The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

How to (not) focus on multiple things at once and achieve mediocre results.

redshift

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
345%
Sep 4, 2018
192
662
Finally got around to listening to the fastlane INSIDERS podcast hosted by @Vigilante featuring @MJ DeMarco & @AllenCrawley from May 28th. The episode itself was gold and I highly recommend checking out the recording (available on the inside) if you haven't already.

The one thing which stuck with me the most was a question asked to MJ about how to focus on multiple projects at the same time, MJ's answer was that he is singular minded in focus and if you wanted to know how to do two things at once *excellently*, then he doesn’t have an answer.

This detail is something I had lost sight of since starting my fastlane journey, but I’ve realized now it’s one of the most important concepts to keep in mind at a higher level as you travel through the desert and build your first (or next) product. Once your fastlane RAS is activated, your brain will be able to come up with new ideas at will, some which will give you instant gratification but not produce meaningful, life altering results in the long run. Others, will be worth pursuing, but will derail you from your original focus. The best way to achieve excellent results and actually make a strong impact in any field, is to maintain focus on one thing and stick through with it until you are either satisfied with the results or the market says otherwise.

Lets say you are building an app, this would mean staying focused on it until you’ve reached a point where you receive market echoes before even thinking about another project such as a second app, or a game or a course or a book. Even if this other project is a *small* endeavor like starting a You Tube channel on the side, or setting up an instagram business, or a blog (unless these are related to the original business in question), because even spending an hour or two per day on those things will be enough of a distraction to shift your focus and take you out of the head space required to perfect your main goal. Instead of thinking about the execution and finer details of your app during gaps in the day or in the shower or wherever you think best, you will be thinking about which YouTube video or blog post to work on next and how to structure and edit those videos, or what you could have improved in your last blog post instead. This adds up and is enough to get you off track from your main focus for days, weeks and sometimes even months, and will lead to frustration and mediocre results in all areas. In the example above, if you do want to start a YouTube channel, it would be better to go all in on it and spend 3-6 months completely focused on it and produce your best work instead of giving it your divided attention. In other words, if you want to hit a home-run, go out and swing for the fences instead of practising base hits.

The reason the fastlane is so powerful, is not because it shifts your mind from consumer to producer, or introduces you to the cents framework, all those are important parts of the process, but for me the main power comes from the fact that it awakens the belief that this road is a real and tangible possibility which YOU can achieve in a relatively short amount of time. Once that belief is installed, you only need to convince yourself that all these other things you want to do will be eventually possible in the long run, but only if you focus on perfecting that first big hit which can detach your income from time and earn you your freedom. After that, you can focus on whatever comes next and produce your best work there as well.

When I was in college I came across this comic strip on the Internet which illustrates this concept pretty well. Back then, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, but it sounded more like a pipe dream to me (source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - 2012-09-02)

33663

Once you realize that all you need to achieve everything you want in life is the foresight that you can, it just becomes a matter of being patient and focusing on the right things at the right time. In the fastlane world, the “lifetimes” in the comic above can easily be compressed. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results.

Deep thought when applied to creative endeavours has a compounding effect and your brain will be able to achieve astounding results if you immerse yourself completely into something over a matter of days, weeks, months without breaking your focus. I’ve noticed this time and time again on any big project I’ve started. Anytime I get distracted by adding some shiny new things into my routine, or start splitting my focus, results in every area start to go down and frustration creeps in. This applies to other areas as well, such as the type of books you read or which *insanely huge* thread(s) you are currently reading on the forum.

I recently heard a story with a similar theme called “Buridan’s a$$” from an interview with Tim Ferris and Derek Sivers, which went something like this [paraphrased]:

There’s a donkey who’s hungry and thirsty, and there’s water on one side, and hay on the other. He can’t decide which one to go for first. He looks at the hay, then at the water, and then gets stuck in a cycle of hay / water / hay / water and eventually dies of both hunger and thirst. He just couldn’t do them sequentially.

The donkey was nearsighted and couldn’t think long term. If he could have planned ahead, he would know that he can have the water first, then move on to the hay. In effect, you can do almost everything you want in life, but you can’t do it at the same time, so if you can just dedicate yourself to ONE THING, for even a year, and then the next thing, for a year, you can do all those things.

