Want to Succeed? Narrow Your Focus

One of the best business books I’ve read is THE ONE THING, which outlines the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results.  The premise is that if you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one (Russian Proverb).  In order to succeed you must narrow your focus.

There is no surefire thing, but there’s always something, ONE THING, that out of everything, matters more than anything.  At any moment in time there can only be ONE THING, and when that ONE THING is aligned with your purpose and sits atop your priorities, it will be the most productive thing you can do to launch you toward becoming the best you can be.

Wikipedia defines human multitasking as an apparent human ability to perform more than one task, or activity, at the same time.  It goes on to say that multitasking can result in time wasted due to human context switching and more errors due to insufficient attention.  Studies have shown that it is impossible to effectively focus on more than one task at a time.  The operative word here?  Apparent.  The ability to effectively multitask is a myth, therefore you can quickly up your leadership game by embracing the concepts in THE ONE THING.

WHAT CAN I DO?  Ask yourself this question… what is THE ONE THING I can do today to be the best leader in the world and drive extraordinary results?  Is it to verbally recognize your employees?  To schedule a standing weekly meeting to brainstorm and implement improvements with employees?  To put a low-performer on a Performance Improvement Plan?  To create aggressive yet attainable Q1 goals for your team?  I know from experience that spreading yourself too thin never yields extraordinary results.  Start your day – every day – by asking yourself this question and then execute.  Thank you, authors Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, for reminding us that success doesn’t have to be difficult.