An Unconventional Approach For Busy People To Develop Laser Focus And Attain (Nearly) Superhuman Productivity

Do you feel stressed, overwhelmed, exhausted, anxious, or frustrated that you are always busy yet aren’t achieving your goals?

If your most urgent questions are one of these:

“How will I possibly manage to get my To Do list done?”

“What should I focus on now?”

“Why am I not progressing towards my goals by now?”

“Will I ever be able to take a work-free, relaxing vacation?’

Then this article is for you.

The more entrepreneurs I work with, the more convinced I am that the biggest obstacle in business isn’t the what, the motivation, the desire, or the capabilities. The biggest obstacle is FOCUS.

Many entrepreneurs are all over the place, jumping from one shiny object to the next, going down dead-end roads, trying to accomplish too much in too little time, juggling work-life balance, or suffering from massive distractions, procrastination, and concentration problems.

Today, I’d like to share my best tips to get LASER FOCUSED on your goals.

Step 1: Stop Messing Around With Your Goals

Gasp! Why is this unconventional? Because most people think they already have goals, so they skip past this.

It is a huge mistake because they really don’t have goals.

Instead, they have dreams.

Dreams are wishes.

Goals are dreams that have measurable outcomes, namely a specific achievement that includes a quantity and deadline.

Example:

Dream: To get more clients

Goal: To enroll 50 new clients over 12 months in my signature educational program for $10,000 average spend. This should translate into minimum earnings of $500,000 annually.

See the difference?

You can expect to get REAL results only once you have a REAL goal.

But wait! Before you move on to the next step, don’t forget an accountability partner. Goals are not floating. They are very black and white. Either you did it or you didn’t.

Step 2: Stop Chasing Shiny Objects and Focus On One Big Goal

Yes, I understand you may be multi-passionate, but I still argue that, with few exceptions, the most successful people put all their energy into only one goal.

Mozart was a famous musician.

Mike Tyson was a famous boxer.

Ernest Hemingway was a famous writer.

I am positive all of them had other interests, but they set one goal and focused on the one thing they wanted to excel at. All the rest was minimized to allow them to achieve their dreams.

Instead of going all over the place, set your sights on the big goal you identified in step one.

Warning: It is hard, really hard.

Because human nature pushes us towards craving novelty and seeking more, we love distractions. The biggest enemy of all is multitasking.

To focus on one goal denies all of that satisfaction.

I won’t lie: sometimes, it will be quite challenging to resist new shiny objects and distractions.

Your work will feel monotonous and dull.

It’s called consistency and it works.

“We can’t have it all or do it all.” — Greg McKeown

Push through since in the big picture, it will be so much more effective than trying to achieve ten smaller goals.

This is the principle of the book,?The One Thing, by Gary Keller, which is one of my favorites.

Step 3: Curate Your Schedule And Your Environment To Remove All But The Essential

We are doing too much. Being busy is a recipe for failure, not success. Learn to say ‘no’ more. Figure out how to automate, delegate, outsource, and delete tasks that aren’t directly related to your goal. Minimize contact with people who waste your time, aren’t productive, and try to deter you from your goals. Seek out people who inspire, motivate, and encourage you and your goals.

Take a hard look at your activities and ask:

Is everything here directly contributing towards my goals?

If the answer is ‘no’, delete it. If the answer is ‘maybe’, move it to the bottom of your list to sleep on and review later what deep down you think about it after some time has passed.

Achieving goals is only possible with rigorous dedication and curation.

Discipline is about saying ‘not now’ to things we mildly enjoy that detract from our productivity.

This is the trade-off of pursuing our goals.

Anything worthy of pursuit requires some level of sacrifice.

Not all the time! But at least during the critical stage, you are actively pursuing a challenging goal.

Reward yourself after you reach the finish line.

In another favorite book of mine,?Essentialism by Greg McKeown, the motto is “Less but better.”

One of many amazing quotes from the book:

“A non-essentialist thinks almost everything is essential. An Essentialist thinks almost everything is non-essential.”

Have you ever met an athlete, musician, artist, or scientist who said they only work when it brings them joy?

Of course not. Because making an outstanding achievement means doing the same task even on days you don’t feel like it.

Procrastination is the enemy of success.

Take a hard look at how you spend your time and edit out all the non-essentials.

Eye on the prize!

Step 4: Make Health A Daily Priority (Duh)

Your health really is your wealth!

A huge mistake many people make is to think self-care is a luxury or optional.

To develop laser focus, maximize your productivity, and have boundless energy, you must focus on caring for your body and mind.

Too often, people skip this, then wonder why they have brain fog, can’t focus, and feel exhausted.

Junk in = junk out.

Plan your day with health first, then fit all your work and personal activities into the remaining time slots.

My Daily Routine Example:

Wake up at 6 am to meditate and journal, some yoga

6:30 am: light breakfast, supplements, and personal development reading

7 am: exercise while listening to an inspiring podcast

9 am: protein snack with coffee

Noon: lunch followed by a 20-minute walk without my phone

3 pm: protein snack with green tea, possibly more reading

7 pm: healthy dinner followed by a 20-minute walk

9 pm: In bed fiction reading, journaling, no electronics, calming tea

10 pm: bedtime, lights out

Note: Your schedule is personal, so it is entirely up to you, but make it good to maximize your energy, stay healthy, and be the best you!

Step 5: Get Support, Finally!

If you want to become laser-focused on your goals, you’ll need help. Per Gary Keller, identify your “One Thing", then delegate or delay the rest.

Drill down on the thing that only you can do. Get help to do it better, if needed.

Find people for the other tasks.

In your private life, stop doing it all and get others to step up.

At work, hire or delegate to others.

Get a coach or mentor to support you through it all.

Entrepreneurs don’t do most of the work. Entrepreneurs identify the problems, discover the opportunities and then build processes to allow other people and other things to do the work.

- Mike Michalowicz

Conclusion

You have a choice to implement this advice or not, but just remember that if you are exhausted, sometimes you are your own biggest obstacle.

In the words of Guy Kawasaki,

Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.

What are you going to do with your one limited resource: time?

More Resources

Five Daily Success Habits Of Unstoppable Leaders

The Employee Worker Mentality / Busy Bee Syndrome That Will Kill Your Business

$5,000 or Five Years: Which Would You Choose?

How I Plan Out My Weekly Priorities as a Single-Member Entrepreneur for Ultimate Success

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