But if you try to do everything at once, you’ll be Buridan’s a$$ (should I do this, or should I do that). So, don’t be a Donkey!

Of course, the same principles apply to me writing this post as well. The ideas here have been juggling around in my brain since yesterday, and it took me a few hours to put it together. Some people might find this useful, or have something to add (please do!). I might get a few likes or reactions, heck it might even be marked as notable, or I might have to explain something better, or defend my arguments, or it might just get totally ignored or make the landfill. All these scenarios would take up time and energy which could have otherwise been going towards my main focus instead. I like to think of this as the opportunity cost of distraction, which, over time, definitely adds up.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,076
169,471
Utah
Great take, marked GOLD.

I've been posting this video a lot because our culture promotes mediocrity and "good enough" type results.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxSruxav35k


Your post eloquently reminds us of the importance of a SINGULAR FOCUS.

The singular focus can lead to many great opportunities, things that could allow you to have a multi-disciplinary focus later on.

Thanks for sharing.
 

socaldude

Saturn Sedan and PT Cruiser enthusiast.
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
212%
Jan 10, 2012
2,380
5,043
San Diego, CA
Our socialization does not want you to have that identity and intelligence. Its no accident.

Thats why society pushes low expectations and pushes everyone to participate in the commoditized labor markets(a job). Because after all you are not smart enough to allocate resources and maximize utility as a producer.
 

humananalytics

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
198%
Jun 7, 2020
41
81
USA
Instead of thinking about the execution and finer details of your app during gaps in the day or in the shower or wherever you think best, you will be thinking about which YouTube video or blog post to work on next and how to structure and edit those videos, or what you could have improved in your last blog post instead.

This impact is often underestimated. I think many people look at entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and think they have the same ability to pursue multiple areas at the same time.

When I was in college, I was able to become a powerlifting state champion. Everyday, I would wake-up and visualize each of my lifts and my study breaks were spent thinking about weight lifting. All this thought and focus on lifting weights made me incredibly strong. Now, that my mind isn't wrapped around weight lifting, I am not able to achieve the same levels of strength. Even though I workout for the same amount of time each day and I'm quite disciplined.

Weight lifting is something that is mainly a physical too, imagine a task that is completely mental. The difference would be much greater.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Jaco

Prioritize and execute
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
123%
Feb 20, 2020
31
38
Hong Kong
Finally got around to listening to the fastlane INSIDERS podcast hosted by @Vigilante featuring @MJ DeMarco & @AllenCrawley from May 28th. The episode itself was gold and I highly recommend checking out the recording (available on the inside) if you haven't already.

The one thing which stuck with me the most was a question asked to MJ about how to focus on multiple projects at the same time, MJ's answer was that he is singular minded in focus and if you wanted to know how to do two things at once *excellently*, then he doesn’t have an answer.

This detail is something I had lost sight of since starting my fastlane journey, but I’ve realized now it’s one of the most important concepts to keep in mind at a higher level as you travel through the desert and build your first (or next) product. Once your fastlane RAS is activated, your brain will be able to come up with new ideas at will, some which will give you instant gratification but not produce meaningful, life altering results in the long run. Others, will be worth pursuing, but will derail you from your original focus. The best way to achieve excellent results and actually make a strong impact in any field, is to maintain focus on one thing and stick through with it until you are either satisfied with the results or the market says otherwise.

Lets say you are building an app, this would mean staying focused on it until you’ve reached a point where you receive market echoes before even thinking about another project such as a second app, or a game or a course or a book. Even if this other project is a *small* endeavor like starting a You Tube channel on the side, or setting up an instagram business, or a blog (unless these are related to the original business in question), because even spending an hour or two per day on those things will be enough of a distraction to shift your focus and take you out of the head space required to perfect your main goal. Instead of thinking about the execution and finer details of your app during gaps in the day or in the shower or wherever you think best, you will be thinking about which YouTube video or blog post to work on next and how to structure and edit those videos, or what you could have improved in your last blog post instead. This adds up and is enough to get you off track from your main focus for days, weeks and sometimes even months, and will lead to frustration and mediocre results in all areas. In the example above, if you do want to start a YouTube channel, it would be better to go all in on it and spend 3-6 months completely focused on it and produce your best work instead of giving it your divided attention. In other words, if you want to hit a home-run, go out and swing for the fences instead of practising base hits.

