When you have a dozen different things to do, pick the most important one and stick with it until it’s complete. Then pick the second most important and do the same thing, until you’re done. The quickest way to do many things is to do only one thing at a time. You become effective by being selective. The power of focusing can be seen in a characteristic of light. Diffused light has little power or impact, but you can concentrate its energy by focusing it. With a magnifying glass, the rays of the sun can be focused to set paper on fire. When light is focused even more as a laser beam, it can cut through steel. There is nothing quite as potent as a focused life lived on purpose. If you want your life to have impact – focus it! Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity.
Preoccupation with a good thing is no substitute is no substitute for the right thing. Wherever focus goes, energy goes. Be ruthless with distractions. Constantly changing gear from one focus to the next without time to pause makes us unproductive, fatigued, and blurs our purpose and vision for timeless living.
Chase two rabbits and you will catch neither. (Confucius)
One clear example of someone who has harnessed the power of focus to build an extraordinary life is Bill Gates. Bill’s one passion in high school was computers. He developed one skill: computer programming. While in high school he met Paul Allen, who gave him his first job and became his partner in forming Microsoft. Extraordinary results are directly determined by how narrow you can make your focus. Success comes when we do a few things very well. You need to be doing fewer things for more effect instead of doing more things with side effects.
A 100-year-old millionaire, asked for his advice on how to succeed, wrote: ‘Do fewer things more often and get better at them.’
Put your eggs in one basket – and watch that basket! (Andrew Carnegie)
Author: Yomi is a wordsmith, passionate about books, reading, education, healing and health. She has appeared several times on television and radio; speaking about her passion. She has Master’s degree in Medical Immunology from the College of Medicine, University of London and worked at a postgraduate college of medicine in London for over a decade before pursuing her passion for writing. She is the author of four books.
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