focus Archives - Mandy Schumaker

Watching Andy Murray recently win the 2013 Wimbledon Championship by beating Novak Djocovic in a grueling three set win was a really moving experience for me. Even though I’m not a huge tennis fan (I play, but don’t really follow the game) it was clearly a testimony to strength, skill and physical resistance from both players.

But there were several other things I learned from Andy Murray that day, and from some of the subsequent interviews, that I think are three great lessons for us entrepreneurs to take to heart.

Lesson #1-Visioning

In several of the interviews I saw with Murray after the match, he spoke about how early on he would dream about winning Wimbledon. He would see himself as the winner, feeling it, experiencing it, and being right there in Centre Court holding the trophy. As entrepreneurs, we need to be able to hold the vision of the pinnacle of our success in our mind’s eye every day. What does it look like, and feel like? What are you wearing? Who’s with you? Making a practice of really mentally putting yourself in the place you desire to be in your life and business can help pull you forward and achieve your goals.

Lesson #2 Staying Focused and Getting Back on Track

Watching Murray in the 2013 Wimbledon men’s finals was truly an example of one staying focused on the prize. As entrepreneurs, we often lose our focus, get pulled off our game, and get pulled off track. We fall for the “next bright, shiny, object syndrome”.

One of the keys to success is to retain your focus and when you lose it, and swiftly get back on track. The third set of this match was a grueling back and forth between the players, on the hottest day of the year with very high, intensive energy from the crowd and a lot at stake. Keeping focused and staying on track was one of the keys to Murray’s win over Djocovic.

Lesson #3 Never Give Up

Andy Murray’s career has certainly had its ups and downs and he’s worked incredibly hard to get to where he is today. The fact he never gave up even during some very trying times in his career is a lesson we can all learn from.

“The story of my career is that I had a lot of tough losses,” Murray said afterwards, “but the one thing I would say is that every year I always improved a little bit. They weren’t major improvements, or massive changes, but every year my ranking was going in the right direction.”

Moving forward, making improvements and not giving up. Many times, entrepreneurs get discouraged and give up when things start to get tough, or when they aren’t getting the success they want. When you get a chance take a look at Andy Murray’s career and you’ll see several times when he could have easily given up and walked away from tennis.

But on Sunday, July 7, 2013 it all paid off.

Mandy works with talented, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” right down below.

“At some point you start seeing the difference between what you really want, and what is your priority order. I feel that today I know what I want. That’s the problem with perspective, as well as focus and concentration.”

Nick Cave

Imagine. Coming into your office in the morning, sitting down at your desk, beginning to work on that big project that’s been hanging over your head. You spend three hours, and get at least 80% of it done. You take a little break, then come back to your office and work through all the things on your to-do-list for the day. You end your day feeling productive, accomplished and pleased with yourself.

Sound like your typical day? If you’re like most of us, probably not.

Keeping focus on our big goals and tasks is one of the most challenging things we face as small business owners. Because we have to do everything, marketing, bookkeeping, invoicing, networking, follow-up, oh and yeah-we have to service our clients as well, being able to focus on the big vision stuff that will really move us forward in our businesses, often takes a back seat to everything else.

Here are three tips that may help you get your focus back, and start on those bigger vision projects that will help you play bigger in your business.

1-Be Clear On “The What”
You need to be laser-focused on “the what”. Having a to-do list that is a mile long, is not going to help you get focused or frankly on getting anything done. I urge my clients to choose three priorities for the day-and ONLY THREE! It really is difficult to focus or accomplish much more than that. I find, choosing the three things I want to work on, the night before, helps me jump right into it when I reach my office.

2-Start with the Big Stuff
Do you always leave the “big stuff” for last? Perhaps you find it easiest to start your day with email, making some phone calls, checking in with clients, then before you know it-it’s 4:30 pm and the day is almost over! Try beginning your day working on a big project (you know which ones I mean). The ones that have been hanging over your head for a while and are “zapping” energy from you because you keep thinking about them. Pick one, put a quick three or four step tactical plan together on how to complete, set a timeline and get at it!

3-Chunk Your Time in 90 minute Segments
If you’re anything like me, you want to wait until you have big chunks of time (like a half or full day) to work on what you deem, your “big stuff”. The problem becomes, when do we ever have a free half or full day available-rarely, right? I have found that when I first enter my office in the morning, instead of looking at email, or doing small tasks, I take the “big stuff” and make it a priority and spend an uninterrupted 90 minutes on one of the priorities. Uninterrupted time means turn off email, phone, social media and anything else that’s a big distraction to keeping you on task. Set a timer for 90 minutes and work only on that one project. You will be amazed at how much you get done and how far along you get. Oh, and be sure to block out your calendar for these 90 minute work periods and stay true to the appointment with yourself!

It’s so easy to let resistance get in our way; you know what you need to get done. I challenge you today, to pick one or two things you’ve resisted doing even though you know that taking action on them would be beneficial. Write down how it would “feel” to accomplish these, then take action on them TODAY. Even if it’s just the first step!

3 Lessons I Learned from Andy Murray

3 Ways to Bring More Focus to Your Day

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