--- title: "66: Plugging Leaks to Focus and Execute" id: "5347" type: "post" slug: "focus-and-execute-66" published_at: "2018-11-04T01:28:02+00:00" modified_at: "2022-12-23T23:24:08+00:00" url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/focus-and-execute-66/" markdown_url: "https://johnpoelstra.com/focus-and-execute-66.md" excerpt: "It's easy to get off track and lose focus. Here are some of the ways I have been attempting to sharpen my focus and execution." taxonomy_category: - "Podcast" taxonomy_post_tag: - "news" - "productivity" - "Steve Chandler" - "trello" --- [Skip to the content](#site-content) [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com) ### Bringing order to chaos and clarity to confusion - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) Toggle search field - [One Conversation](https://johnpoelstra.com/) - [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) # [66: Plugging Leaks to Focus and Execute](https://johnpoelstra.com/focus-and-execute-66/) It’s easy to get off track and lose focus. Here are some of the ways I have been attempting to sharpen my focus and execution. [https://media.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/content.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/JPS066-Plugging-Leaks-Focus-Execute.mp3](https://media.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/content.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/JPS066-Plugging-Leaks-Focus-Execute.mp3) Podcast: [Download](https://media.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/content.blubrry.com/johnpoelstra/JPS066-Plugging-Leaks-Focus-Execute.mp3) Subscribe: [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1#episodeGuid=http%3A%2F%2Fjohnpoelstra.com%2F%3Fp%3D5347) | [Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) ## Highlights - [Time Warrior](https://www.amazon.com/Time-Warrior-procrastination-people-pleasing-over-commitment/dp/1600250378/) : How to defeat procrastination, people-pleasing, self-doubt, over-commitment, broken promises and chaos by Steve Chandler - Creating vs. Managing - [Advanced Client Systems](http://www.stevechandler.com/advanced_client_systems_program.html) (ACS) program hosted by Steve Chandler - [The Prosperous Coach](https://www.amazon.com/Prosperous-Coach-Increase-Income-Clients/dp/1600250300/) : Increase Income and Impact for You and Your Clients by Steve Chandler and Rich Litvin - Three primary leaks I’m seeing steal my focus - Email - News - Social Media - Where do you waste time across a day? - Being conscious and intentional about the things I work on - Choosing “now” or “not now” - Once an email is open it has to be dealt with - You don’t leave your physical mail opened in your mailbox - The power of turning the email preview pane window off - Saves all kinds of distractions - Easier to delete junk - [Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/) for email - Move tasks that are living in your inbox to your task management system - Managing all my tasks in Trello - Subscribe to the board (to get notifications) - Set due dates on important cards– email comes and I don’t delete it until I’ve dealt with the card - Setting up simple website blocking with entries to /etc/hosts - Inspired by [Greg DeKoenigsberg in episode 54](https://johnpoelstra.com/wasting-time-with-greg-dekoenigsberg-054/) - Using podcasts listening to get the news without the distractions - [The Daily](https://www.nytimes.com/column/the-daily) - [Wall Street Journal](https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/browse/wsj-whats-news) - [NPR hourly news summary](https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500005/npr-news-now) - Scaling back social media noise - Cleaning up my follower list on Twitter - Turning off notification for Facebook group postings (reduces email) - LinkedIn - I would love to see more personal stuff here and less boring corporate blog posts about the latest product release - My archiving strategy and space saving with Dropbox - De-cluttering computer files - [Daisy Disk](https://daisydiskapp.com/) to find large files - Be on the lookout for leaks in your own life What can you do to plug the leaks and focus your time on things that matter? ## Credits - [Hallon](http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Christian_Bjoerklund/Skapmat/christian_bjoerklund_-_skpmat_ep_-_01_-_hallon) by Christian Bjoerklund - [Cold Funk](http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100499) by Kevin MacLeod - Original [photo source](https://unsplash.com/photos/0gO3-b-5m80) All songs licensed under [Creative Commons](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) #### John Poelstra [Author archive](https://johnpoelstra.com/author/john-poelstra/) November 3, 2018 [Podcast](https://johnpoelstra.com/category/podcast/) [news](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/news/) , [productivity](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/productivity/) , [Steve Chandler](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/steve-chandler/) , [trello](https://johnpoelstra.com/tag/trello/) [Previous post](https://johnpoelstra.com/leading-from-within-with-stephani-roy-mccallum-65/) [Next post](https://johnpoelstra.com/changes-beginnings-endings-2018-october-67/) ### Leave a Reply [Cancel reply](/focus-and-execute-66/#respond) ### John Poelstra [https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756](https://johnpoelstra.com/?attachment_id=3756) ### Subscribe to Podcast [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1) [Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [by Email](https://subscribebyemail.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [RSS](https://johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) ### Links - [About](https://johnpoelstra.com/about/) - [Blog](https://johnpoelstra.com/blog/) - [Podcast Production](https://johnpoelstra.com/podcast-production/) - [Better Meetings](https://johnpoelstra.com/meetings) ### Subscribe to Podcast [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-poelstra-show/id1130635146?mt=2&ls=1) [Android](https://subscribeonandroid.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [by Email](https://subscribebyemail.com/johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) [RSS](https://johnpoelstra.com/feed/podcast/) © 2026 [John Poelstra](https://johnpoelstra.com/) — Powered by [WordPress](http://www.wordpress.org) Theme by [Anders Noren](https://andersnoren.se) — [Up ↑](#)