Writers 
We all have priorities, things that demand a measure of our attention. We’ have got families, jobs, friends, errands to run, personal interests to pursue, households to run, and much more. They are all important to us, but what really determines the importance of something is how devoted we are to MAKING time for it.
All the focus in the world won’t help if you don’t care enough to make your goal(s) a priority. Likewise, you have to make building a strong focus one of your top priorities.
Focus (getting AND staying focused) takes tremendous discipline. You’ve got to be strong enough to stick to a plan, and expand that plan as you go. You’ve got to be dedicated enough to avoid temptations, distractions, and negative thoughts. You’ have got to be willing to say no to excessive obligations, or figure out a way to rearrange your plans if the unexpected happens.
More than anything, you’ve got to decide that staying focused on your goals is of vital importance. Otherwise, you’ll keep letting fear and distractions derail your efforts.
The simplest way to keep your focus a priority is to set a schedule and stick to it.
This is often easier said than done, but you know the old saying that nothing worthwhile comes easy.
One word of warning: don’t try to take on too much. It’s great to be firm in setting priorities, but one major obstacle people create for themselves is setting an excessively rigid schedule that leaves no room for flexibility, and then they end up feeling stressed and depressed when they can’t stick to it. Very few people can stick to an ironclad schedule, except maybe a hermit that has no outside distractions.
Instead, give yourself some leeway (but not TOO much leeway). Try setting a goal to spend 30 minutes a day staying focused on your goals (or whatever you are working on at the time). Then if you feel motivated to continue beyond the 30 minutes, you can.
In fact, this is another of my “secret weapons”. I’ve learned something important about myself over the years, and you may find that the same thing applies to you. Here it is: I will procrastinate and avoid working on a project if it seems to be too difficult, time consuming, complex, or intimidating.
Interestingly, if I trick myself into believing that I’ am only going to work on it for 30 minutes or so, I ALWAYS feel motivated to continue beyond the initial 30 minutes and accomplish much more than I planned. It’s my own perception that something will take a lot of time or be extremely difficult that gives me pause.
Give this idea some thought and you might discover that you do the same thing, and we are not alone in that habit. The start is the hardest part for many people, so beginning with a very small commitment is a good way to get over that hump. Then you can gradually push yourself to put in longer periods of time.
The important thing is to simply get moving on a regular basis. You’d be amazed at what you can accomplish in even small bursts of activity.
Now for the big question: how do you juggle your priorities?
Sometimes it can seem like there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish everything we want to do. I won’t kid you; you will need to be creative about making your focus a priority. Beyond simply “making time” to work on your goals, you will need to make some crucial decisions on a moment-to-moment basis. You might be tempted by a great television program, an invitation to go out with friends, a spouse that demands some quality time, and more. You will NOT need to neglect the other areas of your life to keep a strong focus. In fact, doing so is usually a very bad idea.
Instead, think about the non-essential activities you do on a daily or weekly basis, and decide which of them can be lessened or eliminated to allow more time for staying focused on your goals. We all have nonessential activities, whether it’ is 10 hours of television-watching, aimlessly surfing the Internet after dinner, or watching news on Saturday afternoons.
While it’s not healthy to eliminate ALL of your hobbies and recreational activities, you can certainly learn to balance them with your other priorities.
I won’t launch into a big explanation on this because you are smart enough to know that if you waste a lot of time on unimportant things and don’t allot enough time to work on your goals, your progress will be less than impressive. It’s just common sense.
If you want to make your objectives a priority, you’ have got to set aside time to focus intently on them, period.