What are your priorities for the coming new year? Will there be a shift? What about your energy: will you need to refocus for 2021?
Priorities, energy, and focus have been a frequent topic of conversation this year. More than a few have shared a greater understanding of how crucial concentration is and the role it plays in their life. While most of the great leaders I work with can take pride in their ability to multi-task under stress, this year has really tested abilities.
Let me ask:
- Can you easily shift your attention from one priority to another?
- Are you consistently and consciously choosing (and judging) what is deserving of your attention?
- How do you ignore impertinent distractions?
Why We Need to Refocus
Consider this: 80% of our results stems from only 20% of our efforts, according to Joseph M. Juran. In the context of our productivity and efficiency, this means that only about 20% of our activities actually provide the results we are looking for, professionally and personally.
To devote more time and energy to our most important activities—the people, vision, or mission that give our life purpose—we need to be able to recognize and say “no” to the people, places, and things that distract us from achieving our goals. This isn’t always easy, especially when we really like our distractions, or worse, our distractions become bad habits.
Fortunately, we’ve come to a new level of understanding about the challenges of focus and concentration, and we’re learning and practicing new techniques to improve it. I’ll dive in to this in my next post. In the meantime, what do you think?
What will be your priorities in the new year? How will you refocus for 2021? I’d love to hear from you. You can reach me here, on LinkedIn, or give me a call: 561-582-6060.
