Get LASER FOCUSED for 2024 (in 18 minutes)
Summary
TLDRThe video emphasizes the importance of ruthless focus and shares strategies to achieve it. It discusses raising personal 'yes threshold' to only commit to 'hell yes' opportunities, adopting a 'maker schedule' with long, uninterrupted work blocks, and using the 'Pyramid of Clarity' to define mission, one-year goals, and necessary inputs. It also highlights the balance of saying 'yes' to critical tasks and 'no' to distractions, ultimately leading to increased productivity and achievement of personal and professional goals.
Takeaways
- 🎯 Develop a ruthless focus to achieve goals effectively and avoid drifting off course.
- 🚫 Recognize and raise your 'yes threshold' to only commit to opportunities that are a 'hell yes'.
- ⏰ Implement a 'maker schedule' with long, uninterrupted blocks of time to enhance productivity and creativity.
- 📈 Utilize the 'Pyramid of Clarity' to define your mission, one-year goals, and break them down into actionable steps.
- 💡 Identify and commit to the specific actions you must say 'yes' to in order to achieve your goals.
- 🚫 Clearly define what you must say 'no' to in order to maintain focus and avoid distractions.
- 🌟 Set both a 'floor goal' and a 'goal goal' to create a range of acceptable outcomes without limiting ambition or settling for less.
- 🛠 Break down your one-year goals into the required people, product, and financial components.
- 📆 Plan and track progress on a monthly basis to ensure consistent movement towards your annual objectives.
- 🤝 Be willing to say 'yes' to uncomfortable tasks or necessary challenges that align with your goals.
- 🎭 Use personal examples and stories to create a compelling vision that resonates emotionally and motivates action.
Q & A
What is the main topic discussed in the transcript?
-The main topic discussed in the transcript is achieving ruthless focus and productivity by setting clear goals, managing time effectively, and prioritizing tasks.
How does the speaker describe their past issues with focus?
-The speaker describes their past issues with focus as letting themselves get distracted, setting goals but not achieving them by the end of the year, and experiencing a general drift without恶意 or total failure.
What is the visual representation used to explain the concept of focus in the transcript?
-The visual representation used is a cone, where a wide cone represents low focus and a narrow, laser-like cone represents high focus.
What is the 'yes threshold' and how does it relate to focus?
-The 'yes threshold' is the standard for saying yes to tasks or opportunities. Raising the 'yes threshold' means only committing to tasks that are truly important and worth the time, which helps to improve focus and productivity.
What is the difference between a 'maker schedule' and a 'manager schedule'?
-A 'maker schedule' consists of long, uninterrupted blocks of time for deep work and creativity, while a 'manager schedule' is filled with short, back-to-back meetings and tasks, leading to stress and reduced productivity.
How does the speaker suggest breaking down long-term goals?
-The speaker suggests breaking down long-term goals into a one-year goal, and then further into specific needs in terms of people, product, and finances to achieve that one-year goal.
What is the 'Pyramid of Clarity' and its significance?
-The 'Pyramid of Clarity' is a framework that starts with a mission at the top, breaks it down into one-year goals, and then into the necessary inputs (people, product, finances) to achieve those goals, providing a clear path and focus towards the mission.
How does the speaker use the concept of 'hell yes' in goal setting?
-The speaker uses the concept of 'hell yes' to describe a goal that is so motivating and emotionally resonant that it drives commitment and focus, as opposed to a 'maybe' or 'pretty good' opportunity that might not inspire the same level of dedication.
What is the importance of saying 'no' according to the speaker?
-According to the speaker, saying 'no' is crucial for maintaining focus and avoiding distractions. It involves consciously deciding to avoid activities or opportunities that do not align with the set goals, even if they seem compelling or beneficial in other ways.
How does the speaker suggest tracking progress towards goals?
-The speaker suggests tracking progress by breaking down the one-year goal into monthly tasks and checking in on these tasks regularly. This practice helps to maintain focus and ensures that the mission and goals remain the priority throughout the year.
What is the significance of the phrase 'You can do anything but you can't do everything'?
-The phrase signifies the idea that while one has the potential for limitless possibilities, it's important to recognize the limitations of time and resources. It emphasizes the need to prioritize and focus on the most important tasks and goals to achieve success.
