How to wrestle with your inner two-year-old: keep your focus to attack your challenges

Accomplishment is a great adventurebolt experience. It feels good to
get some things done that have been kicking around for awhile at work
until good, focused time could be spent on them. The cool thing is
that when you purposely set aside the time to attack a project, even
the dreaded things can get done more quickly than expected because
you're focused.

It's easy to be distracted when you're not interested in completing
the task at hand, but if you block out everything else but what you
have to do, it goes much more easily. Set aside all distractions:
turn of the phone, the email notification, the radio, and go attack
whatever project needs to get done. Stare it down; it will wither and
fall under your persistent gaze.

I look at it as the equivalent of forcing your inner two-year old to
eat their vegetables; your ITYO (inner two-year old) doesn't like it,
but it's good for them, and makes them stronger for the next
challenge. Make them eat that spinach. Once it goes down, they'll feel
much better. And so will you.

Want to be successful? Here are three principles on being effective in any endeavor:

Effectiveness in any endeavor will typically involve oversight of three main areas:

accurate information, focus, and leverage.

Accurate information

In order for you to be effective in creating any desired result, you must first ensure that the information you are working off of is a) correct and b) as current as possible. This may involve further investigation on your part by talking with other participants, or doing research (either physically or online). Don't let your emotions get in the way at this point. Be sure your research is as objective as possible. Your ability to be effective is directly related to your ability to garner accurate information about the situation at hand. More accurate information = more effective; less accurate = less effective.

Focus

Once you have accurate information, you must focus and distill that information into a workable strategy. The information you have gathered should be inclusive enough to give insights into past conditions, the current condition, and potential future conditions. The focus required is to chart a path from the less desirable past or current condition to the more desirable potential future condition. This focus requires intentional thought and evaluation, but once defined, the focus needs to remain sharp on the plan of action. Continued laser-like focus on the plan is what creates the accountability needed to accomplish the plan. Greater focus = greater effectiveness.

Leverage

Any endeavor requires leverage of some sort to begin and also to keep it moving. Leverage must be provided by you or someone else, or many others. The key to simplicity in effectiveness is to distribute the leverage needed across as many people as possible, thereby lessening the load for any one individual. Some things can only be done by you; however, the larger the endeavor, the greater the possibility that many others will need to be involved. The greater the leverage = the higher the level of effectiveness.

Accomplishing any goal is a great achievement. By following the steps above, you greatly increase your ability to be effective in whatever you intend to do.

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