If you want to follow your dream, say no to distracting matters.

Articles written by Oliver Emberton are constantly of increased interest. Today we present you a translation of the latest publication of the author.

Disclaimer: we did not set ourselves the goal of a literal or absolutely accurate translation of the original. The main thing is to convey its meaning. Please keep this in mind when reading. So, let's begin!

If you want to follow your dream, say no to distracting matters!
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Our brain sometimes behaves like a beach ball filled with bees. Hundreds of conflicting impulses are pushing us in different directions.

People don't want to focus on one thing. We need to do everything at once. We also want to do exercises, learn Spanish and order pizza. Each person has a countless number of desires, independent of each other, each of which is trying to push our beach ball in its own direction.

And in the end, the ball remains in place.



- I want to write a book!
- I want a new job!
- I want a kitten!

That is how most people live. We feel endless conflict within ourselves. We never have enough time. And the processes that occur within us are stronger than our ability to fight with them.
So let's fix it!

The curse of "another brilliant idea"

Imagine that 20 years ago you were a genius, and you had the idea of ​​developing Google, Amazon and Facebook. You just took and came up with the three most brilliant business ideas of the last century, and if you implemented one of them, then now you would be a billionaire. But if you decided to implement all three projects at the same time, you would have failed.

Just generate ingenious ideas is not enough. Many people suddenly have very clever ideas. I will say more - the problem is that too many great ideas simply neutralize each other.



- I want to run Facebook!
- I want to run Google!
- I want to run Amazon!

That is why a team of very smart people may not come to success. Leadership does not work in breadth. The more cases you spend (the more sides a bee pulls your beach ball), the less distance you will get.
How do people achieve the impossible?

Imagine that you have a very ambitious goal. Let's say you want to write a book or fly to Mars.

If you just need to do this - it affects your life and the lives of all those who are important to you - how exactly will you do it?

For the sake of this super important business, you will abandon all the rest A hundred bees will turn into one giant bumblebee, which will very quickly push the ball in the right direction:



Manic concentration on one business is perhaps the main secret of success. This rule has already been confirmed many times - from Edison to Einstein. When you can focus on one goal, you can reach your maximum:



Most people can not succeed not because of lack of capacity. The fact is that their potential is sprayed in different directions.

How to tame your swarm of bees

You will always want to try something more than what you can achieve.

Unfortunately, spraying at once on several cases at the same time, you are guaranteed not to achieve success. Focusing on one important business is the fastest way to succeed.

Try the following:

1. Set high goals. If you have low ambitions, they are easy to beat. Paradoxically, it is easier to set really ambitious goals for yourself, because they are worth putting aside smaller things for a while.

2. Limit to three. Make three lists for different parts of your life — say, “work,” “home,” and “rest.” Mark one goal for each of the lists. If you just need to do more things, just keep in mind that adding each new goal reduces the efficiency of performing tasks from the list by 25%.

3. Set aside. Anything that is not in priority now can be postponed until later. Mark Zuckerberg was smart enough to start Facebook first and then start learning Chinese.

4. Beware of idle desires. Control "those things that are in principle unimportant, but really want to do." Perhaps they are performed on the machine, look quite harmless and bring you comfort. But in reality they are deadly. One new thing will reduce the likelihood of success of your main task by a full quarter.

5. Ask your bumblebees the right course. Maybe you can't come up with the next generation of Google, cure cancer and land on Mars at the same time. But you can simultaneously become, say, a successful CEO and a man in excellent physical shape. Success and good physical shape can be complementary tasks: a healthy person is more likely to be a good leader. These two goals are like two bumblebees that push the ball in one direction.



Those few people who have achieved really impressive successes, did something very important for our world, could hardly have realized their goals in full measure, being sprayed on several things at once. They gathered all their bumblebees and sent them in one direction, saying no to all the other possibilities that life gave them.

If you want to have power over yourself, you want to follow your dream, you need to say no to all the bees who are trying to lead you away from the right course. It's not easy, but now, at least, you know how important this is.

Successes!