Outlines
🎯 Developing Laser-Like Focus
The speaker begins by discussing the importance of ruthless focus and how they have struggled with it in the past, leading to a lack of progress towards their goals. They emphasize the need to narrow down distractions and focus on what truly matters. The speaker introduces a visual metaphor of a cone representing potential activities, with the tip symbolizing the ultimate goal. The key message is to raise the 'yes threshold' from 'yes' to 'hell yes,' ensuring that only activities that truly align with one's goals are pursued.
📈 Raising the 'Yes Threshold'
The speaker elaborates on the concept of the 'yes threshold,' explaining that it's essential to raise this threshold to only say 'yes' to activities that are truly significant and align with one's goals. They suggest visualizing this as a line, with everything above it being a 'hell yes' and everything below being a 'no.' The speaker also introduces the idea of a 'maker schedule' versus a 'manager schedule,' advocating for long, uninterrupted blocks of time to enhance productivity and creativity, as opposed to a fragmented schedule filled with meetings and distractions.
🚀 Clarity Through the Pyramid of Clarity
The speaker introduces the 'Pyramid of Clarity' concept from Asana, which involves defining a clear mission, setting one-year goals, and breaking these down into actionable steps. They emphasize the importance of honesty when defining one's mission and provide an example of their own mission for their company. The speaker then explains how to set both a 'floor goal' and a 'sky's the limit' goal to provide a range of ambition without being too rigid or too lax. They also discuss the use of HubSpot for tracking the success of a survey campaign, highlighting its ease of use and effectiveness in generating leads and revenue.
🛠️ Prioritizing Actions: Yes and No
The speaker concludes by emphasizing the importance of not only knowing what to say 'yes' to but also what to say 'no' to. They share a personal example of defining their goals and the actions they need to take, as well as the activities they must avoid to stay on track. The speaker encourages the audience to identify what they need to consciously choose to do and what they need to avoid in order to achieve their objectives. The message is about self-awareness and the understanding that while one can do anything, they cannot do everything, hence the need for focused effort on the most important goals.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Focus
💡Distractions
💡Hell Yes
💡Maker Schedule
💡Clarity
💡Mission
💡Year-End Goal
💡Inputs
💡Discomfort
💡Saying No
💡Self-Awareness
Highlights
The importance of ruthless focus and laser-like attention to achieve goals is emphasized, with the speaker sharing their personal struggles and strategies for improvement.
A visual representation is introduced to illustrate the concept of focus, where distractions and tasks are contrasted with the one main goal that brings satisfaction and pride.
The concept of a 'yes threshold' is introduced, which is the standard for deciding which opportunities to accept and which to decline.
The speaker suggests raising the 'yes threshold' to only accept opportunities that are a 'hell yes', leading to a more focused and directed effort.
The difference between a manager's schedule and a maker's schedule is explained, with the latter involving longer, uninterrupted blocks of time for deep work.
The benefits of a maker's schedule are discussed, including increased productivity and the ability to enter flow states, which lead to greater creativity and accomplishment.
The Pyramid of Clarity is introduced as a tool for maintaining focus on one's mission, yearly goals, and the necessary inputs of people, product, and finances.
The importance of breaking down yearly goals into actionable monthly tasks is emphasized for staying on track and avoiding drift.
A real-life example is provided, illustrating how the use of a tool like HubSpot can help track and grow a business through targeted surveys and analysis.
The concept of saying 'yes' to specific actions that align with one's goals while saying 'no' to distractions and tasks that do not is discussed as a strategy for maintaining focus.
The idea of identifying and committing to one's personal mission and the resulting clarity it provides is explored as a powerful motivator.
The speaker shares a personal framework for deciding what to say 'yes' and 'no' to, based on aligning with one's overarching goal and mission.
The transcript concludes with an encouragement for listeners to reflect on their own focus strategies and to share their insights, fostering a community of continuous learning and improvement.
