"Focus". Sure. But where?

We live in a world where being "expositorial" is synonymous with life. The information stream is endless. It is always full of somebody explaining something - doing the formal or informal analysis of incidents, concepts, and projections. We are on the receiving end.

Can we say that the focus of "creators" is to grab our attention? Once attention is acquired, it gets monetized. Andrew Lewis summed it up beautifully with "If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold". That's for the "free" consumption. Imagine the case where you are paying to be a customer. And once you are acquired as a customer, you are a product, that will be sold in one way or another.

Although it may be a bit mean, but in the above case, my conversion to a product is equal to that car that won't achieve anything on being sold. It's the manufacturer who will build profit, and the buyer will experience convenience.

If you are not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold

Does that mean, that to build ourselves to be unparalleled, we need to be "creators"? Precisely yes. And that is why "Focus" is the word that can define our lives. There are thousands of insights and millions of pages written on the benefit of 'focus' but the bottom line question is "WHERE to focus"?

Almost every class of population has its own challenge in focusing. The lower-income group aspires to be focused but lacks the resources to keep up with it. The middle-income group is focused on survival and maintenance. The higher-income group is distracted by so many options.

If we take "betterment in living conditions" as the benchmark of productive focus, the highest positive conversion rate is in the middle-income group. To do that, we break the cycle of "salary-survival-maintenance".

Since most of us belong to this highly convertible group, let us be clear on one thing as far as our living conditions are concerned - Maintenance is not growth. Amongst the young workforce, the king/queen-size life is considered to be prestigious. That necessarily means a good house, good dresses, costly watches, a good car maybe, and 'limited edition' appliances - All billed to a good salary. Consequently, the 'good salary' does not remain that good a salary at the end of the month or in case of an emergency.

Maintenance is not growth

While doing a 9 to 6, the hard fact is that we consider our day starting at 09:00 a.m. and ending at 06:00 p.m. We remain focused on it. Our family, future plans, security investments, leisure, and self-care all revolve around it. This necessarily means, that from 24 hours the day is reduced to 09 hours. Those 15 hours are hardly counted upon.

This is a misdirected travel. It should be clear that 9 am to 6 pm is the maintenance time where the focus is of course required. But the remaining 15 hours are the 'growth time'. In that period, you are just as equal as a person with 'private income'; the complete owner of your time.

This approach is not to be taken against the owners and the managers. For managers and owners of companies, the growth time must be utilized to create strategies that can maximize the team's time and eventually make their own professional life easy which wins more leisure time for them to use for their personal lives.

While doing the 9 to 6 job, it is supremely important that we focus on our leisure. That's a treasure of time we are leaving under-utilized. And to avoid the same we need to be creative and plan that block in advance. It is crucial therefore to figure out what you are going to do on your weekends and evenings before they begin.

Plan your evenings and weekends before they begin

Similarly in the early years of professional life, the focus on trends may bring one or two appreciation from friends and colleagues, make you hot on the lunch table but those cost you your own growth. Therefore, a clear call has to be taken if the focus is on that momentous appreciation or the fundamentals of life.

Being trendy is fine. But are they strengthening the fundamentals of your life? Check that.

All principles of growth, development, transformation, and change are based on the hypothesis of 'focused, decisive action' which we may also call 'creation'. To achieve that mindset, it's necessary to check how clear our thought process is, and that clarity can be checked by our focus.