This Simple Question Has Shaped My Daily Focus!

In my previous article, I discussed the three simple steps to train your focus skill. A friend reached out to me and asked how we can easily divide and conquer a goal.

I have tried many ways to be more productive. I have tried setting goals. I have tried making to-do lists. I have tried planning exactly when I would achieve each goal. I have tried planning how I would achieve each goal, with the little steps that need to be done in between.

I have tried all of these methods, and they don’t work for me. Sometimes they do work — sometimes when I use them, I get more done than when I don’t use them. So why am I not using them anymore? Because none of them works all the time for me, and none of them is a cure for my problem of getting distracted and having too much on my plate. When it comes down to it, my problem isn’t that there are too many things on my plate; it’s that there are too many things on my mind.

However, there is one consistently successful technique. And it is utterly simple. Are you ready for it?

If you are, take out your to-do list, go to each one of them and ask yourself:

For example:
- I want to do X — the first action is to call person A
- I want to go to Y — the first action is to get air tickets
- I want to make Z amount of money — the first action is to open an investment account at company B
- …

Once you can complete the single action that can move your goals forward, cross it and replace it with another single action that can move it further forward. This simple but powerful technique works because it makes you consciously think about the small steps. It works because your vague and ill-defined goals now start to have a clue. There aren’t many things on my mind anymore.

Big goals are exciting and require a sequence of steps. However, the first step is not obvious and often is the hardest. You don’t know how to get started on. By asking a simple question, you have an epiphany of what the first, second, and then the third step will be.

People often say they don’t have time to do things they care about. But anyone who has ever been lost in the woods knows that if you keep walking long enough, you will find your way out. In other words, if you start working on your goal today, one day soon you will be done. The problem is not lack of time; it is a lack of direction. By asking a simple question, you suddenly have a direction.

If you are concentrating on your overarching goal, it is easy to procrastinate. You just keep saying to yourself that there is plenty of time left. You can put it off until later. But if you focus on the first tiny step needed to achieve your goal, then you have something you can do right now. Then it is almost impossible to procrastinate.

You wouldn’t think this would be such a big secret, but many people have a hard time realizing it. They want to be able to visualize the whole project and tell themselves that when they have finished it will have been worth it. But this is a sure recipe for never getting started in the first place.

The people who make a big difference in the world usually don’t do it by accomplishing big goals. They do it by accomplishing small goals every day. You will accomplish big goals by taking one step at a time, over some time. You will be happy by seeing how much you gain from taking small steps. Trust me, and trust yourself!

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