You may have stumbled upon this blog post at the wrong time...we're in rant mode today.
Our apologies in advance.
Here we go...
Listen up, if you truly want to create some real progress in your life in any area, you need to work on problems that are worth your time.
Every situation or opportunity has some key tasks that deserve all of your attention.
All else is noise.
The sooner you can identify what is important and start focussing on that, the sooner your life will be what you want.
It is your job to identify the key tasks that are of the highest value and block out everything else.
The world is set up to suck you into its distractions.
The highest performers in today's world are not necessarily the ones with the most skills, they are the ones who can create the most consistent focus.
Controlling your own attention is the most critical skill of the day.
There are different stages to this, of course.
When I went into commission-based sales from a salaried position, I spent hours studying and reading about sales.
I bought books, went to courses, paid out of my own pocket for online training, listened to countless hours of sales audio programs in my car.
This was my entire focus.
When I saw people gossiping at the office or hanging out in the office kitchen or surfing the Internet for a vacation, I couldn't understand it.
When those same people asked me how I won awards and hit over 200% of my sales quota in my first year I humbly said that I wasn't sure but I secretly knew the truth.
If I told them that I paid for sales training over and above what the company was giving us, "out of my own pocket," they would have been shocked.
If I told them I role played sales calls with others in the office who didn't want to be named, they wouldn't have believed me.
If I told them I came earlier than them, every day, and stayed later than them, every day, they would have denied it.
One year, on the last day of the fiscal year, I literally sprinted from the parking lot to my desk because I knew I had many deals to close that day.
I was focused on the task at hand.
Initially, I lacked sales experience and deemed that to be a problem so focused on solving it.
When I decided I was to quit my job, I knew I had to understand how to get a client/customer.
So I began studying small business.
Bought books, read newsletters, studied strategies from the early 1900's right up to the early 2000's.
When I was waiting to be picked up for morning company hockey games, I would be reading these books in my garage. I'd be reading them in line at the bank, I was reading them on Sunday mornings and Friday nights.
When my peers said that quitting a six-figure job wasn't a smart idea, I ignored the conversation so my mind wouldn't be tainted with unnecessary thoughts.
I literally walked away from people who were talking about things that weren't important to me.
To this day, if someone discusses a problem with me that I deem unimportant on my own value scale I walk away.
Does that sound mean?
Hope not, we mean well.
Let me give you another example...
When we quit our jobs, I didn't go on vacation for two years because I was focused on the task at hand, didn't have spare money anyway and understood the value of creating momentum in a new venture.
Today we meet people all the time who quit their jobs to go out on their own and find that within the first few months they're taking a vacation to "find themselves."
Years go by and they come back to us asking for advice on how to create momentum in their new business.
When we ask how much time they've spent "developing skills" instead of "searching for an answer" they look at us like we don't understand the modern day struggle.
We do.
Listen, distraction is your enemy.
Top performers fight distraction every day.
We're all tempted by it.
Your job is to list out the most important activities in your life right now.
Then to create momentum on those tasks.
This may take hours, days, weeks, even months.
Once those tasks have some momentum behind them ONLY THEN do you move on to other tasks.
Whether it's building your real estate empire or a new business...
... Focus is your competitive advantage.
Your attention is a limited resource.
You want momentum and you only get that by putting extreme focus on any given task.
To get things moving must block out the world sometimes.
A guy we know who always gets a lot done often ignores phone calls from family and friends for days on end while he is working on a new project.
Those family and friends sometimes get extremely upset about this.
He explained to us that this is what it takes for him to get stuff done. Otherwise, he's constantly reacting to everyone else and not building for himself.
Today, if you're frustrated with where things are at in your life, take a hard look at what you're spending time on.
Rant over 😉
Until next time...Your Life! Your Terms!
(img: sean macentee)
Aw man, this post was awesome!
My friends and family thought I was a little nuts when I quit my job to take on the world alone. Everybody thought I was just going to do freelance work, and everyone was warning me about the ebbs and flows of freelance work. Everyone seemed concerned about whether I could keep a consistent influx of work from month to month.
Not like it's anyone else's concern whether I can keep busy with work, but I told my friends and family that I spent $1350 for a coaching program to learn digital marketing consulting and sales. I know $1350 isn't a lot of money for some, but it was a huge drop in the bucket for me. Again, everyone thought I was nuts for doing it. But I knew investing in myself and that putting myself in a financially tough spot for a while would be the kick in the pants I needed to dial in my focus and make success a necessity for me.
Here's to hoping it all works out! 😛
Keep on rockin' in the free world guys!