Good focus and clear thinking are ingredients of success in business. Our focus determines our thinking, and our thinking determines our decisions. The greater our focus, the clearer is our thoughts, and the better our decisions. Why only business, focus is necessary for our everyday lives as well. The quality of our thinking determines the quality of our life. So it’s almost a black and white thing. If you can focus well, you succeed, and if you cannot, you fail.
In this era of digital revolution, we are bombarded with a hell lot of information; information from all sides and quarters of life overpowers our minds. No escape, technology is both a boon and curse. These days, we see a lot of young people of our generation becoming obsessed with technology. They, literally, cannot stop staring at the mobile screens and fiddling with its buttons. It may sound absurd, but this is also stopping us from focussing. Simply put, we hardly focus, and rarely think, nowadays.
But do you know, how important is focus to think clearly? Focus means the centre of our interest or activity. Focus is the state of producing clear visuals. So unless we know what is our centre, how do we visualize success? In business, decisions regarding men, money, meetings, products, etc. are activities that entrepreneurs need to engage themselves with. These are or should be the centre of interest. Our decisions determine success and its rate. Business decisions are not something to take in the blink of an eye. Many great businesses rose and fell, and many others got immortalized based on business decisions that entrepreneurs took.
So focus is extremely important to make good business decisions. Focus is necessary to eliminate information overload. It transforms negative thinking into positive action. There are various ways to practice focus. The yogic way, the Zumba way, etc. etc. There are different ways, tricks and games that help to focus. This article is not about how to focus. Maybe we shall try discussing it in our next articles. Today, we will simply talk about the importance of focus and thinking in business.
Let’s consider that our focus is on having the best workers for our factory. The number one rule for success in business is to cut the losses when you realize it. Bad investment, bad hire, bad relationship; cut these losses. The faster you cut your losses, the faster you grow. Now that you know that your focus is on people, people and people, it’s always necessary to think about the consequences. What consequences hiring or firing workers can have? If the consequences are big, it’s always better to take time to think. Hiring an important person for an important position can have tremendous potential consequences. It determines the future of your business, and not to mention, a great amount of salary too to the new employee. The issue is big as the focus is big, i.e. a better workforce. The longer you take to make the decision, the better the decision will be. Now take the opposite scenario. Suppose, you know your accountant is not being honest at his work. And you have to take the call. When it comes to firing, it’s been said that the best time to fire a person is the first time it crosses your mind. The longer they stay, the more it’s going to cost you. In this case, you need to think quick. You know what’s your focus, right. All that matter is the honesty in your business transactions. You just need a replacement. The consequences are small. Probably, you have to deal with a few days of bookkeeping issues till your new accountant is on the rolls. But it will spare you financial and mental suffering. Fast thinking is intuitive, automatic, and reactionary. Management experts say that fast (people) decisions are invariably wrong (people) decisions. But I believe, it’s not always so, especially when you focus well.
Now let’s say you want to expand your product or services line. What do you need to do? Where should your centre of activity revolve around? Is it that you need to do some research, innovate, or invest in technology to improve production. Anything else? Just think, take time, and see the pros and cons. Greater focus on each of these individual aspects helps you think clearly about the choice you need to make. When you focus you visualize the solution. If you find that your focus is technology, you automatically start thinking of ways to get the technology you require. With companies that use technology, especially knowledge-based, internet-based, etc., chances are your model is obsolete. Companies that profit is quick to change their business model. It does not mean that the model is wrong but one should be open to the possibility that the model is obsolete and sticking with it may result in bigger consequences. Competitors may eat away the market share. Keeping your focus area in mind helps to act in a timely manner. You have to make sure that you stay true to focus, something like laser focus, to materialise great things. Focus on what truly matters. Focus is the gateway to all the thinking. As you focus, you think and when you think, you foresee the consequences. And when the consequences are considered, you make wise decisions. Not to mention, wise decisions help create great businesses.