The reason the fastlane is so powerful, is not because it shifts your mind from consumer to producer, or introduces you to the cents framework, all those are important parts of the process, but for me the main power comes from the fact that it awakens the belief that this road is a real and tangible possibility which YOU can achieve in a relatively short amount of time. Once that belief is installed, you only need to convince yourself that all these other things you want to do will be eventually possible in the long run, but only if you focus on perfecting that first big hit which can detach your income from time and earn you your freedom. After that, you can focus on whatever comes next and produce your best work there as well.

When I was in college I came across this comic strip on the Internet which illustrates this concept pretty well. Back then, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, but it sounded more like a pipe dream to me (source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - 2012-09-02)


Once you realize that all you need to achieve everything you want in life is the foresight that you can, it just becomes a matter of being patient and focusing on the right things at the right time. In the fastlane world, the “lifetimes” in the comic above can easily be compressed. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results.

Deep thought when applied to creative endeavours has a compounding effect and your brain will be able to achieve astounding results if you immerse yourself completely into something over a matter of days, weeks, months without breaking your focus. I’ve noticed this time and time again on any big project I’ve started. Anytime I get distracted by adding some shiny new things into my routine, or start splitting my focus, results in every area start to go down and frustration creeps in. This applies to other areas as well, such as the type of books you read or which *insanely huge* thread(s) you are currently reading on the forum.

I recently heard a story with a similar theme called “Buridan’s a$$” from an interview with Tim Ferris and Derek Sivers, which went something like this [paraphrased]:



Of course, the same principles apply to me writing this post as well. The ideas here have been juggling around in my brain since yesterday, and it took me a few hours to put it together. Some people might find this useful, or have something to add (please do!). I might get a few likes or reactions, heck it might even be marked as notable, or I might have to explain something better, or defend my arguments, or it might just get totally ignored or make the landfill. All these scenarios would take up time and energy which could have otherwise been going towards my main focus instead. I like to think of this as the opportunity cost of distraction, which, over time, definitely adds up.
Wow, your post is so perfectly timed, in just the last few days I’d been drifting from the goal, looking at shiny things. Thanks for the reminder!
 

redshift

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
345%
Sep 4, 2018
192
662
Great take, marked GOLD.

I've been posting this video a lot because our culture promotes mediocrity and "good enough" type results.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxSruxav35k


Your post eloquently reminds us of the importance of a SINGULAR FOCUS.

The singular focus can lead to many great opportunities, things that could allow you to have a multi-disciplinary focus later on.

Thanks for sharing.

Oh wow, thanks for the GOLD! Your subtle one line answer in the call really made it all click for me! I had never heard the term "Singular Focus" used like that before, but it makes total sense now.

That video played a great part in making me realize why this is so important as well. I have found myself using those cliches all too often without realising how damaging they are to creating excellent work. In a way, it's the perfect hall pass to putting out mediocre work in the name of getting things done.

Combine those two bad boys ("done is better than perfect" and "perfect is the enemy of good") with "do what you love" and you have the perfect recipe for a hobby which sucks masquerading as a business.
 
Last edited:

sonny_1080

Creating a tool I want to use.
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
164%
Oct 30, 2019
496
815
Los Angeles
Finally got around to listening to the fastlane INSIDERS podcast hosted by @Vigilante featuring @MJ DeMarco & @AllenCrawley from May 28th. The episode itself was gold and I highly recommend checking out the recording (available on the inside) if you haven't already.

The one thing which stuck with me the most was a question asked to MJ about how to focus on multiple projects at the same time, MJ's answer was that he is singular minded in focus and if you wanted to know how to do two things at once *excellently*, then he doesn’t have an answer.