Transcripts
you can do anything but you can't do
everything and that is what I want to
talk about today ruthless focus
laser-like focus for
[Music]
2024 I have not been great at focusing
in the past in the past I have let
myself get distracted I have let myself
set a goal at the beginning of the year
and by the end of the year I check in
and I'm like where the hell what what
did I do all year why did I drift and
it's not something malicious it's not
like a total fail but it's just this
drift that I didn't like and I wanted to
get better at I'm going to show you what
works for me how do you get more focused
how do we get the laser-like focus that
all the great ones exhibit whether it's
in sports and you see Kobe Bryant
completely obsessed in entertainment you
see Mr Beast he completely locked in and
obsessed in business you'll see somebody
like Mark Zuckerberg laser focused on
one thing trying to make that happen
they don't let let themselves drift the
way the rest of us do so here's the
little visual this is you and this is
all the things that you might do so this
is uh you know some news thing that's
going on the election This is Love is
Blind season five this is that
investment somebody wants you to do this
is um that email you got from that
person who wants to do a call and pick
your brain this is that side side hustle
that's not really going to go anywhere
right that's all the things and then the
blue thing is the thing you actually
want this is the thing that you would
feel proud of at the end of the year if
you made this happen and so what we need
is laser likee focus we do not want the
cone to be wide I'm going to show you
how we do that so first thing you want
to
do this is a before and after of how you
can operate and again we have all the
possible things that we could be saying
yes to and you want to think about your
yes threshold so let's write that up
this is your
yes
thresold and
before it might be you know here so you
might have your yes threshold right
there and what you're doing is you're
saying yes to anything above that line
if it's below that line you're able to
say no but you're able to say yes to
everything above that line and the after
all we have to do the first thing you
have to do is simply acknowledge bring
your awareness to how low your yes
threshold is and raise it raise your
standard for yes and so instead of
saying yes to things that are pretty
good maybe interesting might be worth
doing pretty cool it needs to take your
yes to a hell yes that is the easiest
thing you could do so we're going to
raise the yes threshold right we're
going to take it from here up to here
and you know this sad guy becomes this
happy guy and he's taller so you get two
inches of height at least and your your
yes threshold is even higher all right
so that's the first thing you do bring
your awareness to where's my bar today
and take my yeses to only doing hell yes
things that doesn't mean you don't do if
somebody you know if your friend comes
and says we're going to Costa Rica and
it's going to be amazing that might be a
hell yes for you go for it but make sure
you you have a premium quality on your
focus and what you're willing to do all
right next thing time
management you may have seen this is a
famous Pam essay that I've turned into a
cartoon and the pogram essay is
basically come uh showing the difference
between a maker
uh uh oh wait I have these flipped okay
uh yeah hold
on let's reverse that this is a manager
schedule this is what their calendar
looks like and this is what a maker
schedule look like this is the artist
right somebody who's a builder and so
for a lot of people they have this 9:00
am. 9:30 a.m 10: a.m. 10:30 a.m 11 a.m.
11 oh I'm double booked oh and they
end up just in a puddle of Tears they
are overwhelmed their stress they sort
of busy themselves to death why didn't I
get everything I wanted to done in life
why didn't I achieve my goals and my
dreams because I was too busy like
listen to that sentence that doesn't
even make sense you didn't do the things
you need to do because you didn't have
time because you filled it with other
crap and so most people by default
especially people in jobs you will be
default opted into a m a manager's
schedule what you want to do is switch
to a maker schedule a maker schedule is
basically long interrupted blocks of
time usually in the morning you need at
least two and a half hours of
uninterrupted time usually three is
ideal a break where you're going to
lunch exercise go for a walk play with
your kids walk your dog whatever you do
and then another uninterrupted Sprint
for some people the real great ones they
have a another break and then they have
a third night Sprint but you know you
don't have to do all that um you need to
switch to this maker schedule and so the
maker schedule is the one thing you
could do with your time where in the
same number of hours you can get more
done why because when you get into these
interrupted blocks of time you get into
flow States and you're able to actually
lock in on uh knocking out one whole
thing without distractions without
checking your emails without being
pulled into a call or a meeting about
this and about that you're able to to to
lock in and so whether you're an
engineer and you want to build a product
you want to code something or you're um
you know you're trying to be an
Entertainer you need to write chapters
of your book or uh a YouTube video that
