18. From Scaling The Gunks to Scaling Your Business
The Gunks - short for (Shawangunks) is one of America’s premier climbing areas. Junior year, as an exchange cadet to West Point, I joined the rock-climbing club.
For someone who is afraid of heights, it was an interesting choice to fulfill my intramural requirement.
It is hard to describe, but the Focus required to rock climb is unlike anything I’ve experienced.
Maybe it was fear, but I clung to the rock at every practice intensely searching for the next hold. I wasn’t thinking about dinner or reviewing the day – it was pure Focus.
The team culminated our semester with a trip to The Gunks, and I recently found this picture from 20+ years ago. If you look closely, you can see a bird’s eye view of my black beanie half-way up the cliff.
The view from the top was breathtaking. Fall colors painted the landscape, and I surged with adrenaline.
Rock climbing was a formative lesson on the power of Focus. Whether you are scaling The Gunks or scaling a business – Focus is critical.
In climbing, it’s finding the next hold. In business, it’s identifying, prioritizing, and sequencing priorities – and then following through.
But Daily Distractions are a constant culprit. They thwart everything from your afternoon workout to staying focused on your strategy and 90-day action plan.
Zoom, email, text, Signal, LinkedIn, Teams – sometimes my brain just wants to explode.
One stat shows the average human attention span is just 8.25 seconds.
That’s less than a goldfish (9 seconds). How they measured that, I’m not sure.
Just like a computer with 23 tabs open slows down, we’re not that different.
The good news is there are 4 strategies to sharpen your focus -
Minimize Multi-tasking – Do one thing at a time. Research shows multi-tasking does more harm than good, interferes with working memory, and leads to heighted anxiety.
Turn-off Tech – Unless you’re a first responder (or on call for sick kid pick up), most things can wait. Commit 30 minutes or more to finishing your task. Close email and social media. Turn off notifications, use only necessary tech, and get it done.
Nurture Nature – When your brain can’t take any more screen time, get outside. Spending time in nature can act as balm for our busy brains.
Grow Gratitude – Gratitude changes you and your brain. It helps us refocus on the positive and creates space to focus on what truly matters.
So, what does it look like for your business?
How do you maintain focus, and take breaks, each day?
Which strategy is the hardest to implement?
What is one thing you can do today to drive greater clarity?
I help small technology and professional services businesses scale and grow.
This means leaders work ON the business instead of IN the business. Whether it's a 10-year vision, 3-year strategy, or 90-day action plan - we partner to achieve your goals.
If you want to break through to the next level in your business, drop me a message, and we'll arrange a 15-min call to see if I can help.
To your success,
~Susan
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