This detail is something I had lost sight of since starting my fastlane journey, but I’ve realized now it’s one of the most important concepts to keep in mind at a higher level as you travel through the desert and build your first (or next) product. Once your fastlane RAS is activated, your brain will be able to come up with new ideas at will, some which will give you instant gratification but not produce meaningful, life altering results in the long run. Others, will be worth pursuing, but will derail you from your original focus. The best way to achieve excellent results and actually make a strong impact in any field, is to maintain focus on one thing and stick through with it until you are either satisfied with the results or the market says otherwise.

Lets say you are building an app, this would mean staying focused on it until you’ve reached a point where you receive market echoes before even thinking about another project such as a second app, or a game or a course or a book. Even if this other project is a *small* endeavor like starting a You Tube channel on the side, or setting up an instagram business, or a blog (unless these are related to the original business in question), because even spending an hour or two per day on those things will be enough of a distraction to shift your focus and take you out of the head space required to perfect your main goal. Instead of thinking about the execution and finer details of your app during gaps in the day or in the shower or wherever you think best, you will be thinking about which YouTube video or blog post to work on next and how to structure and edit those videos, or what you could have improved in your last blog post instead. This adds up and is enough to get you off track from your main focus for days, weeks and sometimes even months, and will lead to frustration and mediocre results in all areas. In the example above, if you do want to start a YouTube channel, it would be better to go all in on it and spend 3-6 months completely focused on it and produce your best work instead of giving it your divided attention. In other words, if you want to hit a home-run, go out and swing for the fences instead of practising base hits.

The reason the fastlane is so powerful, is not because it shifts your mind from consumer to producer, or introduces you to the cents framework, all those are important parts of the process, but for me the main power comes from the fact that it awakens the belief that this road is a real and tangible possibility which YOU can achieve in a relatively short amount of time. Once that belief is installed, you only need to convince yourself that all these other things you want to do will be eventually possible in the long run, but only if you focus on perfecting that first big hit which can detach your income from time and earn you your freedom. After that, you can focus on whatever comes next and produce your best work there as well.

When I was in college I came across this comic strip on the Internet which illustrates this concept pretty well. Back then, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, but it sounded more like a pipe dream to me (source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - 2012-09-02)

View attachment 33663

Once you realize that all you need to achieve everything you want in life is the foresight that you can, it just becomes a matter of being patient and focusing on the right things at the right time. In the fastlane world, the “lifetimes” in the comic above can easily be compressed. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results.

Deep thought when applied to creative endeavours has a compounding effect and your brain will be able to achieve astounding results if you immerse yourself completely into something over a matter of days, weeks, months without breaking your focus. I’ve noticed this time and time again on any big project I’ve started. Anytime I get distracted by adding some shiny new things into my routine, or start splitting my focus, results in every area start to go down and frustration creeps in. This applies to other areas as well, such as the type of books you read or which *insanely huge* thread(s) you are currently reading on the forum.

I recently heard a story with a similar theme called “Buridan’s a$$” from an interview with Tim Ferris and Derek Sivers, which went something like this [paraphrased]:



Of course, the same principles apply to me writing this post as well. The ideas here have been juggling around in my brain since yesterday, and it took me a few hours to put it together. Some people might find this useful, or have something to add (please do!). I might get a few likes or reactions, heck it might even be marked as notable, or I might have to explain something better, or defend my arguments, or it might just get totally ignored or make the landfill. All these scenarios would take up time and energy which could have otherwise been going towards my main focus instead. I like to think of this as the opportunity cost of distraction, which, over time, definitely adds up.
Great post and perfectly timed. thank you for your contribution.

This:

Once you realize that all you need to achieve everything you want in life is the foresight that you can, it just becomes a matter of being patient and focusing on the right things at the right time. In the fastlane world, the “lifetimes” in the comic above can easily be compressed. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results

Very well-said.

I spent 2.5 months during the lockdown completely immersed in Google Ads for local lead gen. I made significant progress that I'm very proud of.

I recently decided to shift my focus into a niche website that utilizes most of the same skills, but is fundamentally different.

Your post made me reconsider shifting my focus.

Option 1: get paid faster. Violates CENTS framework.
Option 2: get paid later. Follows CENTS framework.

Think I'm still gonna stick with option 2 because it follows a bigger picture.

