FOCUS FROM A FEW MAGIC WORDS

Posted on February 03, 2023 by Mark Julian, One of Thousands of ADD ADHD Coaches on Noomii.

When I started a business back in the 1980s, I was fortunate to have a caring friend and advisor that had more life and business experience than me; someone that was easy to talk to and confide in. It didn’t hurt that they too, had owned and operated a small-business and, so could relate to the challenges that a new business owner encounters. In hindsight, they’d taken on the role of being a mentor – an experienced and trusted advisor.

One day, I was surprised when my mentor stopped by my office, placed a delicately wrapped package on my desk and announced, “Before you open it, I want you to know that this reminder applies to nearly every situation you’ve shared with me since you started your business. Going forward, this is my advice to you.”

I was intrigued!

As I fumbled to unwrap the gift, it revealed a small, desk-top file-holder with three words which stood out in large metallic letters.

The words read simply, ‘Do it now’. At the time, I wasn’t much impressed with the knick-knack, or the build-up from the introduction to it, but I hung onto it out of respect.

Sometimes, when I felt overwhelmed at work, I’d open the desk drawer it rested in and consider my mentor’s advice as applied to a situation. A year or two later, I noticed it and decided to put it back out on my desk. I realized I had come to accept its advice as a personal policy. I also saw it as an acknowledgement of focus and adaptability. It was a clear and simple call to action and one from which I and my business benefitted from. The words helped me to remember that only my actions are productive and only doing something can create change. I had worked hard on ways to get out of my own head, and thus, out of my own way, so to speak.

Turns out, my mentor had seen things in me that I hadn’t seen myself. Ruminating, aka circuitous and unproductive chronic-thinking, was a force of habit that I’d became much more aware of. I discovered that when I moved into action, I broke the subtle, hypnotic trance of thoughts; thoughts that seemed important and even productive, but in truth, they were not.

Perhaps you’ve seen it too; how overthinking can grow into a crippling malady that keeps us stuck, under-performing and hopelessly lost in thought? Today, while my precious little tchotchke lays boxed away, those 3 simple words resonate through my experiences and have been a constant advisor through the years. I thought about this when I saw a recent Inc. article headlined – Warren Buffett: What Separates Truly Successful People from Everyone Else Boils Down to One Word.

Again, I was intrigued!

What would the legendary billionaire/philanthropist, business magnate and investor (once dubbed by Wall Street as The Oracle of Omaha, for his renown investing success) say that 1 word was? Spoiler alert! The 1 word turns out to be “No.”

The article went on to clarify what Buffett actually said: “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say ‘No’ to almost everything.” Hmm… almost everything, other than what they’re doing at the time, I supposed. It’s important to note that, in the context set by Mr. Buffett, the word ‘No’ acts a barrier or a device used to manage and maintain his focus. He says ‘No’ to this and ‘No’ to that until he only sees the one thing he’s selected to focus on. His ‘No’ creates an aperture to focus through.

It sounds simple, right?

After all, isn’t this what happens when you look through a microscope – for instance, at a grain of sand? The lenses magnify while you draw closer and closer to achieve focus. Visually, it’s like saying “No” again and again to everything, except that single grain of sand. Eventually, you do it until that single grain is the only thing you can see. By then, the fleck looks like a whole new landscape, rich with details and surprises of a world within itself… which it is.

Such is the power of focus!

When we can make time to put our own focus to work, we see things more clearly, more accurately, and in much greater detail. It’s natural then that, from this greater detail, comes greater understanding, insights and inspiration!

You could say that, when we say ‘no’ to certain things, we’re free to say ‘yes’ to focusing on something else. And we can practice using ‘no’ in order to focus more productively. Anyhow, that’s one way I imagine Mr. Buffett’s powerful focus might have progressed for him. I mean, when you focus in on, say a business, say your business and really look at it close up – with all its moving parts magnified in vivid detail, then successful outcomes start to look more like a science and less like a chance, don’t you think?

So, while we can’t all have the focus of a Warren Buffett, we can all take his advice and receive some mentoring of our own.

In fact, I’m going to start saying ‘no’ more myself and I’m going to do it now!

Mark Julian is the President of ClearView Consulting & Coaching, LLC, which provides career and business counseling solutions; customized ADHD performance tool-kits, and process-driven coaching to individuals and businesses. He is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, and business owner/operator drawing from decades of first-hand business experience and professional coaching expertise.

Mark is also a Senior Business Counselor at Mason SBDC. He counsels start-up and veteran business owners and specializes in business-concept-review, marketing/sales, and general operations and processes.