The last decade has been a gold rush of searching and gathering information on the Internet. Videos, news, personal information, and opinions are so prolific that the next decade will likely be more about filtering information than acquiring it.
Consider Google Alerts, Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Pinterest, Instagram and You Tube. These tools are all methods of consolidating massive amounts of information into tiny bites that can hold our attention. Suddenly what we don’t pay attention to has become more important than what we do pay attention to.
Do you ever find yourself buzzing around your office, working on this, strategizing that – busy yet overwhelmed? And does your personal life get squeezed: “So much to do and so little time!”
Focus consists of two things:
- Our ability to sort through many factors and identify those that are most critical.
- Bringing sustained pressure to bear – with laser-like quality – once you’ve identified those factors.
In sales, filtering is critical too. I’ve found that the best salespeople in the world listen so hard they know what NOT to say. They filter what they say, never wasting a word.
Our goal here at Levitin Group is to write out weekly goals and match them up to quarterly and yearly goals. Goal setting is critical so we can keep laser focus.
This week think hard about where your focus should be, and do your best to filter everything else out. In these information-rich times, we must place less value on how much we can remember… and more on those few things we must never forget.