Oh wow, thanks for the GOLD!! It was really your subtle one line answer in the call which made it all click for me! I had never heard the term "Singular Focus" used like that before, but it makes total sense now.

That video is great as well and explains things really well. I have found myself using those cliches all too often without realising how damaging they are to creating excellent work. In a way, it's the perfect hall pass to putting out mediocre work in the name of getting things done.

Combine those two bad boys with "do what you love" and you have the perfect recipe for a hobby which sucks.
Niiiiice!!!!

I'm so jealous of your gold status lololololol

Good for you @redshift

:clap:: :clap:: :clap::
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

redshift

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
345%
Sep 4, 2018
192
662
I think many people look at entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and think they have the same ability to pursue multiple areas at the same time.

Agreed, it's another case of nearsightedness combined with a hint of event driven mindset. MJ covers this case pretty well in TMF in the "Chose Monogamy over Polygamy" chapter.

When I was in college, I was able to become a powerlifting state champion. Everyday, I would wake-up and visualize each of my lifts and my study breaks were spent thinking about weight lifting. All this thought and focus on lifting weights made me incredibly strong. Now, that my mind isn't wrapped around weight lifting, I am not able to achieve the same levels of strength. Even though I workout for the same amount of time each day and I'm quite disciplined.

Weight lifting is something that is mainly a physical too, imagine a task that is completely mental. The difference would be much greater.

Yes, physical activities take a lot of mental focus as well when done at a high level. I got in to a competitive slow pitch softball league last summer and found myself practising my swing and trying to improve my game when I should have been hustling. The urge inside to be excellent at everything definitely requires a singular focus and discipline even more. This simple activity which was just supposed to be a bit of fun exercise on the side derailed my progress for a few months.

It's especially important to be cautious with your mental resources and focus when you are in the desert of desertion, as anything with a tiny bit of instant gratification or validation from others can act as a false feedback loop and make you lose sight of the bigger picture. The path to success will never be a straight line, so the least you can do is get out of your own way.

The most effective thing I have found when embarking upon a goal which requires high mental processing is to pair it with activities which take the edge off and allow the brain some time to think. Physical Activities do work great as long as you don't get too competitive or obsessed with the results. Other things which helped me maintain focus were picking up a daily (power) yoga and meditation practice, and as you mentioned, visualizing what I am trying to achieve.

Of course, it's as important to eliminate areas of your life which are draining mental focus or reduce their influence (side projects, high demand job, social media) so you can be laser focused on the main goal.
 
Last edited:

LifeTransformer

Silver Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
123%
Feb 20, 2015
558
684
I watched an episode of tea with Gary V on YouTube the other week, and he seems to be preaching the opposite.

There were a few people who had 2 or more things they wanted to persue, and he was all like "do both, who says you've only got time to one thing?" Etc or words to that effect.

I struggle sticking with one idea or project myself and really need to figure out a way to do it.
 

Beerbread

Bronze Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
144%
Dec 2, 2019
151
217
New Jersey
I watched an episode of tea with Gary V on YouTube the other week, and he seems to be preaching the opposite.

There were a few people who had 2 or more things they wanted to persue, and he was all like "do both, who says you've only got time to one thing?" Etc or words to that effect.

I struggle sticking with one idea or project myself and really need to figure out a way to do it.

I agree with that. I feel that if you're doing too much at once, you'll get overwhelmed, get demoralized, and not do any work in general. I've been up and down with this and it took a while to realize that. Unless you have a bunch of help or management system in place, you're setting yourself up for failure.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

sonny_1080

Creating a tool I want to use.
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
164%
Oct 30, 2019
496
815
Los Angeles
I watched an episode of tea with Gary V on YouTube the other week, and he seems to be preaching the opposite.

There were a few people who had 2 or more things they wanted to persue, and he was all like "do both, who says you've only got time to one thing?" Etc or words to that effect.

I struggle sticking with one idea or project myself and really need to figure out a way to do it.

Same.

I don't think it's a matter of sacrificing one thing for another.

I think it's a matter of prioritizing one thing over the other.

In the example above, if you do want to start a YouTube channel, it would be better to go all in on it and spend 3-6 months completely focused on it and produce your best work instead of giving it your divided attention.

