The Power of Focus: How It Can Make or Break Your Business
As I write this, I can’t help but feel like a bit of a hypocrite.
I’m working on a newsletter for my second business while also juggling my first job in our family business.
I’m deeply invested in it, work hard, and I don’t intend to leave the company but I also have other ambitions and want to build something of my own, so I’m splitting my focus.
Yet, ironically, this newsletter is about the importance of focus—dedicating yourself to one thing at a time. A topic I have written about before, here.
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty four hour days.” – Zig Ziglar
I am writing about it again because I cannot stress enough just how much of an impact a singular focus can have on your life and business.
Although I may not currently be strictly following my own advice here, it is all in pursuit of a bigger goal in the long run so I am trying to use the ideas and principles that I write about as much as I possibly can. Although, imperfectly.
However, I carry on…
A few things drew my attention back to this topic, but mainly an X post by Billy Oppenheimer on Kobe Bryant.
The story is about an 11 year old Kobe who after a terrible season, made the decision to improve, starting with one skill at a time.
“Ok, this year, I’m going to get better at dribbling. Next year, shooting. The year after that, creating my own shot.’ So forth and so on.” Kobe Bryant
The fact that an 11 year old could make such a mature, long term decision should put the rest of us adults to shame. Most of us can’t even see a few months ahead.
We may avoid admitting it but in everything that we do, there are things that move the needle that bit more than anything else. Yet we focus just as much on five other things that don’t have the same effect.
One of the most underrated decision making tools is sitting down in a distraction free environment (yes, no phone) with a pen and paper and writing down those things that move the needle for you in your life or work.
Be totally honest with yourself.
If you do this and break things down, you will realise there is one thing above all others that needs your focus.
There will then likely be a secondary task or a number of them that need attention. I’m not suggesting you neglect these totally. That may not be possible.
A better plan is to ensure that the most important task is given the attention first and is given more time than the others.
After this, you can move on to some of the secondary, yet still important tasks.
It’s a case of prioritisation. You will realise as time goes on that many things can be done away with entirely or delegated out.
Your goal is to zero in on that which accounts for the 20% of the work that generates 80% of the result you want (The Pareto Principle).
The rest usually isn’t as important as you may think.
This week…
This week's episode of the Acquired Podcast about Rolex is well worth a listen.
An iconic brand that many more people have heard about than haven’t. How its history and culture have been key in turning it into the global brand it is today.
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In this week’s Brain Food Newsletter, Shane Parrish shares a story from Stephen Schwarzman (Chairman and CEO of Blackstone Group) about the importance of the media and how approaching an idea differently can yield a much better result.
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In his one minute blog, Shaan Puri writes about Kobe and his ability to keep turning up, no matter the obstacle and to not allow himself to make an excuse for hot doing so.
Book Recommendation…
Andrew Carnegie - The story of a poor Scottish immigrant and how he rose to become one of the richest men in the world. One of the famous Robber Barons of the late eighteen, early nineteen hundreds, he lived through and was a major player (Railroads and the Steel production) in a period of massive industrial growth and expansion in the U.S.
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