Focus
I’m a big math and science nerd, and as a kid I recall reading a children’s book about lasers. I recall there was one line that said something like – a 5W light bulb would hardly provide enough light to read the book, but a 5W laser would be enough to burn a hole through the book. Why? The laser is focused light energy, not diffuse like a light bulb.
Good antenna engineers are also familiar with this principle of energy focus. A properly designed antenna will focus its main beam in the direction where it is desired to direct the signal, rather than letting it spread out as if from a point source, diffuse in all directions (unless your intention is to broadcast in all directions, as in radio or television programming). Sun Tzu writes in The Art of War that if one tries to be strong everywhere, one will be weak everywhere.
The US Marine Corps book Warfighting discusses focusing a main effort to achieve objectives. It also discusses attacking enemy centers of gravity and critical vulnerabilities. Focus efforts where they matter most and can yield the most benefit – in the Marines’ case, focus efforts where they will most likely help win battles and wars.
Focus, directed energy and effort – that is how greatness can be achieved. The Pareto Principle states that 80% of results comes from 20% of the efforts expended. If you would wish to succeed in your endeavors, learn to focus your effort, time, and energy on the critical 20%.
Simplify
Simplify your life, reduce or eliminate efforts and activity that is not important to moving yourself closer to your highest goals. An easy trap to fall into is trying to do too many things all at once. I have been known to fall into this trap myself.
For example, as a college student, I pursued a double major in both electrical engineering and foreign languages. If I had focused entirely on engineering, I could have been a much better engineer. If I had focused solely on studying languages (in my case specifically, Chinese and Japanese), I could have been a much better linguist. By trying to do both simultaneously, I don’t feel I ever achieved my full potential in either field. Sure, it’s nice to brag at parties about my academic background, but really, in terms of building a successful career, I would have been better of picking one field and focusing on it – like a laser beam.
Even today, I find at times I must revisit this lesson about focus and apply it in my own life. For example, about one year ago I decided to stop spending time studying Chinese so that I would have more time to focus on running my business. More recently, I have ceased efforts to get speaking engagements on both topics of student success as well as self-defense, in order to focus my efforts solely on getting speaking engagements about self-defense.
Pick the Right Targets
Learning to pick the right targets to focus on is an important skill to develop. Start first by considering your goals, then work backwards and select targets that will help move you closer to achieving your goals. In The Way of the SEAL, Mark Divine talks about using FITS to determine targets. Does the target fit your goals? Is it important? Is the timing correct? Is the goal simple?
Learn to focus your efforts like a laser, and burn through the difficulties and challenges of life rather than just illuminating them with diffuse effort that gets you nowhere fast.