Now Is A Time To Focus.
I’ve learned in life that you can’t be good at everything. Instead, you need to focus on the one thing that you can dedicate your time and effort to.
That’s not to say that you can’t reinvent yourself as life goes by, I have done it several times. That said, I have always been obsessed with learning the new set of skills that my new direction requires.
Stick To It
I love the acronym for FOCUS (follow one course until success). Find your place in the world and stick to it.
When I was serving, each team member was cross trained so that they could take up other members’ tasks if necessary. But each team member had a specific skill which they were an expert in and constantly trained in that skill.
The great NFL player Otto Graham said, ‘Everyone can’t be the best at everything, but everyone can try to be the best at anything. If you give 100% you will get your share of victories.’
Time To Master
If you want your life to be a success, it is important to focus. Often, we spread ourselves too thin.
We give up on something way too early and then go and chase the next shiny object. We dilute our potential because we expand ourselves to the point where we lose our strength and often our purpose. So often, we run headlong into accepting things at the expense of fulfilling things.
One of the mistakes I made was spreading myself too thin. I began doing too much. I was still in the service, running outside organisations and involved in other worthwhile causes. My intentions were good, but I was diluting my strength and my focus to the point where I was no longer fully effective.
Take a look at many of the world’s great entrepreneurs. They concentrated on one segment or industry until they had it mastered. It was only after that that they diversified into other areas.
Gary Veynerchuk started his entrepreneurial journey by taking his family’s liquor store from a local business to a $60 Million dollar company.
It wasn’t until he focused on and built that business, that he started to diversify into other areas such as VaynerProductions, Gallery Media Group, The Sasha Group, VaynerSpeakers, VaynerTalent, VaynerSport, and the list goes on.
If you look at the sporting greats, they are not great sportsperson at everything, they are great at one thing. There are some notable exceptions but many legends in one sport, who try another sport, don’t get anywhere near the same success.
They are not good at everything, but they are good at one thing. They don’t spread themselves too thin. You can’t be the best at everything. Anyone who thinks he is good at everything generally is an expert at nothing.
Walk The Talk
Have you ever met people who always know what to say in any situation, but whose own lives are not in order? They talk like they are experts in everything, but their lives don’t reflect their talk.
A handyman is good at a lot of things, but you would not get him to design, construct and then interior design and decorate your home. He is good at a lot of things, but he is an expert at none.
Make sure you keep your focus on all levels. From daily tasks to running an empire, keep focused on the task you are doing
Specialize
The world rewards those that specialize in life. The adage that it takes around 10,000 hours to become a master is often debated but we all know that repetition is the master of all skills. Chances are that just about everybody who starts a new skill will be terrible at it until they put in the reps, put in the hours. Then it becomes easier and easier and they become better and better.
Take a look at your life.
What can you trim back? What do you need to prune so that you can be fruitful? Are you spreading yourself so thin that you don’t have time for family and friends? Do you have time to smell the roses? Perhaps you need to prune some roses. They could be that last project you took on at work or that extra subject at college. You may even be able to give some of the pruned ‘roses’ to someone as a gift. Take time now to think about how you can prune your life to make it more rewarding and attain your life goals
-DCL
