“My son, observe the postage stamp! Its usefulness depends upon its ability to stick to one thing until it gets there.”
- Josh Billings
I just read this quote and wanted to share it with you.
Does it immediately ring your bell ? It did mine.
I know how hard it can be for you to concentrate on one thing, but if you can find a way to narrow your focus, if you can laser in your energy, towards one immediate goal, you can become more successful almost immediately.
Every day, without fail, I’ll ask a co-worker to perform a task that will enable me to finish my ” desk ” duties and get out amongst people and sell something. Every day, without fail, they’ll lose focus and when I ask them about the task, they tell me about how someone else asked them to do something and they were now working on that.
How did I get shoved to the back burner that quick ? No focus. No past history of accomplishing a task and completing a mission. No system in place in their mind.
Probably they got that way from flippng channels on their TV at night. It’s a learned behavior. One I hate.
I tell them, but I also show them. Kind of like what Joi posted about on one of our other blogs, Chinese Wisdom.
I show them by telling them, when they need me to do something that isn’t a real need, like a customer in our showroom or on the phone, in need of expertise, ” When I finish what I’m doing, I’ll do whatever it is you need, BUT, I’m going to respect the person whom I’m helping now by finishing this task. Mission completed, I’ll go ask them what they need and stick to that until done.
Needless to say, I don’t usually get the same respect in return and I have to usually do it myself while they look for the next entertaining thing that will occupy their mind for a while.
What I wouldn’t give for someone that came to work with work on their mind !
Do your family, friends and co-workers a favor and SHOW them how to focus in and complete the mission. Once it becomes a habit, say after 7-10 times, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
~Mike
Travelling Golfer
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