Focus increases traction

Let’s say it was your job to get 3 large stones up a hill.

Would you pick up one stone, move it 3 feet, then go back and pick up the second stone, move it 3 feet, and then move the last stone that same 3 feet? Repeating that process over and over until all 3 stones had reached the top of the hill.

Or would you take the first stone all the way to the top, then go back and get the second stone and carry it to the top, finally finishing by carrying the third stone all the way up?

Both methods involve the same number of steps. But the switching costs of putting the stones down and picking stones up makes the first method much more work!

Yet we do this all day as we work.

But, I have to get it ALL done!

Of course, the problem is that we want all three stones on top of the hill right now. And so it seems like the right thing to do is to work a little bit on my website, and a little bit on my online course, and a little bit on building my team, and what about client work, writing and…er, life?

So I find myself going full speed in all directions.

Slowing down to speed up

Instead, to make progress, we need to simplify.

When our list has a hundred things on it, we need to say NO to about fifty of them!

Then we need to think about which things are most important, which only I can do, and delegate the rest.

These days I’m happy if I get three things off of my to-do list. That’s all I can dependably manage.

Do you need help prioritizing and simplifying your list? Are you having trouble setting clear, persistent priorities? Let’s get on a call and work on that!

Hit reply to this email and I’ll schedule a 10-minute call to help you clear the decks.