The power of focus
Gary Bloomer | SHAKING THE TREE #175
With new year resolutions all the rage, I’d like to take a moment to talk about focus.
Most of the goals we set and most of the decisions we make and that we often don’t follow through with fail because of a lack of focus.
Your ability and willingness to focus deeply affects the way you think, the way you relate to the world, the way you solve problems, and even your own happiness.
Here’s an example:
My friend Neil consistently asks the wrong questions.
Recently, he wanted to upgrade his cell phone and he was determined to visit one specific store, The only snag with this plan was that he called them on New Year’s Eve, which for many business owners is classed as a holiday.
What do many business owners do on holidays? They either don’t open or they close early … because it’s a holiday.
Neil farted around all morning, wondering when to call so it was just after lunch when he finally got his ass in gear, so when he called the store he found out they would be closing early for the day, which would be too late for him to get there and have time to pick out a new phone.
Instead of thanking them and choosing a different day to visit the store, Neil spent the next several minutes asking me questions such as:
“Why do they close early?”
“Why do they bother to open at all?”
If they're going to close early, they might as well have stayed home. It's just 3 hours – what are they going to do with 3 hours? Why don't they just stay open for their normal workday?”
And on and on.
Can you see how annoying this would be?
Instead of interrogating me, Neil should have been asking how he could have changed his plans to fit a visit to the store into his schedule tomorrow, and he ought to be asking how he can avoid having this happen in the future.
But Neil didn’t do any of this because Neil can’t focus to save his life.
And that got me to thinking: How often are we focusing on the things we cannot control, rather than those things we can control?
It's like the weather: Everyone talks about it, but no one does anything about it.
Why? Obviously because we can't do anything about it.
We can't control the weather, but we can certainly control where we live.
Hate the snow of the north?
Move south.
Don't like the summer heat?
Move to the coast.
And so on.
It's the same way in your online business – if you simply focus on those things you can control and stop wasting time on the things you cannot control, you will be happier and more productive.
You cannot control time, but you can control what you do with your time.
You cannot control the customer service given to your customers by affiliate product owners, but you can control which products you promote (and thereby increase the odds of your customers getting great service.)
You cannot control the economy, but you can control how you earn and invest your money.
You cannot control what your competitors do, but you can control your own business and thus your own destiny.
You cannot always control what happens in life, but you can control how you react to what happens.
Getting what you want out of life is all about controlling what you can and using it to your own advantage.
You control your life. You control whether you're doing the things you're doing out of obligation or out of desire. You control your destiny.
Want to have have less stress and more success in your life? Forget the things you cannot control and focus on whatever you can control. It’s as simple as that.
As always, thanks for reading.
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P.S. Next time on Shaking the Tree … 5 simple quotes
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Originally from the U.K., Gary Bloomer is a writer, branding advocate, marketing specialist, and an award-winning graphic designer.
His design work has been included in Creative Review (one of the UK’s largest design magazines). Since 2009, he has answered over 5,000 marketing and business questions in the Know-How Exchange of MarketingProfs.com, placing him among the top 3% of contributors. He lives in Wilmington, Delaware, USA.