Once that belief is installed, you only need to convince yourself that all these other things you want to do will be eventually possible in the long run, but only if you focus on perfecting that first big hit which can detach your income from time and earn you your freedom. After that, you can focus on whatever comes next and produce your best work there as well.

Once you realize that all you need to achieve everything you want in life is the foresight that you can, it just becomes a matter of being patient and focusing on the right things at the right time. In the fastlane world, the “lifetimes” in the comic above can easily be compressed. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results.

For example, within 2.5 months of being completely immersed in learning a new skill completely foreign to me, it's now generating revenue.

I could start a new project and split my attention between the two... but I'll probably achieve better results if I focus completely on the first for the next 3-6 months and get it exactly where I want it to be and then completely immerse myself in the next project with my attention undivided.
 

DomesticDrifter

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
80%
Jun 4, 2020
5
4
Ventura, CA
Unbelievable timing here! I too have been trying to focus on too many things. Construction business, buying laundromats, internet startup, then add in family and personal stuff. I need to cut the noise and focus on my construction business for now. Thank you for taking the many hours to put this together.
 

redshift

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
345%
Sep 4, 2018
192
662
I watched an episode of tea with Gary V on YouTube the other week, and he seems to be preaching the opposite.

There were a few people who had 2 or more things they wanted to persue, and he was all like "do both, who says you've only got time to one thing?" Etc or words to that effect.

I struggle sticking with one idea or project myself and really need to figure out a way to do it.

The key thing to note is doing things *excellently* requires singular focus. If you want to achieve average results, you can do as many things as you want at once. The more the better.

I haven’t seen the Gary Vee video you are talking about but if you read his book “crush it”, he mentions how he first spent years building up his family wine business into a multi million dollar endeavour and then transitioned full time to his ad agency and built that up to what it is now. That seems to me like he was pretty laser focused on that one thing. Maybe a bit of paradox of practice going on in what he is saying now ?

The other thing here is setting yourself up. Once you get that *big hit* like GV did, you can hire a bunch of people to do *excellent* work for you and spend your time managing them instead. MJ puts this pretty well in TMF in “Chose monogamy over polygamy”. Here is an excerpt but I recommend reading the whole chapter:

33722
IMG_2510.jpg

You can adjust the scale and time of all of this based on your goals, but you will always end up better off going all in on something and finishing it before moving on to the next thing.

If you do still have doubts, try starting two or more projects at once. You’ll soon find that you aren’t able to give both of them your complete attention, which will lead to frustration and/or mediocre results, or maybe in the beginning you’ll manage fine and feel great when things are small and exciting, but once they start picking up steam or growing exponentially, you might find yourself longing for the times when you only had one thing to focus on. That's how it went for me at least.
 
Last edited:

BlackMagician

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
236%
Jul 18, 2018
560
1,322
Mumbai, India
Thanks for the post!
I have some questions for you and MJ.

. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results.

I have been focusing on FB Ads last 4-5 months and have gotten decent progress. You can read my progress thread latest update for better clarity.
Since 2 days, i have been thinging to start looking for Fastlane business opportunities. I have been doing research in Hair related products and finding the market need. After saying that, i have been thinking to start doing initial market research, Market needs, solution-finding and market echo.

But after reading this, i am stump. Am i dividing my focus? am i doing right?

The singular focus can lead to many great opportunities, things that could allow you to have a multi-disciplinary focus later on.

Your thoughts on the above question, please?
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,076
169,471
Utah

redshift

Silver Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
345%
Sep 4, 2018
192
662
Do what will bring you closer to your goals, what you've highlighted in your 1/5/10 plan.

Great point. The 1/5/10 strategy is great tool in mapping out your future timelines and helping you staying on track in achieving them.

I've added the video here in case someone reading this hasn't seen it yet:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKt59HIl8Ok


Side Note: I wrote mine on paper when the video came out (in feb) and totally forgot about it till now. Its only been a few months but I can already see myself moving in the direction of what I had written down for my longer term goals. This involved letting go of some action fakes I had picked up without realizing it. Seems like my brain created a subconscious map/compass out of the plan I had written and is helping me steer in that direction now.
 

ianzkie

New Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
67%
Oct 19, 2020
3
2
Finally got around to listening to the fastlane INSIDERS podcast hosted by @Vigilante featuring @MJ DeMarco & @AllenCrawley from May 28th. The episode itself was gold and I highly recommend checking out the recording (available on the inside) if you haven't already.

