Focus! What Color Are The Batters Shoes?

If you have ever had the special privilege to see a beginning T-ball team, then you have never seen what joy, chaos and general pandemonium can look like. Generally, there will be at least one in outfield picking daisies, one on 2nd base twirling around, and recently my favorite silliness was a young boy who pulled his jersey up over his head and so was in complete darkness as the runner came his way on 3rd base.?

And yet, there is a game to be played. There are rules to be learned, order to be obtained and yes, fun to be had. How on earth is ONE coach going to get those twirling, dirt collecting, circus clowns on track and FOCUSED? The coach I experienced recently rarely seemed ruffled and yet still had this air of authority that when he suddenly would call out "Team! What color are the batters shoes?" everyone stopped dancing, crawling, and quickly turned to see all the same thing at the same time. ALL of the kids would yell "blue!" or "white!", or whatever color THAT hitter was sporting on their feet. He got them to focus when it counted. He got them to focus despite the cool bug that was found on one of the bases or the mitt that was nowhere near on the childs hand. He got them to focus. At least for a moment.

On the T-ball field, or on a work team, focus can be tough to obtain. When people are not clear on what they are suppose to be focus on, well, they will focus on anything other than where they need to be focused. In today's world the volume of work, requests, interruptions, our attention spans are shrinking by the minute. But on a high performing team, individuals understand the value of focusing on the right things at the right time.?

Focus can be a teams difference maker. It can be what takes you from being the swirling chaotic image of busy-ness that may (or may not) actually get you to hitting home runs.

Does your team even know where their focus needs to be??

• Every team needs to know what the end goal is. On the field, it may be getting through all the bases. In the office, it may be to focus all efforts on hitting sales goes, or project completion. Generally, it is not the massive amount of emails, slack messages and meetings that cloud the vision.

How does prioritization play into focus?

• Does your calendar run YOU, or do YOU own your schedule? Simply put do you put your Big Rocks in first??While the video and fashion may be dated, the message from Stephen Covey is a great reminder of letting the little things take up your time and focus before you ever get to the things that really matter. Big Rocks

What systems have you set up to achieve your goals?

• Having systems in place to keep you on track and focused will reduce the impact of distractions and will direct energy to where it is intended it to go.
• Author James Clear states: "You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems."?
• His book Atomic Habits is a game changer on habits by increasing focus.

What are your tendencies to sabotage your efforts to achieve your goals?

• Not just for fun, but this FREE assessment highlighting the work of Shirzad Chamaine on Positive Intelligence uncovers the inner saboteur behaviors that may be getting in the way of your success is truly enlightening. Inner Saboteurs assessment

Why the free resources? Because sometimes we all need to reminded to remember to see what color the batters shoes are. Focus! Need more support? Reach out. I'd be happy to help.

Debbie Brannan Consulting