Ever Used CFT?

CFT is an acronym for Critical Focus Time. When I am creating content for this blog or any of the others I have, when I am going through the sales process with a client I can maybe consider that CFT, when I am writing, when I am making a video, making audio or doing anything that makes the online presence greater then that is critical focus time.

Critical Focus Time or CFT

I am currently being mentored and getting into the habit of CFT on a daily basis is difficult, you do tend to skip. Years ago I heard that in order for something to become a habit it has to be done for around 30 days before you do it naturally. This comes from investigations on astronauts using concave glasses to make the world look upside down. Around the 30 day mark the brain flipped the images up and they started seeing the World the right way up in all cases. If a break was made in the time period with the glasses then it took another 30 days to get the brain doing the same. The consistency principle is therefore seen to apply to your brain too. The neural networks changed as a result of the stimulus. Well I am trying to make my CFT more of a habit.

It is difficult?

I use the Pomodoro technique that I have outlined here before in this post, and split my time into 25 minute sections with 5 minute breaks in the middle. It differs from check moves because check moves do not involve the same actions. They are customer interactions.

So how can you make use of CFT in your daily life and what will it do for you?

Firstly, you need to make sure that you have the 25 minute periods free without interruptions and set the Pomodoro timer. The phone gets turned off, twitter in the background and other distractions like email notifications get turned off an you are left with a blank page or a running video for example.

Next you need to start creating the content without editing, thinking or going back. It may take a good time before your brain warms up or clicks into gear. The first ten minutes will take effort but eventually you will slip into gear quite well, especially after having done this for a time.

At the end of the 25 minute period you may have a few things done. I generally can write three blog posts in that time if they are shorter ones and longer efforts may take the whole of the 25 minutes. What you must not do is edit yet. You need to walk away. Therefore get your 5 minute break, you have earnt it and do something else. Make a drink, stretch your legs or something.

Repeat as required.

The editing comes later. Much later. You need to assimilate what you have done over a period of time so the best way is to wait until the next day before editing. This is especially true of video because you will not do what you need to do to a video straight after filming it. The little tweaks that make it special will not be there. There is a huge temptation to publish straight away especially if you think something is good. Resist the temptation to publish straight away as you will always think of something else later to make it better. However don’t put off publishing for ever. Edit the next day and publish it.

If you do the CFT process a couple of times a day or 30 days you will see how useful it is in your business but even more than that you will find out that suddenly you start to become a market leader in your chosen area.

In the next post we will talk about how you keep the tank full of inspiration and ideas. You don’t want to get writers block.

Related Posts

1) The Pomodoro Technique

2) Niking Your Writing to Make it Better

3) Check Move Theory

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• Pomodoro Technique Illustrated (oreilly.com)
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Originally posted 2010-03-25 09:58:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter