I agree that traditional multi-tasking does not work. And, I've also found that I cannot stay in focus mode all of the time. I've try to adopt a few things I've been exposed to by other people/organizations to help me be more focused. I'm human, so while it helps...I still suffer from "Squirrel" syndrome too :-) The first concept came from the Army and it is concept we called "Charlie Mike", which is phonetic speak for "Continue Mission". Tasked with a specific mission is a lot like "Focus Time", you have one very clear objective. In a perfect world, we would go from insertion to objective, complete the mission and extract. Life (Army or business) is NEVER perfect! So what the Army taught us was to stay super focused on the mission but when something came up (enemy, unexpected terrain, problems) you deal with the problem and then you get back on mission..."Charlie Mike". I've tried to adopt that mindset in business and often it helps! The second tip I learned from Christine Deputy, head of HR/Training at Dunkin. She would set 3-4 really big goals and whenever someone came up to her with a "shiny object" (sometimes one that was valid/important) she would say "Interesting, important...not a PRIORITY". It was a really excellent way of acknowledging the person and the point they are bringing up but politely declining to shift focus/priorities. What it taught me was there are always a MILLION things you could work on, but what are the 3-4 really important things that could move the needle? That also helped me learn to say no without guilt...sometimes even saying no to myself. Anyway, in the time it took me to type this, I did do 2 other things that popped up so hopefully this makes sense! Point made and taken at the same time!

This one caught my eye and I have a slightly different take on it. IMHO, some of this also comes down to your point of view on parenting. I love my kids dearly and I have invested a ton of my time into them, their interests, etc. But I also required something from them. If they expressed an interest in something, I would also go down that path but not faster or farther than they were willing to...I wasn't going to lead them somewhere just because something caught their eye. I also have been selfish at times. Bailing on a family dinner so I could exercise (riding my rode bicycle for 60-90 minutes) and occasionally missing a family get together because of a work conflict (mostly when I owned my own business). My wife is very different from me and literally would drop anything, do anything for our kids, even if it was detrimental to her. I often feel like my wife lost sight of herself, pouring everything into our kids, while I poured a lot into them (not nearly as much as her) but never lost sight of myself because of those selfish moments. Some of this is also rooted in sports as I coached many, many sports teams that my kids were on. I saw too many coaches/parents trying to relive their glory days or help their kids go farther than they did in their sports. My kids are not me and I wanted them to be their own individuals. IMHO, this also means I need to let them figure things out or feel the pain of disappointment if they didn't put in the effort. I've always try to help them connect the dots, see the bigger picture, etc. but I've also been ok with my kids being disappointed...in life and even with me as their dad. Now that my kids are grown and the older two both have small kids, we've talked about it a little and I think they get it. They now feel some of that overwhelm that comes with being a grown up AND a parent. They say this has helped them understand how I was compared to their mother a little better. She is still their favorite...I still screw things up as a parent AND i believe my kids know how much I love them and for me that is good enough!

@Phil DePaul - agree with your comment about it coming from a place of insecurity could be a bad thing. There was a point that I wasn't insecure but I had a little bit of a scarcity mindset...like there were only so many people that could "win". When I learned how to flip it and genuinely be happy for ANYONE who was killing it, it allowed me to better observe/learn from them because I didn't feel like they were robbing from my opportunities!