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Simple tactic to stay focused for Q1

Andy Black

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I read a great book over the Christmas holiday: "Work Less. Make More." by James Shramko. (He has some excellent podcasts too.)

One of my immediate take-aways from his book is to use "buffers". He describes how the buffers on the sides of the lanes at a bowling alley help you knock your targets down. So he sets up a simple buffer in his business which is to deal with any new opportunity by saying he'll look into it at the start of the next quarter.

I've had the tactical concept of weekly goals and cycles to move forward, and it's worked great. I always felt something was missing, something a bit longer term that would allow me to say no and focus on what's in front of my nose. It's an immediate aha moment to shunt many of the items from my todo lists into Q2.

Anyway, I highly recommend the book.

Hope you all have a great weakend and a great New Years celebration.
 
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Genius01

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Interesting.
Definitely a great way to improve focus.
I use something similar to control my distractions when browsing-
Created a note in Evernote called "For Later" where I paste links of sites and pages I find really interesting/intriguing and the reasons why, for perusal later STRICTLY when I am free or have finished the day's tasks.

The downside of it is that you may lose some opportunities that pop up and may not be able to wait till you're ready for it the next time or quarter. As MJ says in TMF , opportunity may come knocking when you're least prepared for it, and if you don't grab it by the neck at that time, if may move on to the next person and never come back.

But then, if one's major issue is a surplus of ideas to pursue, it may be far better and more profitable to forgo the "opportunities", and focus on making the most out of the one you have in hand.

So all in all, I think its a great idea, most especially for those of us that suffer from 'Shiny Object Syndrome'.
 

Andy Black

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Interesting.
Definitely a great way to improve focus.
I use something similar to control my distractions when browsing-
Created a note in Evernote called "For Later" where I paste links of sites and pages I find really interesting/intriguing and the reasons why, for perusal later STRICTLY when I am free or have finished the day's tasks.

The downside of it is that you may lose some opportunities that pop up and may not be able to wait till you're ready for it the next time or quarter. As MJ says in TMF , opportunity may come knocking when you're least prepared for it, and if you don't grab it by the neck at that time, if may move on to the next person and never come back.

But then, if one's major issue is a surplus of ideas to pursue, it may be far better and more profitable to forgo the "opportunities", and focus on making the most out of the one you have in hand.

So all in all, I think its a great idea, most especially for those of us that suffer from 'Shiny Object Syndrome'.
I think that when your ears are tuned to it then opportunity knocks so often it's a drumroll on your door.
 

Genius01

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I think that when your ears are tuned to it then opportunity knocks so often it's a drumroll on your door.
Lol, I guess so....so much so that you've been forced to acquire giant earmuffs to reduce the din of opportunities banging at your door.
That's an enviable problem to have. :)
 
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Mattie

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I'm not sure, how I learned to tune everything out in my environment, but I can just dive right into whatever and be oblivious to my surroundings, but I just focus on writing and music when i work on writing. When I do research I search specifically for what I'm looking for. I think some of it is how long you've been on the Internet. I've been on here since 2007, and really researched so much, I just get sick of going on websites now.
 

The Racing Driver

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I read a great book over the Christmas holiday: "Work Less. Make More." by James Shramko. (He has some excellent podcasts too.)

One of my immediate take-aways from his book is to use "buffers". He describes how the buffers on the sides of the lanes at a bowling alley help you knock your targets down. So he sets up a simple buffer in his business which is to deal with any new opportunity by saying he'll look into it at the start of the next quarter.

I've had the tactical concept of weekly goals and cycles to move forward, and it's worked great. I always felt something was missing, something a bit longer term that would allow me to say no and focus on what's in front of my nose. It's an immediate aha moment to shunt many of the items from my todo lists into Q2.

Anyway, I highly recommend the book.

Hope you all have a great weakend and a great New Years celebration.

Thanks for the book recommendation @Andy Black. I can totally vouch for quarterly planning. Used it for the whole of last year and it makes focusing a lot easier, as you only have to commit to short 90 day sprints. If your business 'experiment' doesn't work for the quarter. Tweak it or switch to another idea altogether.
 

The Racing Driver

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Interesting.
Definitely a great way to improve focus.
I use something similar to control my distractions when browsing-
Created a note in Evernote called "For Later" where I paste links of sites and pages I find really interesting/intriguing and the reasons why, for perusal later STRICTLY when I am free or have finished the day's tasks.

The downside of it is that you may lose some opportunities that pop up and may not be able to wait till you're ready for it the next time or quarter. As MJ says in TMF , opportunity may come knocking when you're least prepared for it, and if you don't grab it by the neck at that time, if may move on to the next person and never come back.

But then, if one's major issue is a surplus of ideas to pursue, it may be far better and more profitable to forgo the "opportunities", and focus on making the most out of the one you have in hand.

So all in all, I think its a great idea, most especially for those of us that suffer from 'Shiny Object Syndrome'.

Yes, there's no shortage of profitable opportunities. I think once you've picked something, you've just got to work at it and get some feedback first. Like sales, revenue, users, growth.... whatever you're after.

I'm guilty of chasing better ideas, and leaving a lot of projects unfinished. There's no payday half-done ideas I've realised.
 
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Andy Black

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Appropriate given it’s Q1 again...
 

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