motivating. Small steps count too.

If my motivation dips, it helps me to do something else—walk, go to the gym, watch a movie, anything unrelated to my goal. When my schedule is full, it helps to write everything down in my planner and on the board in our kitchen. That way I can’t avoid it.

It’s also important to take breaks or allow yourself to be bored. If you don’t, you burn out and lose your sense of direction. When my kids are home, it’s hard to focus on writing. Same when my boyfriend is home—then I’m tempted to talk, and there goes my focus. Setting boundaries helps: work on your goal when no one is around, or schedule that time intentionally.

I don’t suffer from FOMO at all, which saves me a lot of energy. I don’t reflect daily, but about three or four times a week. When I read back my updates, I sometimes realize I’m spending time on things that don’t deserve my attention. I learn from that, and take it into the new week so I won’t get distracted again.

And now and then, I celebrate my wins—I should actually do that more often. I’ll buy myself a pair of shoes I want, flowers, perfume, or something else I love.