you're making or you're just trying to
come up with a new idea not letting
yourself your your day get split I call
this the uh the zebra calendar where
you're just Stripes all day that is the
next thing you need to do to enable
yourself to come up with great ideas
right you are setting up your
environment so the first thing we did
was we raised the threshold of yes to a
hell yes so that we're just saying no to
things that clears space the next thing
is we do the maker schedule versus the
manager schedule so that you have
uninterrupted time blocks where you can
be your most creative productive
self okay next thing now we're going to
Clarity
so this is something I stole from assana
Asana created this thing called The
Clarity uh the Pyramid of clarity
and the Pyramid of clarity goes as
follows at the top here you have your
mission and the mission is your big the
reason your organization exists it's the
reason you're even doing this it's your
big why and so let's say you're Elon
Musk your mission for SpaceX might be um
you know make humans an interplanetary
species a multiplanetary species um or
for Tesla for him it might be get the
world off of using you know fossil fuels
and get them to a electric future right
so that's the big vision for what you're
doing now you break that down you say so
you write that out and by the way little
Pro tip because when I first write about
this I was like wow that makes total
sense you got to have this big audacious
Vision but let's say you're not building
rockets and going to space or you're not
trying to get the world off of fossil
fuels to a fully electric energy um
system you you know you might just be
building a e-commerce business that's
designed to enable your lifestyle to be
really great because you wanted money
and you didn't have money right like
whatever it is the key here is honesty
because you can write a fancy Mission
but if it's not your honest Mission it's
not going to help it's not going to do
anything won't have any emotional
resonance so what I try to do is I try
to be honest about the mission so for
example with my company we are building
a a company that is going to enable us
to have an amazing lifestyle us the
owners of the business have an amazing
lifestyle we only have a couple of
people in the business it's all owners
and we want to have a lifestyle where we
can do what we want when we want with
whoever we want and only work on
projects that are you know
intellectually fascinating for us Crea
aely challenging for us and so we write
that that's what we're doing that is the
mission of what we're trying to build
we're building a vehicle that enables
that um from there you want to go down
to the one-year goal okay so this is the
the mission might take 10 years it might
take 20 years but then you break it down
to the one-year goal where do we need to
be at the end of the year for this to be
a smash success and
specifically I set two goals so I have
the uh what I call the goal and then
I have the floor goal and so I set kind
of a range here because I don't like
static one you know single goals binary
goals because you're then you're you're
like should I just be super ambitious
but then I might be disappointed or
should I be conservative but then I feel
like I didn't push myself so I set both
I set a f goal and a floor goal the
floor goal means you would be
disappointed if it didn't reach this
level meaning um this would be a solid
win below that you kind of feel like ah
man really we we didn't we didn't get
there and the FIA goal is we're
high-fiving we're toasting to our I
can't believe this is how good it turned
out and so you want to kind of set that
range for yourself and say all right we
have a minimum and then we have sort of
a Target that we're going to shoot all
right everyone a quick break to tell you
about HubSpot and this one's really easy
for me to talk about because I'm going
to show you a real life example so I've
got this company called Hampton join
hampton.com it's a community for
Founders doing between 2 million all the
way up to like $250 million a year in
revenue and one of the ways that we've
grown is we've created these cool
service and so we have a lot of Founders
who have high net worth and we'll ask
them all types of questions that people
typically are embarrassed to ask but
provide a lot of value so things like
how much the founders pay themselves
each month how much money they're
spending each month what the payroll
looks like if they're optimistic about
the next year and their business all
these questions that people are afraid
to ask but well we ask them anyway and
they tell us in this Anonymous survey
and so what we do is we created a
landing page using hubspot's landing
page tool and it basically has a landing
page that says here's all the questions
we asked give us your email if you want
to access it and then I shared this page
on Twitter and we were able to get
thousands of people who gave us their
email and told us they want this survey
and I see did they come from social
media I can see did they come from
Twitter from LinkedIn basically
everywhere else that they could possibly
come from I'm able to track all of that
and then I'm able to see over the next
handful of weeks how many of those
people actually signed up and became a
member of Hampton in other words I can
see how much revenue came from this
survey how much revenue came from each
traffic Source things like that but the
