"Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun's rays do not burn until brought to a focus."
Alexander Graham Bell
Eliminate Fuzzy Thinking Forever
By Rich Schefren
Lacking confidence...
Feeling unsure about what you should do next...
Jumping from one marketing strategy to another...
Being unclear about when you'll reach your business goals...
All of these issues (and many more) can be traced back to one of the biggest challenges struggling entrepreneurs face: a lack of focus.
I call it fuzzy thinking.
Fuzzy Thinking Stems From Neglecting to Acquire Critical Information
Too many entrepreneurs are missing critical information. Not having this information inflicts incredible damage on their chances of success. Because it keeps the path to achieving their dreams out of focus, fuzzy.
And you can't follow a fuzzy path. So they bounce around, get confused, become overwhelmed and attempt to copy what other people are doing... But the path that'll lead them to success still remains out of focus.
What's worse is that most entrepreneurs are not only unaware that this information is absolutely essential... they don't realize it's missing. So they never track it down.
In order to go from fuzzy thinking to focused thinking, you need to know the answers to three questions...
1. What, exactly, do you want?
2. What's the absolute minimum necessary to have it?
3. What's the fastest and easiest way to get it?
Think about it for a moment...
If you knew exactly what you wanted, the minimum necessary to have it, and the exact steps that would get it for you in the fastest and easiest way possible... wouldn't you ALREADY HAVE IT?
Now don't be fooled by the simplicity of this solution. Answering these questions - especially question three - requires some heavy-duty thinking. Nobody can give you the answers. Which is why most entrepreneurs never follow the fastest and easiest path to success: They don't realize they have to develop it themselves.When you shift your thinking from fuzzy to focused, you'll know the specific steps you must take to dramatically reduce your efforts, reach your goals faster, and make a lot more money than you do now.
So let's take a closer look at those three questions right now...
1. What, Exactly, Do You Want?
How do you define the business success you're seeking?
I rarely meet an entrepreneur who's got a well-thought-out answer to this question. Sure, you want money and freedom. Who doesn't? But what, exactly, do you want your business to do for you, your team, and your customers? And what does that look like? How can it be objectively measured?
If you're unclear about what you're striving for, you pay the price for your fuzziness daily. Why? Because unclear objectives make it impossible for you to know which actions will produce the best results. You can't distinguish between the essential and the non-essential. You can't distinguish between worthless and worthwhile tasks. Without clarity, your day becomes a series of haphazard attempts to deal with symptoms often mistaken for real problems. Symptoms like anemic website traffic, unfinished projects, low conversion rates, etc.
As a result, you're wasting a massive amount of time.
Worse, your chances of success are slim to none.
2. What's the Minimum Necessary to Have It?
Once you're absolutely clear about what success in business means to you, you have to be just as clear about what you must do to achieve it.
Because guess what? If you're not sure of what is necessary... you're also not sure of what's NOT necessary.
For example, how many ways do you need to have in order to get new customers? There are so many options that you can't possibly employ them all. So you have to concentrate only on those that are absolutely necessary for you to achieve the business success you desire.
How about converting prospects into customers? Of all the strategies and tactics possible, which ones are vital for you to be victorious in your business-building quest?
How many products do you need? One? Ten? A hundred? How much do you have to sell them for?
If you don't know what is absolutely essential to your success, you're going to wind up going in a million different directions at every turn. And that's one of the main causes of business failure.
To have the business of your dreams, you need to make many decisions. Decisions that require you to: (1) have a general knowledge of what's required, and (2) be familiar enough with your options to choose a few amongst the many alternatives.
3. What's the Fastest and Easiest Way to Get It?
Maybe you've already got a clear business goal and you know the minimum necessary to get it. If that's the case, you're almost certainly making progress. But you'd like it if success came faster. Who wouldn't?
There is almost always a shortcut to get from where you are to where you want to be.
What it requires is thinking. Not daydreaming. But real mental effort. The type that leaves you exhausted after doing it for an hour or so. And you can't even engage in this level of thinking until you first have your answers to exactly what you want and the minimum necessary to have it.
Think about how different your life would be if you were 100% confident that your answers to the above three questions were spot-on.
Most of the issues you're struggling with right now would disappear.
You'd know exactly what your #1 objective was at all times... You'd know the exact steps you needed to take to immediately move closer to achieving your business goals... And you'd never again struggle with a lack of motivation. Instead, you'd be stoked to get the very next task done... because you'd know exactly what it would do for you.
And all because of knowing: (1) what you want, (2) the minimum necessary to have it, and (3) the fastest and easiest way to get it.
That's how you replace fuzzy thinking with focused thinking.
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