Make FOCUS a Part of Your Identity

I finished up my reading of Essentialism this week, and I loved the story McKeown shared to illustrate the power and importance of focus. Larry Gelwix is a high school rugby coach in Salt Lake City, Utah with an incredible record of 418 wins and only 10 losses. He attributes his achievement to the acronym, “WIN,” which stands for “What’s Important Now?” He wants his players to always be in the present, not worrying about what happened in the past or what is going to happen in the future. He reinforces the power of making the best decision in the present moment. A mindset focused on the present – and what is the most important thing right now – will always produce superior results. Gelwix tells his players that there is a difference between losing and being beaten. Being beaten means that the other team is literally better than you – bigger, stronger, faster, more talented. However, losing means you lost focus and didn’t concentrate on what was essential in that moment. Losing means your plays failed because of a lack of execution, not because the other team was literally better. “To operate at your highest level of contribution requires that you deliberately tune in to what is important in the here and now.”

The book ends just as it started and as it was throughout – emphasizing the importance of honing in on what is the most important thing right now. What are you going to focus on? Remember, the whole fallacy of multitasking is rooted in the concept of focus. You cannot multi-focus; you can only focus on one thing at a time. Determining what that one thing is going to be might be the most important thing you do as a leader at the start of each new day. Make sure you enter your work space each day knowing what is most important for your company and for your people that day. Then you must literally be the person that your company or your team needs you to be to enforce an environment of focus on that one thing.

“Life is available only in the present moment.

If you abandon the present moment, you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.”

 – Thich Nhat Hanh 

In his final chapter, McKeown asserts that you can be an Essentialist in one of two ways: (1) you can go do it the best you can, or (2) you can make it a part of your identity. You must consistently tell yourself you are a person of focus, that you do it naturally and proficiently, and that it is how you approach everything in life. You are an Essentialist because it is who you identify as. I love that approach because so much of who we are is a result of the narrative we allow to be told in our own heads.

In conclusion, I encourage you to begin telling yourself that you are a person of focus. You are a person who only works on things that matter. You communicate what matters to your team over and over so much so that it becomes your team’s battle cry. Only work on what’s most important at the present time and watch the success that flows from that.

Don’t rally around being busy; rally around doing what is most important in the present.

Written by Schuyler Williamson

REALTOR. Leader. Veteran. Business Owner. Investor.

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God Bless!

~ Schuyler Williamson