It was Day 2 of the High-Performing Entrepreneur Reboot challenge I’m running.
Someone shared an insight:
“I looked at all the goals for our company and realized I had to put some down because it’ll take too much from other goals, and I’m not sure it’ll be worth it. So maybe this goal is for later.”
One of the things that I really wanted participants to take away from this challenge, the thing that makes more people fail than the hardest challenge ever could - diluted focus.
Not discipline.
Not motivation.
Not willpower.
Diluted focus.
We start yet another year with noise in our heads🤯
Feeling late.
Feeling behind.
Feeling like if we don’t start everything now, we’ll miss our chance, again.
And that’s exactly why we fail at most of the things we start.
Because we want to have it all now.
Because we want to start it all now.
Because step-by-step feels too slow, too boring, too unimpressive.
Someone wiser than me once said:
“You can have it all. Just not at the same time.”
The most fundamental truth of any real achievement is simple:
To get it, you must keep going.
And to keep going, you need to do what you’re capable of now, while slowly building the capacity to do more.
Sprint into a marathon as a newbie and you might beat the elite runner… for a moment.
But not for long.
Guess who wins in the end?
The one who didn’t go all-in at the start.
At the beginning of this year, instead of listing 50 goals, I asked myself a different question:
What do I really want to create that would make this year meaningful?
Not:
-
run races
-
write a book
-
make a million bucks
But this:
-
build a business that grows sustainably and consistently, and that I’m proud of
-
bring my parents to a warm place for winter
-
finish a meaningful coaching certification with people I deeply admire
Small list.
Clear list.
Focused list.
And if I do that, I'd have the happiness, and the foundation for everything that comes next.
A quick spoiler: I just won a scholarship for a Self-Actualization Coach certification, accredited by ICF and all, from the Center for Human Potential, led by scientists I genuinely admire.
I’m also on Day 3 of my first group challenge, part of my plan to get great at working with people at scale, and grow my business.
And it’s only January 7.
Last night, lying in bed, I had a quiet, uncomfortable insight:
“Angela, the only reason you’re not further ahead…
is that you never truly focused, with clarity, on any ONE thing.”
Maybe this is the year I finally do.
Over to you, dear reader,
Where could you use less ambition, and more focus, so you finally give yourself a fair chance to win the prize you actually care about?
