‘Focus’ may be one of those ‘by-words’ that people just
take for granted that they understand. They believe they
are focused because they commit to sit down at their
computer and ‘do’ business for X number of hours. If you
really take stock though of what you are spending your time
on, you will find that much of it is actually wasting your
time and in fact you are not focused at all on what you need
to do; the worst part is if you foster that type of activity
you will start to spin your wheels.

Spinning wheels means you are not going anywhere. You are
not making any progress and you just start to sink like
quicksand in all the information. Then you may figure you
just can’t handle it or it just isn’t for you because you
just don’t understand it all. Spinning your wheels is
cousin to ‘information overload’ and ‘paralysis by
analysis’. It also has relationship to what may be called
‘the kid in the candy shop’ who wants one of those and two
of these and five of that. He will end up with a tummy ache
and if you are talking information as candy you will end up
with a headache. (candy being an analogy for biz opps, tools
and gimmicks addiction).

The number one reason we do this is because we are always
looking for that magic sauce. You will be the one that
discovers that amazing secret that people who are making it
know. Every day you will see a new, exciting email or ad
that promises you the moon – the ‘don’t leave home without
it’ thing that will carry you head and shoulders above the
rest. It is notable that while we are doing this, we are
ignoring the instructions we already have, not doing what
the experts we already trust are telling us what to do.

It is true there is just so much information coming at us
from all directions when we are first starting out.
Especially if we are looking at ‘free’, because this
usually means that in order to be able to afford to give
something away for free, businesses have to justify this by
at least having the privilege of trying to convince you to
buy something in the future.

Often times we ARE intending to be focused and we may for
example, attempt to get some information on ONE thing; and
yes you got the free eBook, but along with it you got 20
emails telling us about 5 more things that you can get. (and
off we go, out of focus again). So it is no wonder we get
lost and start to drown in information rather than to be
able to focus long enough to actually try to learn to use
something we need.

One way to FOCUS is make lists and commit to doing at least
one thing on the list. Then stick with it until you
thoroughly explore it as a possibility. Make a date –
Tuesday you will do the research and find whatever it is you
need and then Wednesday you will actually try to determine
the best idea and try to use it. Ignore everything else you
see until you do that one thing. Then move on to the next
thing.

It’s probably really a good idea to ignore most of your
email at this point – glance over only the email that is
from known senders (programs you are participating in or
products or services you already have, people you know).
(note the word ‘glance’ here – don’t get involved!) Your
email inbox looks like a war zone, right? So make folders
or labels for each program or product. Just shuffle the
emails into the appropriate folders. Someday when things
calm down and you have your direction, you can go back and
be sure you didn’t miss anything.