Focusing on Your Areas of Brilliance

By Kevin M

Given the state of the economy, the approach toward business and careers has become one of caution, where working to keep what you have is the order of the day. But try this for a contrarians approach:

“Working harder and longer hours will not solve your dilemma…You must invest most of your time every week doing what you do best, and let others do what they do best.”

“Remember, your bottom line income is directly linked to the amount of time spent in our areas of brilliance.”

That’s the view of Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, success coaches and authors of The Power of Focus: What the Worlds Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret of Financial Freedom and Success (Health Communications, Inc.) and is available at Amazon.

I read the book when it first hit the shelves back in 2000—at the very beginning of the last downturn—but it has a relevance that transcends time and is well worth revisiting.

Especially now…

Jobs and businesses are disappearing, many never to return, forcing people into career changes. Paradoxically, prosperity doesn’t always prepare us well for change. It’s often only when the props of our lives are gone, when there’s no other option but to plunge into the unknown, that we’re truly open to making real changes in life. The book dares us to step outside of our comfort zones and to pursue the only course that will put us “over the top”:
our areas of brilliance.

“Focus on those activities you do brilliantly, and from which you produce extraordinary results…Your brilliant activities give you energy, keep you excited and free you up to chase those new opportunities.”

“When you focus most of your time and energy doing the things you are truly brilliant at, you eventually reap big rewards. This is a fundamental truth. And it’s critical to our future success.”

Fortunately, we all have areas of brilliance, talents that we’ve employed during our careers that were especially productive for us. The book will help you to identify those abilities and perhaps more important, to discover those you might not know you have.

The book is filled with concepts that will challenge conventional ideas
on how to achieve success in either a career or business venture. The ones that impressed me the most were found in the second chapter of the book, “Focusing Strategy #2: It’s Not Hocus-Pocus, It’s All About Focus”.

Both the chapter and the book are filled with practical applications and exercises that will help the reader change his way of thinking. Consider:

“It’s vital that you effectively separate so-called urgent tasks from your most important priorities. Putting out fires all day long in your office is, as time management expert Harold Taylor says, ‘Giving in to the tyranny of the urgent.’ ”

And…

“Most businesses get into trouble because they spend too much time on things they don’t know much about…ask yourself at regular intervals, ‘Is what I’m doing right now helping me to achieve my goals?’…Focus on the benefits and rewards of sticking to your priorities, and remind yourself of the negative consequences if you don’t…tackle your most important priorities immediately.”

In reading the book, have a pen handy and prepare to participate in the suggested exercises. What the authors do is attempt to have the reader document current experiences and thought processes, then contrast them with a completely different way of thinking.

They’re telling us that it’s OK to pursue our natural talents, or even that we may fail if we try to do otherwise. That’s not a message we get in our work-a-day lives, but perhaps it’s one we really need to hear when we’re in the throes of change anyway.

“…people tend to struggle because they spend most of their time in jobs or businesses not suited to their strengths…It doesn’t work and it causes a lot of stress and frustration.”

By contrast, examples are provided of top performers, including athletes and celebrities, who have risen to the top of their careers. It isn’t from a stroke of luck as we often believe, but rather the routine effort and application in one’s area of greatest ability that separates elite performers from the crowd. Top performers aren’t necessarily good at everything; rather they reach the heights because they are superb in one or two areas that set them apart.

“…top performers spend very little time on their weaknesses…If you spend too much time working on your weaknesses, all you end up with is a lot of strong weaknesses!…It just keeps you average…(and you) major in minor things.”

“Remember, your bottom line income is directly linked to the amount of time spent in our areas of brilliance.”

In addition to the many practical applications provided, the book also feeds the mind and spirit, restoring the hope and optimism of youth. Now more than ever we need to believe in ourselves, that not only do we have capabilities, but that we also have talents which may not be obvious to us, and it is those talents that will enable us to break through to higher levels.

This incredible book is filled to the bindings with a litany of concepts that can cause an epiphany in the reader. At a time such as now when so many have put their hopes and dreams on hold, or maybe abandoned them entirely, a book like this can get us back to thinking in a positive direction. If your business or career has stalled, you’re looking for a new direction, or of course, if you’re facing unemployment, the book offers a real chance at approaching your career from an entirely new and fresh direction.

Tags: focus, Motivation, performance, talent