‘Focus’ may be one of those ‘by-words’ that people just take for granted that they understand. They believe they are focused because they commit to sit down at their computer and ‘do’ business for X number of hours. If you really take stock though of what you are spending your time on, you will find that much of it is actually wasting your time and in fact you are not focused at all on what you need to do; the worst part is if you foster that type of activity you will start to spin your wheels.
Spinning wheels means you are not going anywhere. You are not making any progress and you just start to sink like quicksand in all the information. Then you may figure you just can’t handle it or it just isn’t for you because you just don’t understand it all. Spinning your wheels is cousin to ‘information overload’ and ‘paralysis by analysis’. It also has relationship to what may be called ‘the kid in the candy shop’ who wants one of those and two of these and five of that. He will end up with a tummy ache and if you are talking information as candy you will end up with a headache. (candy being an analogy for biz opps, tools and gimmicks addiction).
The number one reason we do this is because we are always looking for that magic sauce. You will be the one that discovers that amazing secret that people who are making it know. Every day you will see a new, exciting email or ad that promises you the moon – the ‘don’t leave home without it’ thing that will carry you head and shoulders above the rest. It is notable that while we are doing this, we are ignoring the instructions we already have, not doing what the experts we already trust are telling us what to do.
It is true there is just so much information coming at us from all directions when we are first starting out. Especially if we are looking at ‘free’, because this usually means that in order to be able to afford to give something away for free, businesses have to justify this by at least having the privilege of trying to convince you to buy something in the future.
Often times we ARE intending to be focused and we may for example, attempt to get some information on ONE thing; and yes you got the free eBook, but along with it you got 20 emails telling us about 5 more things that you can get. (and off we go, out of focus again). So it is no wonder we get lost and start to drown in information rather than to be able to focus long enough to actually try to learn to use something we need.
One way to FOCUS is make lists and commit to doing at least one thing on the list. Then stick with it until you thoroughly explore it as a possibility. Make a date – Tuesday you will do the research and find whatever it is you need and then Wednesday you will actually try to determine the best idea and try to use it. Ignore everything else you see until you do that one thing. Then move on to the next thing.
It’s probably really a good idea to ignore most of your email at this point – glance over only the email that is from known senders (programs you are participating in or products or services you already have, and people you know). (note the word ‘glance’ here – don’t get involved!) Your email inbox looks like a war zone, right? So make folders or labels for each program or product. Just shuffle the emails into the appropriate folders. Someday when things calm down and you have your direction, you can go back and be sure you didn’t miss anything.
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