Our natural tendency is to behave like butterflies: flitting from one flower to another in search of nutrition – or from one task to another before the first task is complete – or switching from one priority to another on impulse.
To justify this, we call this multi-tasking but this isn’t multi-tasking, it is a lack of focus and it extracts a heavy price: loss of productivity, missed goals and a sense that much time has been expended and not much achieved. Learning to focus on just one thing at a time is the answer; it is not easy to do but the rewards can be amazing…
Let’s say you have a goal to enhance your income. Now there are many ways you could do this. You could:
-start your own business
-work in a higher paying job
-buy and sell in the property market
-invest in the stock market
A typical way to go about this is to dabble in the stock market and maybe you make a bit of money in the start but soon discover that this is not easy. So you then start your own business but this turns out to be much more difficult than you originally thought. You give this up after 3 months and start thinking about entering the property market…
This is how most people act in the pursuit of some goal – with a lack of conviction and a lack of focus. Whether your goal is to become independent by starting your own business, to become more successful in your current job, to become more fit and healthy, to be more successful financially, etc. the only way to get there is to focus and then stick with it.
There are numerous examples of people who became famous and successful by choosing to focus.
Tony Robbins decided to focus on becoming a motivational speaker.
Brian Tracy decided he would enhance his productivity by a small percentage each day (he increased his earnings by a factor of 100 in ten years).
Warren Buffet decided he would invest in well-managed companies.
Tendulkar decided he would be one of the world’s best batsmen.
The common theme here is focusing on one area and then a determined effort to get success in that area.
This does not mean that ALL you do has to be in ONE area. For example Google is now involved in many areas of technology but its primary focus, its reason for success has been the world’s best search engine. Tendulkar bowls occasionally but the reason he is successful has always been his batting.
Choosing that one area of focus is the hardest part. People who know what they love to do and what their area of focus should be are a very small minority.
Choosing the area of focus wisely and then sticking with it may be the most important thing you do with the rest of your life.
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