How Sharp Is Your Focus Right Now?

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”
— Unknown
Ugh.
Don’t you want to join me in hating that this quote is true? If you’re like about six of my clients right now (and quite possibly me), you’re chasing a lot of rabbits these days.  And not just rabbits- squirrels and a lot of other shiny objects that go bouncing by, too.  In the spirit of misery loving company, know you’re not alone. This is a common trait of many leaders and entrepreneurs.  So many ideas, and not enough time, right?
To be a truly effective leader, says John C. Maxwell (in The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader), the keys are priorities and concentration:

• A leader who knows his priorities but lacks concentration knows what to do but never gets it done
• A leader who has concentration but no priorities has excellence without progress
• A leader who harnesses both priorities and concentration has the potential to achieve great things

Maxwell believes that in order to improve focus, leaders need to spend at least 70 percent of their time on strengths, delegate areas of weakness, identify and then fight for priorities, and determine what investments (time & $$) need to be made to take concentration to the next level.
Focus takes discipline, but in the end, it’s what helps us allow our brilliant ideas to come to life.  I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of chasing more than one rabbit at a time.  It’s time to focus– and believe it or not, research has ACTUALLY proven that seeing cute pictures of animals improves our performance. So scroll back up to the image of the little puffball bunny and soak in his powers of productivity. No go forth and achieve something great.