There is a wood to be cut into a firewood to make fire for food, you are given an axe to use, which would you use, a sharpened axe or one with a weak blade? Which gets the work done faster? The sharpened axe.
Focus is just like the sharpened axe, have focus and everything will works like magic.
Lets take for example, the telescope. The telescope is a wonderful piece that allows see things from long distance and bring them closer to you. The same way when you make focus your priority, you can see far distance on the path of your passion for your vision, that is why entrepreneurs stand alone different from the crowd, because they have the power to focus and see things others do not see.
As an entrepreneur , you need to make choices on things pertaining o your business and life, many choices seems to be right and most of the times we are confused but when you take your time to analyse and strategise according to the plan, you will gradually see a way to make the choice that is perfect.
Which is easy? Accepting an invitation for a wedding and buying aso-ebi of N10,000 or turning down the invitation so that you can have time to meet up with other commitments, especially when the person is a close friend, we say things like: "we don't want to make him or her feel bad", and because we want to keep that relationship with that person, which is a good thing, we often do it at the expense of your own life and comfort. I am not saying we should not go to a relative's occasion, all i am saying is that when you mean to say "NO", say it. That is the real you there and it is better to be yourself than try to satisfy somebody else.
Focus is not an art of doing what you do only but it is also the wisdom of saying "NO" to lots of other options that comes your way. For example, someone who wants to achieve a particular fitness level has to keep to a lifestyle that promotes that goal set for the fitness e.g, regular exercise programming, drinking good and lots of water, having food rest, taking supplements and eating balanced diet, He will have to say NO to drinking too much alcohol, over eating and other unhealthy lifestyle that will not make him achieve his fitness goal.
I think we loose focus when we are not living in the present even for a second, this happens very frequently and when it happens, we should try to get back on track and live in the present. I believe that he who cannot focus on the present can not focus on a long term goal.
Yesterday is gone and you cannot do anything about it, tomorrow is still 24 hours from now, prepare for it. Tomorrow is when the long term goal will hold but today is the time you have to prepare. Break down your long term goals into smaller time frames, have a generational plan, yearly plan, 6 months plan, 1 month plan, weekly and daily plans. Most of us are so focused on the long term goal that we forget to work now for that future, so live in the NOW. Focus on now and tomorrow will work itself out.
Jesus said: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof " (Matthew 6:34).
The logic is, your big plans should have a connection with the smaller ones, some kind of consistency is very important. Just like an elevator, you are going to the 25th floor but you don't just get there, you have to use the 1st floor through to the 2nd and the keep the progress.
The journey of life is filled with good and bad, it is a journey filled with waiting, every now and then we desire to achieve a goal that we have to wait a long time to materialize. Most times we find ourselves in a queue in public places and we have to wait for hours to do what we want to do, another time may be at work, when you are trying to meet up a deadline and Nepa just off the power, sadly, you have to wait for long before power is reconnected. Sometimes we need to wait for the internet to connect, sometimes its at the filling station, ATMs, barber shop, sometimes you have to wait on you team or partner to catch up with you.
Waiting, though not something we love to do, we have no plenty of choices but to wait for what we really desire to accomplish. There is something i like to do when i see it necessary, and that is having a break from a project i have been working on for a while and doing something different ten returning to the earlier project. For fear of the unknown, i am not comfortable going for a break from what i love to do because i do not know if i would be able to come back to it later, but i realize that each time i took the risk to give myself a break, i become even better and more productive at that project when i get back to it.
So it is not a bad idea if you occasionally take a break from a project you have been working on for a while and get back to it. It may work for you also.
Haven said all these, i want to tell you a secret that has kept me focused and will keep me focused for the rest of my life -- and that is God.
The diagram above i developed about leadership. Since a lot about entrepreneurship is about good leadership, the diagram explains how i believe a leader/ entrepreneur should position himself so as to stay focused through different projects and entrepreneurial journey. I will have to confess that my family is to be appreciated for the good values and principles ingrained in me from childhood, thank you to my parents for that, it is always a safe place to fall back and draw guidance from.
Godly, good values and principles that you have built your vision around would be a good pointer for direction, guidance and helper to stay focus. I draw my strength to stay focused by reading the bible, reading motivational books and regularly communicating with God. I believe in this so much, it has worked for me and it is still working. There is no better way to stay focused.
Alli Quadri Olalekan, CEO, Quadoowear.
Comments
Post a Comment