The one thing which stuck with me the most was a question asked to MJ about how to focus on multiple projects at the same time, MJ's answer was that he is singular minded in focus and if you wanted to know how to do two things at once *excellently*, then he doesn’t have an answer.

This detail is something I had lost sight of since starting my fastlane journey, but I’ve realized now it’s one of the most important concepts to keep in mind at a higher level as you travel through the desert and build your first (or next) product. Once your fastlane RAS is activated, your brain will be able to come up with new ideas at will, some which will give you instant gratification but not produce meaningful, life altering results in the long run. Others, will be worth pursuing, but will derail you from your original focus. The best way to achieve excellent results and actually make a strong impact in any field, is to maintain focus on one thing and stick through with it until you are either satisfied with the results or the market says otherwise.

Lets say you are building an app, this would mean staying focused on it until you’ve reached a point where you receive market echoes before even thinking about another project such as a second app, or a game or a course or a book. Even if this other project is a *small* endeavor like starting a You Tube channel on the side, or setting up an instagram business, or a blog (unless these are related to the original business in question), because even spending an hour or two per day on those things will be enough of a distraction to shift your focus and take you out of the head space required to perfect your main goal. Instead of thinking about the execution and finer details of your app during gaps in the day or in the shower or wherever you think best, you will be thinking about which YouTube video or blog post to work on next and how to structure and edit those videos, or what you could have improved in your last blog post instead. This adds up and is enough to get you off track from your main focus for days, weeks and sometimes even months, and will lead to frustration and mediocre results in all areas. In the example above, if you do want to start a YouTube channel, it would be better to go all in on it and spend 3-6 months completely focused on it and produce your best work instead of giving it your divided attention. In other words, if you want to hit a home-run, go out and swing for the fences instead of practising base hits.

The reason the fastlane is so powerful, is not because it shifts your mind from consumer to producer, or introduces you to the cents framework, all those are important parts of the process, but for me the main power comes from the fact that it awakens the belief that this road is a real and tangible possibility which YOU can achieve in a relatively short amount of time. Once that belief is installed, you only need to convince yourself that all these other things you want to do will be eventually possible in the long run, but only if you focus on perfecting that first big hit which can detach your income from time and earn you your freedom. After that, you can focus on whatever comes next and produce your best work there as well.

When I was in college I came across this comic strip on the Internet which illustrates this concept pretty well. Back then, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, but it sounded more like a pipe dream to me (source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - 2012-09-02)


Once you realize that all you need to achieve everything you want in life is the foresight that you can, it just becomes a matter of being patient and focusing on the right things at the right time. In the fastlane world, the “lifetimes” in the comic above can easily be compressed. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results.

Deep thought when applied to creative endeavours has a compounding effect and your brain will be able to achieve astounding results if you immerse yourself completely into something over a matter of days, weeks, months without breaking your focus. I’ve noticed this time and time again on any big project I’ve started. Anytime I get distracted by adding some shiny new things into my routine, or start splitting my focus, results in every area start to go down and frustration creeps in. This applies to other areas as well, such as the type of books you read or which *insanely huge* thread(s) you are currently reading on the forum.

I recently heard a story with a similar theme called “Buridan’s a$$” from an interview with Tim Ferris and Derek Sivers, which went something like this [paraphrased]:



Of course, the same principles apply to me writing this post as well. The ideas here have been juggling around in my brain since yesterday, and it took me a few hours to put it together. Some people might find this useful, or have something to add (please do!). I might get a few likes or reactions, heck it might even be marked as notable, or I might have to explain something better, or defend my arguments, or it might just get totally ignored or make the landfill. All these scenarios would take up time and energy which could have otherwise been going towards my main focus instead. I like to think of this as the opportunity cost of distraction, which, over time, definitely adds up.
Finally got around to listening to the fastlane INSIDERS podcast hosted by @Vigilante featuring @MJ DeMarco & @AllenCrawley from May 28th. The episode itself was gold and I highly recommend checking out the recording (available on the inside) if you haven't already.

