Simple tactic to stay focused for Q1

[Andy Black]

<div class="bbWrapper">I read a great book over the Christmas holiday: &quot;Work Less. Make More.&quot; by James Shramko. (He has some excellent podcasts too.)<br /> <br /> One of my immediate take-aways from his book is to use &quot;buffers&quot;. 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&#039;ll look into it at the start of the next quarter.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ve had the tactical concept of weekly goals and cycles to move forward, and it&#039;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&#039;s in front of my nose. It&#039;s an immediate aha moment to shunt many of the items from my todo lists into Q2.<br /> <br /> Anyway, I highly recommend the book.<br /> <br /> Hope you all have a great weakend and a great New Years celebration.</div>

 

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[Genius01]

<div class="bbWrapper">Interesting.<br /> Definitely a great way to improve focus.<br /> I use something similar to control my distractions when browsing-<br /> Created a note in Evernote called &quot;For Later&quot; 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&#039;s tasks.<br /> <br /> The downside of it is that you may lose some opportunities that pop up and may not be able to wait till you&#039;re ready for it the next time or quarter. As MJ says in TMF, opportunity may come knocking when you&#039;re least prepared for it, and if you don&#039;t grab it by the neck at that time, if may move on to the next person and never come back.<br /> <br /> But then, if one&#039;s major issue is a surplus of ideas to pursue, it may be far better and more profitable to forgo the &quot;opportunities&quot;, and focus on making the most out of the one you have in hand.<br /> <br /> So all in all, I think its a great idea, most especially for those of us that suffer from &#039;Shiny Object Syndrome&#039;.</div>

 

[Andy Black]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 53136" data-quote="Genius01" data-source="post: 662226" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=662226" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-662226">Genius01 said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Interesting.<br /> Definitely a great way to improve focus.<br /> I use something similar to control my distractions when browsing-<br /> Created a note in Evernote called &quot;For Later&quot; 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&#039;s tasks.<br /> <br /> The downside of it is that you may lose some opportunities that pop up and may not be able to wait till you&#039;re ready for it the next time or quarter. As MJ says in TMF, opportunity may come knocking when you&#039;re least prepared for it, and if you don&#039;t grab it by the neck at that time, if may move on to the next person and never come back.<br /> <br /> But then, if one&#039;s major issue is a surplus of ideas to pursue, it may be far better and more profitable to forgo the &quot;opportunities&quot;, and focus on making the most out of the one you have in hand.<br /> <br /> So all in all, I think its a great idea, most especially for those of us that suffer from &#039;Shiny Object Syndrome&#039;. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>I think that when your ears are tuned to it then opportunity knocks so often it&#039;s a drumroll on your door.</div>

 

[Genius01]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 23590" data-quote="Andy Black" data-source="post: 662254" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=662254" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-662254">Andy Black said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I think that when your ears are tuned to it then opportunity knocks so often it&#039;s a drumroll on your door. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote>Lol, I guess so....so much so that you&#039;ve been forced to acquire giant earmuffs to reduce the din of opportunities banging at your door.<br /> That&#039;s an enviable problem to have. <img src="/community/imgs/emoticons/em-smile2.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-shortname=":)" /></div>

 

[Mattie]

<div class="bbWrapper">I&#039;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&#039;m looking for. I think some of it is how long you&#039;ve been on the Internet. I&#039;ve been on here since 2007, and really researched so much, I just get sick of going on websites now.</div>

 

[The Racing Driver]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 23590" data-quote="Andy Black" data-source="post: 662172" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=662172" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-662172">Andy Black said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> I read a great book over the Christmas holiday: &quot;Work Less. Make More.&quot; by James Shramko. (He has some excellent podcasts too.)<br /> <br /> One of my immediate take-aways from his book is to use &quot;buffers&quot;. 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&#039;ll look into it at the start of the next quarter.<br /> <br /> I&#039;ve had the tactical concept of weekly goals and cycles to move forward, and it&#039;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&#039;s in front of my nose. It&#039;s an immediate aha moment to shunt many of the items from my todo lists into Q2.<br /> <br /> Anyway, I highly recommend the book.<br /> <br /> Hope you all have a great weakend and a great New Years celebration. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Thanks for the book recommendation <a href="https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/members/23590/" class="username" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" data-user-id="23590" data-username="@Andy Black">@Andy Black</a>. 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 &#039;experiment&#039; doesn&#039;t work for the quarter. Tweak it or switch to another idea altogether.</div>

 

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[The Racing Driver]

<div class="bbWrapper"><blockquote data-attributes="member: 53136" data-quote="Genius01" data-source="post: 662226" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-title"> <a href="/community/goto/post?id=662226" class="bbCodeBlock-sourceJump" rel="nofollow" data-xf-click="attribution" data-content-selector="#post-662226">Genius01 said:</a> </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-content"> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandContent js-expandContent "> Interesting.<br /> Definitely a great way to improve focus.<br /> I use something similar to control my distractions when browsing-<br /> Created a note in Evernote called &quot;For Later&quot; 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&#039;s tasks.<br /> <br /> The downside of it is that you may lose some opportunities that pop up and may not be able to wait till you&#039;re ready for it the next time or quarter. As MJ says in TMF, opportunity may come knocking when you&#039;re least prepared for it, and if you don&#039;t grab it by the neck at that time, if may move on to the next person and never come back.<br /> <br /> But then, if one&#039;s major issue is a surplus of ideas to pursue, it may be far better and more profitable to forgo the &quot;opportunities&quot;, and focus on making the most out of the one you have in hand.<br /> <br /> So all in all, I think its a great idea, most especially for those of us that suffer from &#039;Shiny Object Syndrome&#039;. </div> <div class="bbCodeBlock-expandLink js-expandLink"><a role="button" tabindex="0">Click to expand...</a></div> </div> </blockquote><br /> Yes, there&#039;s no shortage of profitable opportunities. I think once you&#039;ve picked something, you&#039;ve just got to work at it and get some feedback first. Like sales, revenue, users, growth.... whatever you&#039;re after. <br /> <br /> I&#039;m guilty of chasing better ideas, and leaving a lot of projects unfinished. There&#039;s no payday half-done ideas I&#039;ve realised.</div>

 

[Andy Black]

<div class="bbWrapper">Appropriate given it’s Q1 again...</div>