My friend @johnfleming sent me a link to a Seth Godin post on focus. In the post Seth said:
"Focus involves eliminating options until you have so few moving parts that work
actually gets done."
Focus is one of the three key qualities of almost all successful entrepreneurs. The other two qualities are:
- Passion
- Discipline
Obviously these three characteristics make for success in many other fields but are particularly important in entrepreneurship.
Many words in business are used frequently but rarely understood. "Marketing", "empowerment", "collaboration" and "focus" might all be examples of terms that are used but rarely defined correctly. Seth's definition of focus captures the concept of options, which I think is an important part of focus but I think there is a better way to look at "focus", as described below.
Focus is the consistent exercise of options that move one toward a goal.
I think this definition is more constructive and actionable. Eliminating options does not necessarily lead to anything. I think I will define passion and discipline in the next posts.
A related story on simplicity and elegance is here.