The Best Way To Figure Out Your Focus

One of the most important clarities you can have to accelerate your growth is knowing what to focus on. While there’s no shortage of things we can do to change our lives, there are a few things that are genuinely the most impactful. If you manage to figure out what those are, your results will change much faster. That’s the value of figuring out your focus.

I’ve found that getting to that point is actually a more elaborate process. Ultimately what you want is to shift your reality in your favor. You want your lived experience to map closer to the vision you have for it. The first step is to quantify the gap. Where are you now compared to where you want to be? Make it measurable. I’m currently 180 pounds and I want to be 160 pounds. I’m currently making $80k and I want to make $100k.

When you do that, you make the problem clear and highlight the transformation. It’s obvious what you want to see change. But the results you’re experiencing are a byproduct of something else. It’s the effect of the factors that are causing it. So that’s the next step. When you look at the problem, what’s the main thing causing it?

For weighing 180 pounds instead of 160 pounds, what’s the main reason why? Is it poor eating habits? Not exercising enough? Is there something off metabolically? 

Or for making $80k instead of $100k, is it that you’re not being compensated enough in your full-time job? Do you need to increase the money you’re making on the side? Do you need to pay yourself more out of your business?

Get as honest as and as thoughtful as possible. Think of your problem as the symptom of an underlying issue, and you need to diagnose the root cause.

Once you are clear on what’s most causing your problem, then you can determine the focus. The work you do to make change to your life and business are most effective when you intervene at the level of the cause. You essentially invert the cause into an affirmative focus that then can be engineered into strategy and tactics.

If metabolic issues are causing your being overweight, your focus is to find the right supplements to balance your hormones. If the cause of your income challenges is that your full-time isn’t compensating you enough, then the focus is to find a higher-paying full-time job. It gives you a decision-making lens that your next steps are determined through. It maximizes your ability to actually shift an undesired result into what you want.

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