If you’re an entrepreneur, you could be making a simple mistake that’s subverting the success of your business.
That’s why today, we’re asking for your undivided attention so that we can make sure you’re aware of the pitfalls and following successful principles for running a good business.
The single biggest mistake that a typical entrepreneur makes is that they fail to give their undivided attention to the tasks in hand.
Instead, they focus partial energy in multiple different places at the same time instead of focusing attention on the individual tasks that are going to get the greatest results.
Most people are guilty of expending partial energy in multiple places, and indeed there are people who do this and who’ve been successful, at least to a certain extent.
The problem is that following success principles is all about optimizing your approach to achieve peak performance.
When you’re focussing on multiple different tasks at once instead of taking them one at a time, you leave a ton of room for improvement and potentially don’t even manage to get things done.
For example, if you’re trying to create a more powerful sales system for your business, you should be focused on making that process/system great. Good is no longer good enough.
And it’s easy to see why. When we’re focussed on one thing alone, we get it right. When we’re focusing on fifteen things at once, we don’t have the ability to make our work as good as it could be.
The Power of Focus
Jack Canfield, the author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series, famously said, “You only have control over three things in your life – the thoughts you think, the images you visualize and the actions you take.”
The good news for Jack Canfield fans is that focusing can help us with all three areas, from the thoughts to the images and the actions.
It’s important to remember this if we hope to be successful, and indeed you’ll find that focus is a common theme in each of the success stories that you find the most inspiring.
Imagine what you could achieve if you put all of your focus into one thing and not stopping until that one thing had become a success. Sure, it might take all of your focus and concentration, but it’s worth it when you have great ideas and the willingness to achieve what you want to achieve. Only move on to your next task when you’re ready.
Of course, we’re not saying that you should keep trying to force something to become one of your success stories if it’s clear that it’s not going to happen.
Thought leader Seth Godin has written a book called The Dip which is worth a read both for your general personal development and for getting to know when you ought to call it quits.
How To Stay Focused In Your Business
Everything that we’ve talked about so far is all well and good, but it’s only powerful if you put what you’ve learned into practice.
Here, you’ll want to think about goal setting, because if you don’t have goals to work towards then it’s hard for you to find that one positive thing to focus on.
Without goal setting, there’s no room for personal development and therefore no route to peak performance.
Here are a few of our top strategies for boosting your productivity and improving your relationships through boosting your focus.
1. Be Consistent In Whatever You Do
Arguably one of the biggest bad habits that we see is inconsistency.
If you’re inconsistent in either your personal life or your business life, you send out signals that you’re not trustworthy.
Consistency is an important part of living a balanced life, and you’ll read that in any focus book that you pick up.
The good news is that if you learn to make consistency one of your positive habits, you’ll soon start to discover new opportunities and to make progress towards your financial goals.
2. Optimize And Track Your Successes And Failures
This is an important one. This brings us back to the idea of setting goals, because if you don’t have goals in mind then it’s difficult to track your progress towards them.
Tracking your results can by far be one of the most important aspects of any business. If you aren't tracking your audience or key metrics, it can be really difficult to know if you are having success or failure.
Anytime we are trying to make something great, there will be times where we won't reach our goals and that's okay. Business is always a work in progress and we might have to fail 45 times before we get it right, but that doesn't mean we should quit.
3. Don't Move On Until You Reach Your Goals
Pay attention to the steps that you take and how they affect the metrics, and set yourself action steps if more work is needed.
Follow up with different opportunities and make sure that you’re paying attention to both the positive and negative side.
Only move on to the next goal once you’ve completed the previous one and made it great. This is where you should optimize the task at hand and make sure you are getting the best results before moving on to something else.
If we start and create five 'systems' that are only mediocre, why create them at all?
That does not get us the results we are looking for so why should we settle for less.
4. Work On One Thing At A Time
Now that you’re aware of the power of focus, you need to get rid of those old bad habits and start developing some good ones.
As we’ve argued throughout the rest of this piece, the important thing here is to learn the art of paying attention to only one thing at a time.
It can be difficult in today’s fast-paced marketplace, but it’s a skill that will serve you well. And once you create these positive habits, they can benefit you in both your professional and your personal life.
Conclusion
Now that you know how having focus can lead to a balanced life and help you in both life and in business, it’s time for you to rethink the ideas you have about how your job should be done.
If you’re nervous about getting started or you’re being held back by negative thoughts, you can dip your toe into the water by trying to work in this way for a single day and seeing how it goes.
The good news is that if you make productivity and focus your go-to habits, you’ll start to reap the rewards in no time. It’ll change the way that your brain works and help you to pay attention to the most important goals instead of wasting your time on the tasks that aren’t going to help you in the long run.
Just remember to set goals and to track your progress, and also to make sure that you understand the power of focus and how it works. It’s by understanding the relationships between your habits, your way of thinking and your brain that you’ll be able to truly take your business – and your life – to the next level.