best part is I can see how much revenue
came from it and a lot of times it takes
a ton of work to make that happen
HubSpot made that super super easy if
you're interested in doing this you can
check it out hubspot.com the Link's in
the description and I'll also put the
link to the survey that I did so you can
actually see the landing page and how it
worked and everything like that I'm just
going to do that call to action
then and it's free check it out in the
description all right now back to MFM
okay what's the next level of this now
you have your overall mission clarified
and I'll show you an example in a second
you have your one-year goal where we
want to be a year from now and that's
what you're going to work backwards from
so then you work backwards and you say
okay in order to achieve this one-year
goal what do I need in terms of people
what do I need in terms of product and
what do I need in terms of finances
three categories and so you break the
one-year goal into the this is the
output to the inputs so for example for
my e-commerce company we had a one-year
goal and we said we're going to try to
go we're we're going to try to double
Revenue we did about 17ish Million last
year we're g to try to get to um you
know over 30 this year so we said what
do we need in terms of people well I
needed to hire a CMO because today I was
doing it I'm not the best uh CMO for for
that business I'm not full-time on it so
we we set some people targets we need to
hire an amazing CMO who's done this
before uh we needed to hire a website
developer who's going to do XYZ right so
you write down what are your people gaps
then you have your product gaps so what
does the product need to be able to do
in order for us to hit our goal so for
example when Elon launched Tesla he set
a product goal and he was like how do we
make a car that is um I think it was
like faster than a Porsche and um better
for the environment than a
Prius faster than a Porsche better for
better than a Prius right better for the
environment than a Prius and that is a
prodal that is a benchmark that we are
trying to achieve is it faster than a
Porsche and is it more is it better for
the environment than a Prius and so
similarly you want to set some product
goals for yourself um for for to achieve
your one-year Mission and lastly is
finances so you know do you need Capital
um you know by by default people think
they do you should question that
assumption um Beyond just how much money
do we need to do this might be your
margins or might be your unit economics
we need to bring the cost down to this
in order for this to work because we
want to be profitable and today we're
unprofitable and So within each one of
those you've now broken your one-year
goal into the the different um input
input metrics that if you did those
correctly it would lead to the one-year
goal and then from there you just break
it out by month you say all right in
January okay what are we going to do
well we need to chip away at the people
goal the product goal and the finance
goal so let's break those into a
digestive chunk and now all of a sudden
it's like you know uh let's do 20
interviews and and try to find you know
two great candidates for the the CMO
role or whatever it may be and so then
you go month by month and every month
you check in you you check in on the
whole pyramid you say all right as a
reminder our mission is X by the end of
the year we're trying to do y in order
to do that we need to hit these we need
to do these three things internally and
then the score will take care of itself
and so to get there we need to break
this out month by month into what's
what's What mattered last month did we
achieve it and matters this month you do
that for 12 months straight you are
going to stay on track there will be no
drift last thing I want to share with
you I stole this from my friend Joel
Omen he's a listener of the show and I
hope he's okay with me sharing this I'll
ask him but he he said he shared this um
this simple slide that he made for
himself and I loved it it was a killer
slide it was one slide that gave him
Clarity on what is he trying to do and
how is he going to get there and I like
the way he framed it so I want to share
it with you so he had his goal uh the
mission that I called it on the last
last page and his goal was to build a
creatively fulfilling cash
machine I just love that creatively
fulfilling cash machine and he said well
you know I've done I've done each of
them individually you know I've built
successful businesses uh cash machines
and I've built I've done things you know
he wrote like a fantasy fiction book
right something was creatively
fulfilling but didn't make any money and
so he's like this time my mission is to
do this because if I did this I would be
Bliss out walking into work every day
right I would be my at my happiest in
terms of my professional goals and so
set a goal for yourself like this and
you want to use this as a bar for
residance right you know this is a this
is a not a generic offthe shelf goal
like be successful or um make money or
whatever right like set it set it for
real so maybe for some people it's make
six six grand a month um so that I can
quit my job make six grand a month out
of my business so I can quit my job and
be totally independent not have to worry
about how I'm going to pay the bills
right I could be stressfree and then
it's only up from there and write that
