Daily Inspiration: “Focus. Faster.”

“Focus. Faster.” – Futurist  Jim Carroll

My personal trainer got mad at me last week during a workout.

First time. I forgive her.

She was trying to get me to do some routine to fire some muscles in some sequence that would have me in a certain position to get me to …… I drifted off. There was something going on, over on the other side of the gym. She had to get my attention back. Sometimes, we need to be certain in our method.

Have I lost your attention already? Look here – I’m typing to you!

One of the most challenging issues in the era of acceleration is that we have no attention span left. When I was preparing for two talks for Godiva on the future of retail, I dug out research that suggests that the typical goldfish has a longer attention span than a human. Go figure. Everywhere in the world of business, we are having to struggle simply to get 5 seconds of attention from a potential customer.

The lack of focus doesn’t occur just with attention spans – it can occur with our strategies, which in the era of disruption, can become muddied, scattershot, without clarity. I’ve seen too many organizaitons with innovation strategies that are all over the place – when they should just be trying to do one thing.

Focus is also a challenge with any sport. Today, I will do one thing – I will find a spot on the golf ball. I will stare at it. I will be relentless in my focus on it. And you know what will happen? I’ll hit it well. It will go straight. It will be razor like in its accuracy. Or, maybe not.

At my home golf course, one of our Pros operates under the name “Focus Golf Group.” The choice of the name has more to do than simply staring at a golf ball – his entire life has been spent in the pursuit of focus. He’s pretty darned good at it. Being relentlessly focused has its benefits.

Squirrel!