Focus, People, Focus!

 

How to Focus

A Means to an End...

Everything I do is a means to an end. Many think that I have a passion for drawing or writing but even those activities aren’t really a passion of mine. Make no mistake, I love doing those things but at this stage I’m earning a living doing so, but my real enjoyment involving those duties is drawing and writing things that interest only myself.

Follow your passion?

 If I always did what I am passionate about, that which brings me the most enjoyment, it would undoubtedly involve outdoor cooking with a fly rod in one hand and a pair of tongs in the other. Unfortunately, I can’t think of an expedient way of earning a living doing so and even if I could, I doubt I would want to.

My business of being a cartoonist involves drawing what others want and thankfully, I like doing it, I think I’m good at it, at least good enough to sell it, and it makes me money. Those three ingredients are essential in any meaningful, purposeful and profitable endeavor.

This isn't a good time...

My biggest source of anxiety comes not from business but from a financial basis. Because I am so anxious about finances, I avoid the subject, which is a normal response. Anyone who is not happy about something typically avoids the issue. I’ve also discovered in the process, that avoiding a problem doesn’t make it go away and in fact, in most cases, only worsens it and the best time to learn about something isn’t when we’re compelled to do so. For example, being amid a marital crisis isn’t the best time to suddenly start reading books on how to have a better marriage.

reticular activation

In reviewing all the books I own, I have many on history, biographies, football, literature, business and how to become better at drawing and writing but painfully few on money.

To get better at something, it’s important to focus on it. Not only will the thing upon which we focus improve but it spurs the reticular activation in our brains. Thats when one is shopping for a car, say a red Jeep, and suddenly he seems to notice all the other red jeeps currently on the road. It’s because he’s focused on red jeeps and suddenly, he notices more people who already have them.

When I focus my attention on learning as much as I can about money the same reticular activation kicks in and it expands my knowledge of it, and everything else reflects that focus. But focusing on one thing doesn’t dilute all my other objectives. Rather by practicing the discipline and commitment it takes to focus on one thing, improves my mindset and everything else also improves.

One thing leads to another

For example: to improve my financial picture by reducing debt, improving my credit score and saving and investing more money means I look for better ways to earn more money to solve the financial problems quicker and the best way to do so is to improve business, and so I become better at business.

Also, another caveat (and this is very important) is that learning about something without actually implementing what we’ve learned does us very little good. If I focus on improving my financial picture by learning everything relevant to the subject, but then go about business as usual then I haven’t improved a thing. It’s like someone who gets a degree in nuclear physics but then earns a living as a post hole digger. He knows how to split the atom but isn’t implementing his knowledge.

The best way to focus on something is:

One:  Decide what to focus on.  

Two: Schedule a time every day to learn about it. Jim Rhone said our commitment to success will never surpass our commitment to self-improvement.

Three: Schedule a time to implement what you learn. Learning something without implementing it is useless.