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Focus is the launch pad that can get you everything you want in your life.
I've experienced just how powerful this can be numerous times in my life.
In 2021, the only thing I could think about was working in venture capital. I wanted to be surrounded by innovation. I wanted to help accelerate it. There was a big issue though:
I had no past experience.
I had no connections to the industry.
I had no idea what it even took to get a job there.
My friends would continually urge me to apply for other jobs -- P&G, Deloitte, EY, etc.
Each time I would politely tell them all no.
That wasn't what I wanted to do. Any other interview I would get would be time taken from what I really wanted to do. A lot of people lack this kind of focus.
Focus is saying no
Often times, people mistake what focus really is. Just because you're busy getting tasks done doesn't mean you're focused. There's a clear difference between being busy and being productive. Being focused requires you to repeatedly say "no" to new and exciting ideas.
Most people disguise their lack of focus.
How many things have you turned down on your pursuit towards your goal?
My guess is most of the things you'd list are just sacrificial items to justify you've said no to things along the way.
As Jony Ive says, "this sounds simple, but it shocks me how few people actually practice this."
Focus on vision, not busy work
Deep focus is an every minute action.
Focus is more about the vision you hold than it is about crossing off your to-do list.
Entrepreneurs need to know what they want out of:
- Their life
- Their business
- The decisions they're making
Your focus needs to be on building -- not busy. Warren Buffett preaches this idea. 80% of his time is spent reading and thinking, so that he can be the most informed when making his next move.
Warren Buffett is not doing:
- Payroll
- Paperwork
- Accounting
- Creating reports
- Micromanagement
- Administrative tasks
- Pointless phone calls
- Preparing slideshows
- Meaningless meetings
- Someone else’s project or responsibility
ALL of these can be outsourced. They take away from the focus you could have because anyone can do them. You need to be working on the tasks that only you can do for your business and brand. These are the things you have to say no to.
Align vision with action, prioritize ruthlessly
You develop focus through your vision and systems.
Before you can focus, you must know what that looks like to you. It requires self-awareness and a vision for what you want to achieve.
Once you have that, you should work to implement a daily practice of aligning your vision with your work.
You need a system in place to prioritize your ideas in an objective manner. Something that can help you ensure you're working on the highest impact task at the time. This gives you the peace of mind to say no to other tasks that don't help move the needle forward.
Have a backlog of ideas, prioritize them, and start executing with focus.
Focus on building not being busy.
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