To Focus or Not To Focus

Since February is the Focus Month (dubbed by thee), I was doing some thinking about Focusing today.

Don't know about others, but I can focus on something to the total exclusion of all else. Trouble is, I will so completely "zone in" that I will also completely forget vital information. Like, I'll be so focused on writing an article, that I'll completely forget to upload my leads, or check my email. Or, in some cases, pick up my daughter from school.

Well, you get the idea.

I've been a runner most of my life. In fact, until a year ago last October, when an instep injury laid me off, I typically ran 8-10 miles a day. I didn't ALWAYS do this, mind you, but that's what I had been averaging in 2004.

And I had gotten to that point, strangely enough, NOT by focusing on running, but by letting it develop on its own. Oh, I went out every day. But, since I had a lot of other things on my plate at the time, I decided to simply do whatever I could and not worry about how far I was running and if I was progessing. You know, like I typically did. Before I knew it, "whatever I could" was 6 or 7 miles a day. (I was only advancing by 1/2 mile a week). In fact, the day I hurt my foot, it was because I had tried too hard for the first time that year. I did more than "whatever I could."

My point is, in life, as in running, focus can either be your best ally or your biggest obstacle. You can become SO focused that you try too hard and destroy your own efforts. Sometimes you make more progress by NOT focusing. Before 2004, I had TRIED so hard to run... and usually never got above 3-4 miles a day.

In marketing... I've been trying to set up a liveable schedule... because I've been working enormous hours, starting to feel almost as burnt out as I have in past jobs... and, for all my efforts, I'm hardly seeing anything in return. It was starting to feel very familiar. And not what I wanted at all.

And this morning I asked myself "why?" I realized part of my problem was that I had been focusing on the wrong things. So, just for today, and despite that fact that this is FOCUS month, I spent the morning deliberately un-focused, doing a little free-associative thinking, battting a few ideas around. I came up with a few good ones, too. At least, I think they're good. I'll let you know once I've tried them out. (Hopefully, in just a few days or so.)

But to answer the WHY question I just posed: because I'm falling into the same trap I lived in before. That is, always thinking more is better, always trying harder, always doing more. Gee, if one article a week increases my traffic, then I'll do two articles; if submitting those articles increases my traffic by 1000 hits, then submitting to 100 sites... well, you get the idea.

But I want to turn those stats around. I want to work less and earn more. So I started breaking down the elements of marketing... hmmm. As I said, I'll say more when I see if my ideas work. And I'll explain it all then. If things work out, I should have plenty of time.

Stay tuned...