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Why Johnny Can’t Focus

Written by: Laura Posey

Article Overview: In my roles as adviser, trainer and consultant I get to talk to a lot of people. Business owners, salespeople, other trainers, managers – you name it, I end up chatting with them. One of the questions I typically ask is “What is keeping you from living exactly the way you want?” and more often than not one of the answers is “I just can’t seem to stay focused on my goals.” Lack of focus seems like an American epidemic and I think I have the answer to the problem.

Why Johnny Can’t Focus

In my roles as adviser, trainer and consultant I get to talk to a lot of people. Business owners, salespeople, other trainers, managers – you name it, I end up chatting with them. One of the questions I typically ask is “What is keeping you from living exactly the way you want?” and more often than not one of the answers is “I just can’t seem to stay focused on my goals.”

Lack of focus seems like an American epidemic and I think I have the answer to the problem.

Focus is just another word for attention, that is, when we focus on something we give it our full attention. In today’s world there are so many things fighting for our attention it is no wonder we have trouble staying concentrated on the things that are important to us.

But sheer volume isn’t the problem in my humble opinion. The problem is a lack of passion.

Think about the last time you went on vacation. Once you decided to go it was pretty easy to stay focused on the places you were going to visit, the dinners you were going to eat and the fun you were going to have. Often you are so excited it can be hard to get any work done in the weeks before you leave.

The same thing happens when you have a baby, start a new company, get married or do anything that you are passionate about. You can focus just fine at those times.

If you want to accomplish your goals, you have to find a way to stay passionate about them.

Creating a vision board with pictures of what you are working towards is a great way to stay focused and passionate. Keeping a journal of the reasons you are working towards a goal is also helpful in staying focused.

For me, the best way to stay passionate is to make sure I get little tidbits of my big goals along the way. For example, I love to travel. One of my big goals is live in 10 world cities for at least a year in each city. You can imagine that I have to get a lot of things in place to make that happen.

To keep myself passionate about making that happen, I have started taking shorter working trips that give me a taste of what that big goal will feel like. Right now I spend at least 12 weeks per year living in another country, working and playing. I come back from those trips so energized that staying on track for the big dreams seems easy.

What can you do NOW to get a feel for your big dreams? Can you test drive your dream car? What about taking a tour of the house you want to live in? Can you go play one of the world’s great golf courses in preparation for doing it all the time? Make it a point each month (at least) to recharge your passion and you’ll soon find that inability to focus is a thing of the past.

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Article Tags: marketing, motivation, sales, sales tips, small business



Related Forum Posts
Re: Bill from Dallas - Bill, Kind of Johnny come lately but just wanted to welcome you here as well. I see you've already made quite a few quality posts, many more to come I'm sure. Welcome aboard!
Re: Quote of the Day - ?"Where focus goes energy flows." - Tony - Focus on a single task, eliminate millions of disractions
Funnies - Hi here, Johnny was going to do the christmas shopping. After clutching for the car keys, he was looking for his reading glasses. "Where are they?" I can't find them anywhere. "Anybody can help me?" Suddenly the mother shouted: "You are wearing them right now!" "Oh thanks, they are so light, I don't feel I got them on." Regards Beat
Re: Five Personality Traits of Successful Business Owners - 1. Focus 2. Ability to Adapt 3. Hard Work 4. Good planning 5. People Skills
Entrepreneurs to profile - Here are my suggestions: Howard Schultz, Founder of Starbucks Jason Jiang, Founder of Focus Media


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