Focus
We are too Distracted
Distraction is everywhere.
It keeps us from achieving the goals we set for ourselves.
- Not achieving progress
- Working on everything and nothing at the same time
- Obsessing over the wrong things
The problem is that we’ll think that we are actually getting somewhere, when in reality we are no closer to our goal than when we started.
Why?
The fact that we are distracted usually let’s us lock in on things that don’t matter, while making us believe it does.
Usually it doesn’t come from a lack of a goal, but a lack of a focused goal. As stupid as that sounds let me explain.
Focus
If you tell yourself your goal is to grow on X, it’s not the same as telling yourself that your goal is to produce daily short-form content on X.
The outcome of the second goal is the first goal, but the lack of specificity of the first won’t get you anywhere. I think the mindset shift to inputs from outcomes is the key here.
Placing the focus on inputs allows us to dial into what we can control instead of what we can’t. I think it helps anchor us to avoid distractions due to trends or algorithms. It guarantees that you stay in the game longer than the rest.
"Success in life, business, relationships, and health is about solving a never-ending string of problems that gets better - and more rewarding - with time” - The Art of Focus by Dan Koe
You will never experience these challenges without focus. Because you’ll be too busy getting distracted with every shiny object thinking it’ll be the one to bring you success when in reality it’s another thing keeping you down.
A few tools to stay Focused
To wrap this up, let me give you a few examples of how to put this into action.
At it's most basic level you can just write your goal down, and then figure out what's the ONE task that you can put your focus on to make progress on that goal.
I'll use myself as an example to see if I can explain it in more detail.
My Goal: I want to be a better content creator on both X and Youtube.
What's at the core of this goal that's actionable?
For me it was writing.
If I want to produce better content on X then my writing has to be on point, the same goes for YouTube. If the writing is bad, then there's a good chance the video won't serve it's purpose.
Now that we have that sorted, I made a tool to help me get my writing workflow go a little smoother.
I created a Writing/Content tracker on Notion and that's what I'm using to dial in my writing (Access it here). The tracker is also serving as a tool to see if a written piece of content can become a video.
It's important to note the use of Notion here because this could've been a situation in which I spent hours on a template or page with nothing to show for it.
Instead I built a standalone page, for one basic purpose and have been adjusting it AS NEEDED (NOT BEFORE).
This is one of the points where you can become distracted from your task if you're not careful, so keep this in mind.
If you are interested in content creation you can access the free template here. It's what i'm been using and it's served me well so far.
I hope this helps and I helped you learned something.
But if you didn’t just remember to focus on what matters, and ignore what doesn’t.
Out.
Thanks for Reading
-OG
Video version of Newsletter:
Newsletter video by me.