How many priorities do you have in your business and life right now?
If you’re struggling to gain traction, perhaps its your lack of focus that’s causing your lack of growth.
Leadership
Iteration for the win
No: “Where is the one thing that will fix all my problems for me right now?”
Yes: “Will this thing give me one new, good idea I can use right now?”
Invest in things that will help you fix a small problem so you can get a little bit better at what you do. Find one good idea and actually implement it. Then repeat.
What’s the Minimum Effective Dose? →
You’ve no-doubt heard of the Law of the Vital Few. It’s the 80/20 rule, which states that roughly 80-percent of the results come about from just 20-percent of the energy.
But, if you were to take your 80-percent results and apply the 80/20 rule to them a few more times, what you end up discovering is that your initial 1-percent of energy spent brings about the first 50-percent of results. (Illustrated here.)
Gary Keller writes that “success is about doing the right thing, not about doing everything right.” You can’t just do anything and get disproportionate results. You have to do the right thing. That critical action that drives a disproportionate result.
Things that will destroy your goals
In order to accomplish your goals you need: (1) a clear goal; (2) a winning action plan; and (3) consistency.
Take away or invert any of those things, and you’ve eliminated the possibility of succeeding at your desired outcome. Here’s what they look like when inverted: (1) unclear direction; (2) random acts of productivity / busywork; (3) distracted / trying something new but moving on quickly.
Khe Hy’s Advice to Creators →
Some excellent advice that I fully endorse: Ship early and often; don’t overthink it; set tight constraints; and more.
Don’t let “opportunity” steal your focus
When your attention goes to many things, no real progress is ever made. Not all opportunities are worth pursuing — especially if it means being pulled away from something that is currently working.
Growth Loops: From linear growth to circular growth →
Anne-Laure Le Cunff: “*Double loop learning is a model that encourages people and organisations to continuously challenge their assumptions and goals instead of blindly repeating the same loop. While the idea seems simple, it can be hard to implement double loop learning because of a natural need for control, a fear of failure, or an overall resistance to change.”*
Reflecting on a Year Off →
Maykel Loomans took a year off: “The biggest lesson for me among all this was—and this may sound ‘woo-woo’: seeing a structured day, a quiet cup of coffee, or a workout not as a task but as something to relish. There are these things in our lives that we know we ‘should’ do, but if we don’t find a way to appreciate them truly, it will forever be a struggle to integrate them.”
All decisions are bets →
If you’re stuck overthinking something, remember that very few decisions are truly binary, black and white, guaranteed wins or losses. Make the best decision you can within a reasonable timeframe but don’t waste time sweating it out, overthinking, and waiting until you have absolute perfect clarity.
Don’t make the same decision twice
In your business, try to avoid making the same decisions over and over. This wastes time and energy and slows momentum.
- An ad-hoc meeting agenda for your regular weekly meetings (instead of a consistent flow and structure)
- A random, emotionally-driven pricing decision each time around for seasonal products that you launch every year.
- Wondering what to do at the start of your work day (instead of having clear time blocks and a plan for your critical actions)
Put structure and clarity in place around the things that you repeat. This way, you can be creative on the things that are new and fluid.
How Kellogg’s 6-Hour work Day came (and went) →
Fascinating story about the rise and fall of the shorter-work-week. (David’s TL;DR version is here.)
Here at Blanc Media, Instead of 6-hour work days, we do 8-week work cycles. And I can attest that it boosts productivity, reduces overhead, and serves as a forcing function to keep us focused on only the most important goals for the business.
$10k Schedule Audit →
Tomorrow I’m hosting a free, live Zoom call to walk a few business owners through my “$10k Schedule Audit” to help them identify some quick and easy wins around their tasks and time.
I’ll also be answering questions about my upcoming Productivity Intensive happening next week.
A quote I’m pondering about focus
“The more you try to do, the less you actually accomplish… Somewhere along the way, most leaders forget this. Why? Because smart, ambitious leaders don’t want to do less, they want to do more, even when they know better. … there will always be more good ideas than you have the capacity to execute.” — 4DX
December Bonuses!
Enrollment is open for the January class of Focus Academy. And we have some bonuses for you if register before New Year.
If you enroll before midnight tomorrow, you’ll also get these amazing bonuses:
- The Personal Retreat Workshop, which is a fast way to free up some much-needed breathing room in your schedule (no matter how busy and overwhelming it feels right now).
We’ll guide you through The Personal Retreat Workshop as a bonus during Focus Academy. It will give you the tools to recharge and reset whenever you need a breather long after our time together ends.
- My Proven Productivity Templates Pack: The same templates I use to plan my days, weeks, and months so I can stay on track with my goals throughout the year.
- $150 Discount on Academy Pro: Yep. This is the absolute best price we’ve ever offered for Focus Academy, and it goes back up once January hits.