If You Want Success, You Have to Stay Focused

One of the problems with today's world is it’s extremely difficult not to get distracted by all the noise.

With a pocket full of distractions, it has become increasingly difficult to focus. 

With being successful in anything already being hard to achieve, remaining focused on the path is a necessity. 

And I don’t mean staying focused on one single task at a time, although that’s also a challenge. I mean staying focused over the long term. 

With available information constantly at our disposal and the life paths of millions of people from hundreds of countries, remaining dedicated to our goals takes a lot of focus.

It can be extremely easy to get persuaded by the ‘next best thing’. 

But how do we get that focus? How can we remain dedicated to our paths without giving in or changing course? 

I’d like to share 3 mindset shifts that will re-align your focus to what matters most.

Back to Basics

A lot of the noise that I’m referring to is all of the tips and tricks that are meant to speed up or instantly create the desired result you're looking for.

The food that loses you the most weight, the exercise that builds you the most muscle, the business tip that makes you the most money, and the morning routine that increases your productivity by 500%.

Whatever it may, if you’re lucky, might contribute to 1% of your success.

The basics, however, contribute to the rest. And if you were to just re-focus on and optimise the basics, you’d see much better results.

It’s tempting to buy into them, especially when they come from someone who’s found success in exactly what we are trying to achieve. But even they only got there by being extremely good at the basics.

This was proven to me again recently through going to the gym to build muscle. Optimising for the best exercises didn't work, and neither did eating that one food. But focusing on training hard, eating hard and sleeping hard did work.

Let this be your reminder to re-align your focus to the basics, as that’ll be what contributes to most of the success. 

Don’t Fight Future Bosses

Another thing that can be extremely distracting is focusing on problems that you’re not yet facing.

It’s very easy to foresee problems that you’ll eventually run into, but the problem is your current problems are stopping you from even reaching the future ones.

If you were to simply re-align your focus to what’s currently in your way, you’d make much more progress. 

The reason I called them bosses is because it’s exactly like a video game.

You’re on level 5, fighting level 5’s boss, yet you’re worrying about fighting the boss on level 10.

The ironic thing is, if you were to fight the level 10 boss right now, you’d probably lose.

That’s because you’re yet to gain the required experience from levels 5 through 10 that would subsequently allow you to beat it. 

And if you’d simply focus on fighting whatever boss is on your current level, you’d reach, and defeat the boss you’re worrying about much quicker.

Future problems will always be there, it’s your job to improve yourself enough to one day overcome them. But for now, focus on your current problems, as they’re what’s you down. 

Reset Expectations

A major reason we get distracted so easily in the first place is due to the inevitable difficulty that’s involved with doing anything.

Whatever we try to achieve, if it’s worth pursuing, will include a lot of challenge and hard work.

It’s during these times that distractions become more persuasive. 

We see another path or another route and expect them to be easier or to not have the same challenges and problems.

We’re wrong, these shiny, curvy and attractive alternate routes will have just as many obstacles in the way, if not more.

If we’re not careful, we can let the feeling that pursues difficulty convince us that we must be heading down the wrong path, and persuade us to change.

The truth is, everything gets hard eventually. It’s our job to stay focused on the path we have chosen, remain disciplined through adversity and keep moving forward.

Resetting our expectations during difficult times will give us a breather, they’ll remind us that it isn’t something to avoid, but something to expect and feeling such ways just means we have made progress. 

So the next time you think about quitting, ask yourself if it’s truly because you don’t want it anymore, or if it’s just the inevitable difficulty that’s making you feel this way.

Summary

One of the biggest reasons you might not reach your goals is how easily it is to become distracted and be persuaded to do anything but what needs doing.

So it’s your job to ensure you remain focused over the long term. And there are 3 things you can do to make sure that happens.

Most of what contributes to the success of anything is how good you get at the basics, not the hundreds of minute details and hacks along the way. So re-align your focus to the big and simple stuff.

It’s very easy to see the path ahead, and what comes along with that is seeing future obstacles on your path. Do not focus on these future problems. Focus on the boss you’re currently facing, and eventually, you’ll become competent enough to fight that future one.

When things get tough, and they always do, make sure you do not let the feelings of discomfort persuade you that you’re doing something wrong or that there’s another, better way. Discomfort is inevitable, expect it, deal with it, and keep going despite it.