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Developing Focus, and How to Put the First Things First

Developing Focus, and How to Put the First Things First

Time is your most important scarce resource.  Does anyone have enough time in this information overload age?  Gadgets are blasting us—tempting us with “news” stories that we all too often chase down with regret.  TVs give too many options, yet people still lament there is nothing to watch.  T.S. Eliot had it right decades ago when he wrote, “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?  Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”.  People have way too much information and way too little of what they really need—wisdom, and the focus to implement it.  There is urgency all around in a world that needs importance. 

Empty Pride

Empty Pride

There are numerous examples in the Bible about pride and its consequences in the lives of leaders and followers. And, having worked over the years with hundreds of leaders, and having interviewed over 5,000 of them, I have seen so many leaders like those in the Bible. I have witnessed their disgrace, as written in Proverbs 11: 2 (ESV); “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble wisdom.” In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Pride leads to every other vice; it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” And pride prevents you from serving God.

The Focused CEO

The Focused CEO

A revolution in what previously had been a largely organized and focused life was to take the 4 Disciplines of Execution Seriously. It played out in two ways:

  1. Enterprise. Business planning and strategy has 1-2 action steps tied to annual strategies in any quarter. Never more. And, no person has ownership for more than two such actions. It is ok for them to have just one.

  2. Personally. Each day I list 1-2 key items that are the musts for me to accomplish.