The one thing which stuck with me the most was a question asked to MJ about how to focus on multiple projects at the same time, MJ's answer was that he is singular minded in focus and if you wanted to know how to do two things at once *excellently*, then he doesn’t have an answer.

This detail is something I had lost sight of since starting my fastlane journey, but I’ve realized now it’s one of the most important concepts to keep in mind at a higher level as you travel through the desert and build your first (or next) product. Once your fastlane RAS is activated, your brain will be able to come up with new ideas at will, some which will give you instant gratification but not produce meaningful, life altering results in the long run. Others, will be worth pursuing, but will derail you from your original focus. The best way to achieve excellent results and actually make a strong impact in any field, is to maintain focus on one thing and stick through with it until you are either satisfied with the results or the market says otherwise.

Lets say you are building an app, this would mean staying focused on it until you’ve reached a point where you receive market echoes before even thinking about another project such as a second app, or a game or a course or a book. Even if this other project is a *small* endeavor like starting a You Tube channel on the side, or setting up an instagram business, or a blog (unless these are related to the original business in question), because even spending an hour or two per day on those things will be enough of a distraction to shift your focus and take you out of the head space required to perfect your main goal. Instead of thinking about the execution and finer details of your app during gaps in the day or in the shower or wherever you think best, you will be thinking about which YouTube video or blog post to work on next and how to structure and edit those videos, or what you could have improved in your last blog post instead. This adds up and is enough to get you off track from your main focus for days, weeks and sometimes even months, and will lead to frustration and mediocre results in all areas. In the example above, if you do want to start a YouTube channel, it would be better to go all in on it and spend 3-6 months completely focused on it and produce your best work instead of giving it your divided attention. In other words, if you want to hit a home-run, go out and swing for the fences instead of practising base hits.

The reason the fastlane is so powerful, is not because it shifts your mind from consumer to producer, or introduces you to the cents framework, all those are important parts of the process, but for me the main power comes from the fact that it awakens the belief that this road is a real and tangible possibility which YOU can achieve in a relatively short amount of time. Once that belief is installed, you only need to convince yourself that all these other things you want to do will be eventually possible in the long run, but only if you focus on perfecting that first big hit which can detach your income from time and earn you your freedom. After that, you can focus on whatever comes next and produce your best work there as well.

When I was in college I came across this comic strip on the Internet which illustrates this concept pretty well. Back then, I thought it was a pretty cool idea, but it sounded more like a pipe dream to me (source: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - 2012-09-02)


Once you realize that all you need to achieve everything you want in life is the foresight that you can, it just becomes a matter of being patient and focusing on the right things at the right time. In the fastlane world, the “lifetimes” in the comic above can easily be compressed. You might only need 3.5 years, or 1 year, or 6 months of intense focus before mastering a domain and moving on to the next thing. But during that time, by immersing yourself in that one area and maintaining focus, you will be able to achieve 10x the results.

Deep thought when applied to creative endeavours has a compounding effect and your brain will be able to achieve astounding results if you immerse yourself completely into something over a matter of days, weeks, months without breaking your focus. I’ve noticed this time and time again on any big project I’ve started. Anytime I get distracted by adding some shiny new things into my routine, or start splitting my focus, results in every area start to go down and frustration creeps in. This applies to other areas as well, such as the type of books you read or which *insanely huge* thread(s) you are currently reading on the forum.

I recently heard a story with a similar theme called “Buridan’s a$$” from an interview with Tim Ferris and Derek Sivers, which went something like this [paraphrased]:



Of course, the same principles apply to me writing this post as well. The ideas here have been juggling around in my brain since yesterday, and it took me a few hours to put it together. Some people might find this useful, or have something to add (please do!). I might get a few likes or reactions, heck it might even be marked as notable, or I might have to explain something better, or defend my arguments, or it might just get totally ignored or make the landfill. All these scenarios would take up time and energy which could have otherwise been going towards my main focus instead. I like to think of this as the opportunity cost of distraction, which, over time, definitely adds up.
extremely helpful.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top