Have you heard Jack Ma’s quote that says “If there are 9 rabbits on the ground, if you want to catch one, just focus on one."
Looking back I realize that most of the time I’ve been chasing all the rabbits. The visible ones, the invisible ones… I looked for new places to spot new rabbits… and as a result I was doing many different things and getting mediocre results at best. No surprise that I did not catch any of those rabbits.
Focus has been a challenge for me. And it’s mainly because it is difficult for me to choose just one thing to focus on. Deciding what is the most important thing for that moment can be hard. And even when you decide… sticking to it is even harder. There are many people fighting for your attention.
There are many distractions getting on your way. There is family, there are relatives, there is social media, the stupid TV, the good weather luring you to go out, the new e mail, which just arrived….
The distractions are endless and they will always take you away from your 1 chosen thing all the time. That is why by choosing a goal you want to focus on, you should make that a top priority. Everything besides that should come AFTER you have completed the task you focused on.
If you need good results you have to be ready to sacrifice. You will need to give up many things, or at least postpone them for later. Focus on the most important at the moment – and the most important thing for that moment is reaching your goal. That means that you need to allocate time and effort on things, which will get you closer to the desired result.
So if you have to write a blog post today, for example start your morning with that task and don’t leave your seat until it’s done. Don’t proceed with anything else before you have your blog post written and completed. Only then go ahead and let yourself get distracted. After – and NOT before or during.
My problem has been that I always had too many things on my plate at the same time. I worked on several projects. I did different unrelated things. I did not prioritize things by their importance and pushed myself too hard to do and complete them all. As a result many things did not work, I started burning out and the disappointment was always somewhere around.
Now I decided to do the opposite and focus on 1 rabbit instead. It was hard decision to make, but I did give up several things I was planning to do. I didn’t even start those projects. No matter how exciting they seemed, I decided to give them up. So right now – Publish My Book Today is my top priority. I want to make it work, I want to make it grow and succeed and I want to keep focused on it until it does. You are welcome to check it out, provide your feedback and let me know what you think.
I still kept 2 rabbits though… because I simply could not give up this podcast and let you all down.
So think about what projects are you working on. Think about which are important and which can be left for now. And choose the rabbit you’re going to focus on.
