---
title: FOCUS
description: Capital Campaign Consulting, Endowment/Planned Giving Consulting, Annual Campaign Consulting, Grantwriting, Training, Donor Research, Communications.
---

[DBD Group Blog ](https://www.dbd.group/blog)

# [FOCUS](https://www.dbd.group/blog/focus)

 Written by [Danny Maier](https://www.dbd.group/blog/author/danny-maier) | Jan. 11, 2017

*This month, the Donor By Design Group is challenging you to take action, moving from resolutions to results. Today’s topic? Focus.  *

I fondly remember the early days of my career (more than two decades ago  now). I used to write a speech in a single day. I could run through so many accounts in only an afternoon. I could take multiple phone calls and process their needs.

Fast forward to now. Why are we so challenged to get things done day-in, day-out? **Focus.** Two decades ago, I did not have a smartphone. Or the Internet. I barely had email. Five emails a day was remarkable.

Research shows that it takes **23 minutes to “refocus” after an interruption**. 23 minutes!  If you take into account sleep, eating, commuting, etc, there are only seventeen 23-minute periods in a day. If you are interrupted just 10 times – that means you’ve lost half your day.  So what do we do?

Unplug.

It is that simple. I have many different clients and I am invested in their success. I am delighted to hear from them.  However, if I allow each email, text message, document, or request to interrupt my train of thought, my focus, how much work would I get done?

Very little.

Instead, when I have pressing things to get done, I schedule various check-in periods during the day. I call them my “interruption times.” I check email four times during the working day.  I turn off the phone.

Once I started doing this, guess what I missed? Hardly anything. Know how many times I missed a deadline? Never. And if you are putting together a grant proposal, a PowerPoint presentation or a thoughtful report, this focus times will not only prove more productive. You will find the quality of your work improve as well.

I even do this with calls. Important donors to call?  Focus. Review the person’s profile I need to call. Make sure I have a purpose to the call and a desired result. Practice the call in my head. Make the call.  Focus.

It’s not hard, it is just deliberate.

P.S. The first draft of this blog took me 8 minutes to write. Focus works.

[View full post](https://www.dbd.group/blog/focus)

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