A reader once sent me an email thanking
me for a column I had written on getting outside the box. She told me how she
had lost focus for a while, but had turned things around. She encouraged me to
write a column on staying focused.
The following day at
The Saint Paul Open, I saw Gary after he teed off the first hole and ran up to
him to say hi. I wanted to tell him what a great time I had the night before.
His steely eyes remained focused on the fairway ahead and he never broke
stride. “Harvey, please don’t talk to me. I must concentrate. I will see you
when I’m finished.”
I remember how devastated I felt, but I learned a valuable lesson on focus. Many years later, when he was world famous, my wife, Carol Ann, and I ran into Gary and his wife in South Africa. I reintroduced myself and reminded him of what happened on the golf course. Gary’s wife told me, “Don’t feel bad. He doesn’t even talk to me on the golf course.”
I remember how devastated I felt, but I learned a valuable lesson on focus. Many years later, when he was world famous, my wife, Carol Ann, and I ran into Gary and his wife in South Africa. I reintroduced myself and reminded him of what happened on the golf course. Gary’s wife told me, “Don’t feel bad. He doesn’t even talk to me on the golf course.”
That’s the focus that
it takes to do your best. If you have the ability to focus fully on the task at
hand, and shut out everything else, you can accomplish amazing things.
Arnold Palmer, another
golfing legend, recalled a tough lesson he learned about focus in Carol Mann’s
book The 19th Hole:
It was the final hole
of the 1961 Masters tournament, and I had a one-stroke lead and had just hit a
very satisfying tee shot. I felt I was in pretty good shape. As I approached my
ball, I saw an old friend standing at the edge of the gallery. He motioned me
over, stuck out his hand and said, “Congratulations.” I took his hand and shook
it, but as soon as I did, I knew I had lost my focus. On my next two shots, I
hit the ball into a sand trap, then put it over the edge of the green. I missed
a putt and lost the Masters. You don’t forget a mistake like that; you just
learn from it and become determined that you will never do that again. Trust
me, your friends will understand!
A response Babe Ruth
once gave to a reporter sticks in my mind: “How is it,” the Babe was asked,
“that you always come through in the clutch? How is it you can come up to bat
in the bottom of the 9th, in a key game with the score tied, with thousands of
fans screaming in the stadium, with millions listening on the radio, the entire
game on the line and deliver the game winning hit?” His answer, “I don’t know.
I just keep my eye on the ball.”
In other words: Focus.
How many times have
you heard an athlete talk about focus? It’s a topic I also hear about
frequently in business. The most common complaints?
Too many irons in the
fire. Too many projects spinning at one time. Too many interruptions. Too many
phone calls. Too many emails. Too many things to do. Too little time.
The late Peter
Drucker, management consultant and author, observed, “When you have 186
objectives nothing gets done. I always ask, ‘What’s the one thing you want to
do?’ In Mexico they call me Senor Una Cosa.” (Translation: Mister One Thing)
Decide what’s most
important. Make a list every day or every week and prioritize your activities.
Scale back the amount of time you spend on meetings; they can be the biggest
time-wasters of all. Learn to delegate, and make sure all members of your team
follow through on assigned tasks.
Set aside a specific
time of day to return phone calls and emails, and keep distractions to a
minimum. In other words, set rules about how others use your time. And if
you’re not the boss, work with your supervisor to make sure you agree on
priorities.
Stay focused as best
you can, and don’t let things happen to you—not when you can make things
happen.
Mackay’s Moral: The person
who is everywhere is nowhere.
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