whole thing out write it out in a way
that has some emotional uh pull for you
that it's a compelling picture all right
so the second thing then you have your
output right so what are the you know
that's kind of like I said the one- year
goal right so in order to do that we
might need to do the following two
things now here's the part I liked best
when he says I say yes to blank and I
say no to blank so for
example let's say for this
podcast I you know have a goal which is
I want to I want to be one of those
people that inspired me when I was
coming up that is very much why I do
this podcast because growing up I
remember when I was in college somebody
gave me a book called The 4-Hour Work
week and it blew my mind at the time I
never thought about half of the concepts
in there and I was like just insight
after Insight page after page of
inspiration and story and I just said
that's how I want my life to be I said I
called it catching the 4H hour fever
like I read that book and for four hours
I went into a fever dream and I
replanned everything in my life that was
very impactful for me thank you Tim
Ferris um there have been other moments
like that Tony Robbins and others where
I've had these um people who created
content that really shifted my thinking
that made me have more clarity more
insight more motivation more Firepower
to go do what I wanted to do and so my
goal with this podcast is to do that
okay well great what do I need to say
yes to in order that to happen well we
break that big dream down to a one-year
goal and then we break that one-year
goal down to the things that we're going
to have to opt into so for example for
this
podcast you might say well I'm gonna
have to sit down consistently week after
week doing my absolute best to create
the most compelling content out there
the best wisdom for entrepreneurs and
when I do that I am I'm saying yes to
doing my best and knowing that the
numbers are not going to change every
week that it might look flat for a long
time that I'm going to do that for years
and I will not be discouraged I say yes
to doing that input even though the the
numbers will take a long time to build
up right so that's what I'm saying yes
to what's the second thing I'm saying
yes to well for this year for example we
wanted to bring on higher profile guests
we booked a bunch of Tim Ferris coming
on we booked uh Tony Robbins and a bunch
of others and so I said yes to doing
something I didn't like to do guest
Outreach I hated begging people to come
on my podcast and all that I just I
don't know I don't like when people ask
me I didn't want to ask other people but
I said I got to say yes to that I got to
say yes to the discomfort and the ego of
continuing to follow up with people and
try to get them to come on the podcast
and what do I say no to so what are the
things I have to say no to well I have
to say no to starting a company I sit on
this podcast every week and I come up
with ideas for businesses I got to say
no to actually going and doing them
because if I now I'm a CEO of a startup
I'm not going to be able to achieve this
this goal so I have to say no to some
very compelling good ideas that would
make me millions of dollars write that
down right so what are the other things
I have to say no to I have to say no to
avoiding hard conversations I have to
say no to um my old habit of blah blah
blah right I thought this was a very
very useful thing because it had both
the it was it was all about
self-awareness this is a self-awareness
game what is the goal that motivates me
to get out of bed every single day and
chase this above all other possible
things I could be doing with my time and
my talents second what is it about me
that I know I'm going to have to
consciously force myself to say yes to
and say no to to and here it's the
things that are not easy for you you
don't want to write the things that you
already say yes to that are already just
uh you know trivial for you it's it's
your nature to do that it's here you
identify what's against your nature and
and write that down so that you're very
clear in what you need to do and to me
this is how you can do anything you are
Limitless right you nobody can tell you
that you can't do that thing but you
can't do everything right so that you
can do anything but you can't do
everything is a very powerful idea and
it's gives you that focus is a
superpower people say that but they
don't tell you how you focus so I hope
today you learned a little something
from Uncle sea about how you actually
Focus this is something that frankly I'm
still a beginner at right I'm I'm maybe
a blue belt in the in the game of focus
um but I do know that it's important and
because it's important I'm working at it
and I wanted to share with you the
things that I'm doing that that tend to
be working for me the things that have
helped me make some progress maybe
there's some more things out there I'd
love to hear from you what works for you
in the comments but uh that's it that's
the episode
[Music]
Weitere ähnliche Videos ansehen
Change Your Life In 6 Months (My Deep Work Routine)
10 Rules For Making Your First Million
How to be Consistent at ANYTHING in life: 10 Secrets to GET THINGS DONE! (Animated)
Essentialism by Greg McKeown - A Visual Summary
10 Cara MUDAH Membagi Waktu dengan HASIL 99% PRODUKTIF
How to manage time like a TOP student
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)