Every day our attention is pulled in a million directions.   Particularly when you are home schooling, you are thinking about things that need to be accomplished during school, as well as regular household activities such as doing the laundry, and paying bills.  To-do lists, both personal and home-school related, family, friends, and even random errands, take up valuable brain real estate.  And of course, there is the ever present temptation for social media chatter.   It can be challenging to cut through the excess and give your attention to what really matters.  Keep reading for the four things that you should be giving some attention to every day.

1. On a Goal
You most likely have at least one goal that you are currently working on. Choose one goal to focus on every day. Focusing on a specific goal every day will allow it to stay in the forefront of your mind and ensure that you spend time working on it. Remember that breaking up big goals into smaller steps will allow you to spread the work over time.

For example, if your goal is to choose a curriculum, break it down into smaller goals.  Find the top five you have heard about, thought might work, or which have caught your attention for one reason or another.   Then dive into reviews or talking with other home-school moms who have used them.  You will either decide one of the five is right for you, or you might start the process again.  As mentioned in other posts on this blog, getting to be a part of a local homeschooling association can help speed up the decision process.  Moms who are already in the trenches can help you navigate through the process.

2. On the Now
Allowing your mind to dwell on the past is of little use to your current situation. The past is over, and you can’t change it. Focus on what is happening right now in your life, what you need to accomplish, and on the good things you have to reflect on. Keeping your mind present is a better use of your time.  Stay focused on what you need to deal with now, today.  You really can’t afford to sacrifice and ounce of your time to thinking about the past.  Getting through the day, making sure the children stay on track, and also keeping up with the household will take your time, focus, and energy.

3. On the Task at Hand
If there are things that are distracting you from keeping focused on home school related tasks, write down the problems.  Look at ways to resolve them.  Study solutions on your off hours from school, maybe while the children are in bed.  Send them to bed early or let them have a quiet time so you can have a little free time to work through things that might distract you.  That way, you can stay focused during school time. Unresolved issues take lots of energy away from focus.

4. On the Positive
Don’t let your mind fall down the tunnel of negativity and what-if thoughts. It’s literally a dead-end road that will take you nowhere. Focusing on the positives of a situation and in general, will do two things. First, it will keep your spirits up when times are tough, and you feel like giving up. Second, positive thoughts manifest more positive thoughts, which in and of itself is motivating.

Honing your thoughts in on specific tasks, aspects of home schooling, and what you want out of it for you and your children is a process that takes time to work on. Your mind, like any muscle, works best when you train it regularly. Focusing on the items listed above daily will help train your brain to go to those items on its own, eventually turning you into a lean, mean, focusing machine.