Similar to how we only have so many hours in the day, we also have so many units of attention, and where we focus these units of energy determine your results in life. Â For instance, if you choose to consume these units watching TV, many people would consider this a waste of time.
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That said, just like a boxer, it’s important to ensure you have downtime where you take time out to replenish so that you can come back strong – the same is true with working at your desk within your office; it’s important you take the time to rest so that you are in a much better position to focus when you are working.
When it comes to business, you need to make sure you are focusing on the right thing, as often, people end up very busy with working that isn’t building their business – it’s just building up their busy-ness.  In this sense, it can be useful to look into business process modeling (check out https://www.bpmonline.com/l/bpm/definition/business-process-modeling for more information).
The other challenge, when it comes to focus is that of putting all your energy into one thing, managing distractions and blocking all other aspects out of your attention in order to focus solely on the task at hand – this is how people achieve great things.
All too often, our minds are very scattered when it comes to focus, and we adopt a shotgun like an approach where our energy is dispersed over several small shots – rather than a pistol like approach where our focus is on a single task, that means when it does hit, it hits with tremendous force.
See, a magnifying glass can set a piece of paper on fire because it utilizes the sun’s energy in such a focused way that it can spontaneously create fire.  The same is true for your business when you adopt a singular focus, you can achieve amazing things!
The problem with focus, however, is that we are often living in a state of reaction, rather than response – meaning whilst we might have fantastic plans in place, and even organized diaries, we are often consumed with putting out fires and reacting to urgent requests rather than responding in a methodical way to achieving the plans you set out.
For this reason, if you have a project that requires your undivided focus, it can be good to have a vacation away from your usual environment – where you can focus on a single task; this is essentially akin to a writer’s retreat.  Indeed, many writer’s locks themselves away in a cabin in the woods for several weeks or months – as they appreciate the fact they need to focus on this one task in order to achieve their goal.
Of course, with good discipline, you don’t need to get away to harness this insular focus – you can set it up within your daily routine.  The key point to remember, however, is that the magnifying glass can light the paper due to the intensity of focus – and in this sense, if you want to turn your plans into reality, harnessing such singular focus is your best bet for massive success.
