Focus: The Best Skill To Learn To Move Your Business Ahead Faster

Focus means, "Follow one course until successful!" 

Why would you do that?, Your brain would ask you as you tried to follow one course. 

It is so much more fun to go over here or over there, or maybe up that mountain.  And just like that you mind would wonder off to a boat ride, a new toy or another person. And just like that you have spent the only two hours you had... doing nothing. 

According to Darren Hardy we have two things or two parts of our mind working against us.  They are what he calls your monkey brain and your robot brain.  

There is a third part of the brain but these two are what is fighting against our ability to focus.  

When a chef goes to cook a great meal the first thing he or she does is prepare all the ingredients.

They first focus on getting all the pots and pans, cooking and stirring utensils, bowls cups and measuring pieces the are going to need.

Then they lay out the food and sometimes get all the chopping, washing, separating and measuring all done. 

 If your business is as important to you as the chef's meal they are about to prepare... then you should prepare with the same enthusiasm and intensity. 

The first thing to do is shut off All distractions.  In plain English, turn off your phone, your Facebook notifications, messenger notification, YouTube notifications,  shut and lock the door, etc. 

According to LifeHacker.com loud sounds and blinking lights are the biggest distractions.

Loud sounds because this affects the robot or survival part that prepare the fight or flight mode in our brain to get the body ready.  Think about that, if you hear a loud crashing or popping noise you turn or flinch, maybe even jump to see what the sound is about. 

This sound can be as little at the dinging noise Facebook messenger has, or a text ping, and whether you answer it or not your mind has went to that sound.  You are now thinking... who sent me a message or text? And, get this...

Even if you do not answer it or look at the phone, messenger etc. you have been distracted and used up energy making a decision (resisting) to look at who or what is trying to get your attention. 

Now... it can take you up to 25 minutes to get back in the flow of things.  Wow! look at how much time you have lost!

The same with the flashing lights.  You are driving down the road and suddenly 3 miles ahead you see blue or red or yellow flashing lights.  Now your mind has went from driving and staying safe to... I wonder what that is? 

"The policeman has somebody stopped! I am glad its not me!"

"Was there a wreck? ... I hope nobody was hurt"

So when you have social media tabs open and a number pops up or a red flag you look... just like that you are off in La-La land.

Preparing to focus on something, a task, blog post, research paper, sales page or presentation, it doesn't matter what it is getting prepared to do this is as important as the next step which is... 

there are three possible ways to learn to stay focused on a project for a certain amount of time. 

1. Pay someone to stand over you with a stick and hit you every time you stop. you might even find someone to do this part for free. (Cave man training)
2. Learn to focus by staring at a burning candle flame and every time you drift away use your will power to bring you back to the candle. Do this until you and the flame become one.  When you learn to focus on one thing you can focus on anything.      (Bob Proctor)
3. Use meditation to focus on you breath and repeating a mantra of some sort like "release" "release". And when you find your self wondering, bring your mind back to your breathing and the mantra. (Brendon Burchard) 
4. Avoid getting distracted from the start. Set up a place where there are no or at least, fewer distractions.  A special room where there are no pictures, radios, cell phones, no notifications of any sort. Only the work you want to work on and water.  Plan for a 60 to 90 min secession.  (Darren Hardy) 

Since loud sounds and flashing lights are big distractions and you can not get in the perfect spot to focus consider using ear plugs or noise canceling headphones. 

Next is make the project more relevant, urgent, or important to you. We tend to work on things better and faster if they are closer to the heart. 

And last for this post... Set a real dead line. A real dead line is a dead line that has true consequences if you don't finish. Such as #1 above, you are going to get hit with a stick. You are going to miss a paycheck or commission. It has to be something of great value that you are going to loose if you do not finish.     

Darren Hardy suggest that you write a check of a great sum to a charity you do not like put it in an envelop addressed and stamped and give it to some person who will send it off if you do not meet the dead line, no matter how bad you beg, plead and cry.  

But, here is a question... what are you going to focus on?

Remember, Focus is...

This statement can apply to many areas but if you are focusing on social media for marketing let me suggest the LinkedIn platform.  When you follow this platform until... you can be successful. Read what this special lady, Gloria MacDonald, did when she focused her attention. 

PS - Try LinkedIn Recruiting Playbook - A Simple 5-Step Process ANYONE Can Use To Get Highest Quality Prospects. And Quickly Turn Them Into Customers And Team Members

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