I think we all have heard the adage, “What you focus on expands.” So why is it then that business owners and entrepreneurs will spend countless hours and tons of resources focused on solving the problems in their business? Why aren’t they focused on the opportunities all around them? Here’s a real life story that will explain why.
A few weeks ago I attended a revolutionary program called Christopher Howard’s Billionaire Bootcamp. One day we played a game where we simulated building and selling a business. At some point an idea was born from our team that was worth a million dollars. Our acting “CEO” and I began to draft a proposal and go through all the hoops to pitch it. The idea was accepted and we were told that we would win the game (and the $800 plus dollars on the line) if we took this same strategy and duplicated it five more times. All we had to do was rewrite the contracts.
At this point, one of the team members came to me with a crisis. Apparently, someone had received some huge penalties and the team was panicking about the financial impact. The “CEO” pulled us all together and said, “We have to brainstorm a way to solve this problem.” The entire team got sidelined from making money and focused instead on how to solve the problem.
Within about 15 minutes, something clicked inside my head and I began to wonder, was this really the best use of our time? I knew we had a potential $5 – 10 million dollar deal on the table that wasn’t getting our attention.
I asked, “How much does this problem cost us?” No one knew the answer. We tallied it up and the problem was going cost us about $300k.
Now, here is the real kicker. All of our energy and focus was on solving a problem that was worth ONLY $300k. We were NOT FOCUSED on the opportunity that was worth over $5 million that would have made this problem completely go away.
How many times have you missed opportunities in your business or life because you were consumed with how to fix a problem?
The point is this. When you are worried, consumed and stuck by a problem, you don’t have the energy or the time to focus on the opportunities. You probably won’t even see them.
Did we win the game? Well, luckily, I was able to redirect one of our team members to go resolve the problem with as little impact as possible. But, the “CEO” and I were able to get only one of the million dollar deals through in the time we had left. We did not win the game.
Every member of our team walked away with a valuable lesson. Always focus upwards towards the big wins. The payoff will probably cancel out and make completely insignificant the smaller problems. Here are a few questions to help you determine where your focus needs to be.
* What does the problem cost compared to the opportunities on the table?
* Will having this problem cause you to be unable to pursue the opportunities (in other words, does it negatively impact your resources or time?)
* What is the worst that could happen if you don’t resolve it? Compare that to the positives of what would happen if the opportunity is achieved.
* Would the problem cause long-lasting damage that you could not recover from?
* If you focus on creating a bigger opportunity, would it eliminate or mitigate the problem?
Sometimes you don’t have to focus so much on solving problems. Use your creative energy to create opportunities that are bigger than any of your problems. One of my friends and mentors, Stephanie Frank, author of the Accidental Millionaire, said something once that has always stuck with me. “You can focus on the debt and stay in debt. Or you can focus on creating the wealth that WILL easily eliminate the debt. I chose focusing on wealth.”
Take a few minutes each day to do a “focus check.” Are you focused on the problem or on the bigger picture? Changing your focus is going to make a massive difference in your results.
Your Focus can Make or Break a Million Dollar Opportunity: A “Real Life” Story - To learn more about this author, visit Melanie Benson Strick's Website.
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