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I hope you are doing amazing. I am finally getting back to recording podcasts after a crazy, crazy couple of weeks. Many of you saw I went to Funnel Hacking Live in Nashville, right at the end of January, and then the very next week, don’t ask me what I was thinking, I decided to do the Funnel Gorgeous retreat.
So it was 2 weeks back to back, so 2 weeks away from my desk, away from work, with amazing people doing amazing things.
And now I’m back, and we are less than a month away from our next event. Oh my gosh, the Marketer’s Heart event in New York City. So to say it’s been crazy is a wild understatement.
Anyway, one thing I wanted to talk to you guys today about is focus. And I think it’s coming front and center with me for a number of reasons. The first reason is that I am coaching a lot of people right now, so I have this really unique vantage point where I can see what’s going on with people, and I can identify these patterns. I see the patterns because there’s so many people, I’ve got statistical significance in my data.
So a couple of days ago I wrote a post about the number one skill that you need in business, like more than anything else, is focus. And here’s why: Everything that you want to start in business, requires focus. Everything that you want to finish demands focus. Everything you dream about is fueled by your focused attention, even the very active dreaming requires focus.
Most mistakes, not all, but most of the mistakes that you’re going to make in business are caused because you haven’t valued focused attention. No other skill is going to compensate for a lack of focus. It’s very hard to compensate when someone has no focus or a lack of focus. And the majority of the problems in your business are solved by deploying it, by using focus.
So why did I come up with this? I came up with it because I’m currently in the middle of coaching the first round of Launch Gorgeous people. Now Launch Gorgeous is a group coaching program, and it is designed to help you launch your next offer. So there’s three different types of launches that you could, there’s three different tracks.
There’s the power launch, there’s the pressure launch, and then there’s the premium launch. And they’re all fairly similar, but have some key differences. So you have to choose which one you’re going to do and then once you’ve chosen it, you take that information and then you execute. So there’s a lot about this program that is, you know, there’s a lot of content but there’s also a lot of execution. And it is crazy to me how much focus or lack there of, is causing so much pain and suffering for people.
So it’s interesting because every week, or every phase we have an accountability thread which is really like, “talk to me. How are you doing?” and I see so many people who start their comments with, “I’m stuck on blank” it could be anything. It could be a tech issue, it could be a copy or a strategy issue, it could be a time issue. Whatever it is, they start with, “I’m stuck on blank” and what follows, usually in the comment, is all kinds of reasoning, thoughts, ideas that have nothing to do with the problem that they’re experiencing.
So you have this sort of mangled up, tangled up ball of stress, and if you would just focus your attention on what your problem actually is and identify the solution, you would get unstuck much faster. So this is a perfect example. She says, “I’m stuck, I’m doing, I’m trying to build my list for my launch and I’m trying to put something free out there, but I don’t want to put something that’s lousy out there.” So that’s how she starts.
Is that an actual business problem? Yeah, you don’t want to put lousy stuff out there. Do people put lousy stuff out there all the time?” Yeah. Is it a fair assessment to say that the people who’s stuff is lousy is usually the people who aren’t worried about it being lousy? Yes. If you’re worrying about it being lousy, is that probably a strong sign that you care? Yes. Do caring people typically put out better stuff? Yes.
So is she actually worried about something legitimate, or is she struggling with imposter syndrome? Because that’s what it sounds like. So we identify what is the actual problem. Is it that you don’t have the time or you’re just hung up on perfectionism?
Okay, so the focus around what the problem is and identifying what is actually going on is so critical to being able to actually focusing on the solution. But what ends up happening is she continues to go on, she says, “You know, I can’t get anything out there, it’s a busy season. I’ve got sick kids.” And then she says, “Well, maybe if there was just a done for you program where we don’t really have to do too much. I’m sure cost won’t be a problem.”
And this is an example of where she identifies that the solution to her problem, which is, “I’m stuck on my lead magnet.” Is “I just need someone to do it for me.” And that sometimes is a solution, but it’s not a solution to the problem she actually has. Her focus is on that she just wants somebody else to do it. But her focus should really be on, “Why am I stuck?” because what she’s actually stuck on is imposter syndrome.
So then she continued to go on, she’s like, “This is not my zone of genius. I want to outsource, I have to learn everything, and I’m worried about spelling errors, and I’ve seen so many bad sales pages and then people don’t buy the product because it doesn’t make sense.” And the lack of focus just pulls her out of actual problem and now she’s in the mangled up, tangled up issue.
If she had stayed focus on what the problem actually was, she’d be able to find the solution faster and move through the problem. So that’s the first thing that I saw that sort of triggered it. The second thing, is in Launch Gorgeous we actually take you step by step, there’s a calendar and it’s all very much like, this is exactly what you do when you do it. You know what I mean? It’s very, very set in stone, there’s not need to charge ahead.
And I can’t tell you how many people get hung up and not do the thing they’re supposed to do, because they’re worrying about the thing they’re not supposed to worry about yet. This happens constantly, you know, we’ll get questions like, “Well, so when my customers ask for a refund, what do I say? Or what should my refund policy be?” and I’m like, “Where on God’s green earth is there anything talking about a refund policy in phase one?”
So often times our focus gets derailed, and what is the enemy of focus, and this is what I’ve been watching because there are 150, I believe, 150-160 people in the Launch Gorgeous program right now. So it’s a good size group to be able to see these patterns just playing themselves out over and over and over again.
So the most important thing that I can say is that the enemy of focus is anxiety and worry. So wherever you see anxiety and worry, it’s usually focus, like scattered focus on all the wrong things. Rather than having a laser on what the problem in front of you is and how to solve that problem, anxiety will split your focus. Imagine splitting a ray of light into a million different beams and try to shine light on every other possible problem issue. And anxiety and stress actually have almost a magnetic quality where once you worry about one thing, you worry about everything.
And I’ve watched this pattern happen in my life where something happens that causes me anxiety and now all the sudden everything causes me anxiety. And that is very, very common in business. When you hit a problem it is so important to keep your focus on the reason for the problem, to find the solution. And not let all of that other over thinking anxiety, because your anxiety will convince you that you have a million problems and it will do that with 100% accuracy, 100% of the time.
So knowing this, I just thought that today’s episode would just be like a reminder that focus is the number one skill that you can exercise to really help your business grow. So I’m talking about focus at a pretty high level. I have a couple of blog posts and actually an earlier podcast episode about focus, this is more about the art of refocus. Because people say to me, “Well, how do I actually get better at focus?” and one of the things that I tell people is it’s not so much about having better concentration, as much as it is being able to recognize when your concentration gets interrupted and moving it back to what it should be focused on.
So it’s actually the muscle of moving your focus back, refocus, that actually helps you become better at focus. So it’s, I think it’s episode 30 – Why Focus Isn’t Your Problem. Because people are like, “I need to have more concentration.” I’m like, no, what you need to do is learn how to refocus your attention, because your attention will always, if you’re waiting for a distraction free environment, good luck.
So that’s kind of what my call to action here today is. To make sure, to go listen to episode 30, which is Why Focus Isn’t Your Problem. Aslo, if you guys are wanting to be in a business growth environment where your focus is going to be strengthened, where you have not just a course but a coaching program that really helps you stay focused, and helps you observe when you’re not being focused and call you back to yourself, Launch Gorgeous is coming out March 9th, you can get on the next round. This is for anyone who wants to launch a product or offer in the late spring. So I would definitely go to launchgorgeous.com and get on the wait list. I appreciate you guys, talk to you soon.
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