What To Focus On?
Ever wonder WHAT to focus on?
Here is a really simply picture to help you remember what to focus on.
This picture came across my Twitter stream from my account manager at Clickbank (Andrew).
This is drawn on his whiteboard to help him remember what really needs his attention and it's very much like my own way of picking what to work on.
How do YOU decide what to focus on?
EDIT TO ADD:
Based on the great questions and conversation in the comments area, I have decided to add more to this post.
When it comes to MY online business, how do I "re-format" that image above to reflect how *I* decide what to focus on?
Here is the image I made (yes, I know, I have AMAZING graphic skills...lol!)
Every day - heck, maybe every minute of every day, there is something coming my way that interests me, distracts me, I want to learn/try/do/read up on.
These thing fly at me via Twitter, email, my blog, others blogs, inside WA, industry news site, forums, etc etc etc.
I'm sure I am not alone on this ;)
On the other side, there are things I need to do to grow my business/my brand.
How do I decide what to focus on when my black circle is full AND my green circle is full?
First off, I try really, really hard to keep the things in my green circle as minimal as possible.
Right now, I have about 5 main things that I want to focus on. One of those things is my PotPieGirl.com blog. Now, I don't post there often, but posting to that blog is in my green circle.
Not long ago, all the news about Google and blog/link networks came out - that interests me BUT I am not going to blog about it until I feel I have something unique to say about it (ie, I refuse to be an echo).
So, the stuff about Google stayed in the black circle...the wanting to post on my blog stayed in the green circle.
Then one day, after following along with the news for awhile, I knew I was ready to post my thoughts about the situation to my blog.
Those two things merged and moved into the yellow area - that was something I was going to focus on DOING that day.
Now, I labeled my green circle "Things that make money/promote my brand". That post on my blog didn't necessarily make me money...and I wasn't sure when I posted it that it would promote my brand either. However, that post did get picked up and linked to from some really great industry-related sites and people.
It turned out to be a great thing to focus on IF my goal is to GROW.
Ok - I'll end this edit and we can take it from there....
Thanks for sharing everyone!
Jennifer
Recent Comments
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Ok, let me update/edit the post with another (absolutely amazing and wonderful) graphic I made....
I agree with you both here...how does your average person determine what should feature in that middle sector?
Personally I think this is the difference between taking the right steps each day, and not really knowing what to do. This "moment" is key because it influences productivity, which ultimately impacts success.
For me I don't even need to think about it...I kind of know how to prioritize (as I'm sure you guys do). But my question is...can you teach someone how to do this, or is it something that you are just born with?
I think it's a great debate :)
people can be done how to do almost anything it just will take time. i believe in being thought
I am going to pose a question, how do you know if the things that matter to you are particularly the things that you should be focusing on.
To a lot of people "watching tv" sincerely matters to them, but this does not necessarily mean it is the right thing to do. There is a big difference between things that that matter and things that "should matter". It is subjective based on the individual, but there are probably some structured guidelines as to what should matter when focusing on business.
Things that matter are impending ideas that have not materialized. They have not materialized simply because someone has not taken action.
I think this is a great post Jen! (just trying to spark a discussion by taking a different angle to that particular diagram).
That is true... Some say that spending more time with family matters, but does slaving away in a cubicle, funding your 401k really help you accomplish the goal of more time with the family? I don't know how many times my husband has been called into work on the weekend for a critical project, or asked to work grave shift when his normal hours are 6am-2pm. How does that improve family time when you're expected to live for work instead of work to live. Until you realize what is truly matters to you, not what work tells you that should matter, only then can you realize what need to be focused on to achieve the goals that will get you to what matters most.
Good questions/discussion, Kyle - thanks!
That graph/image above is more than a business thing to me - it's a LIFE thing.
For a personal example: Say my grown son is having issues with his job. He has a family to support, he's my baby, and it really MATTERS to me.
However, I can't DO a darn thing about it. Therefor, it's more productive for me to not focus my energy on that situation. Instead I simply tell myself that I can't do anything to change or fix that situation and to just be the one thing I CAN do for him - be there as an ear and for support.
To me, life is FULL of situations like that. Our energy goes towards focusing on situations we can't do a darn thing about...and it's wasted energy when we could be focusing our energy on things where we can make a difference.
As for "what if watching tv really matters to someone?" - What matters to someone is a personal thing. If watching TV really matters, well, it matters and they CAN do something about that (ie, go turn the tv on). However, I'd find it odd if that's ALL that matters to a person.
I would expect there to be other "things that matter" over on that side (ie, pay bills, spend time with family, go to grocery store, think about son's job, stress over neighbors yard, worry about property values, etc etc).
But, if watching TV is all that matters - so be it. Not up to me to judge whether that is truly important or not. HOWEVER, if they are trying to build a business....bye-bye TV (except for recording shows and watching them based on work schedule - not tv programming schedule)
When trying to build a business, yes, there definitely are certain things that SHOULD matter AND be focused on - totally agree - and watching TV is NOT one of those things...lol!!!
Yeah, thanks for the follow up Jennifer.
TV was just an example, it could have been anything, but this could be anything. My thing is that sometimes people focus on stuff that "matters" to them that shouldn't really matter, so this is an issue in itself. They don't know that the stuff they are focusing on they cannot do anything about in many cases, therefore it can be very difficult to live within a content state within either their personal or business lives.
As for distractions, I agree with you. There are far too many of them these days and it is really a selection process. Does Twitter and Facebook and Google + and Pinterest and Your Email and Your Website...really matter. I guess the answer is it can, but only if you are going to do an excellent job.
The only things that matter in business are those that you are willing to do a "excellent" job of...mediocrity is for mediocre business people. Nobody wants to be one of those :)
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What to focus your attention on is based on your ability to test the market to determine whether or not people will value your idea/product/service enough to be willing as well as able to pay for it in conjunction with you being willing and capable of providing it.