The Four Pillars of Long-term Focus

Jill’s preschool years can be summarized in three words: sex, drugs and fear. You see, Jill’s father began molesting Jill and her sister ever since she can remember. Her mother, meanwhile, was pacing in an institution down the street as she recovered from nervous breakdowns. At the age of 7, Jill’s father held a family meeting that he deemed important. It turned out, he was right. In the meeting he blamed his problems on Jill before shooting himself in the head. This was a broken home. And we all know what comes next. Jill will become a drug addict, get pregnant, drop out of High School and end up like her father, right? Wrong. Jill’s an honor student, talented singer and president of her high school class.

Todd Marinovich began training for the NFL before he was born. He was bred to love pain, contact and intimidation. His father, an ex-Raider from the steroids heyday of the NFL, is remembered today for his unusual intensity–otherwise referred to as insanity. Todd was going to be everything his father never was–trained, well-fed and cared for. From his first breath, Todd was on a strict diet that outlawed any hamburgers or junk food. Instead, his father fed him food that only did one thing: built muscle. Todd quietly rebelled in his late high school days. It started with Marijuana, and throughout college and into his pro career, led to Heroin and Methamphetamine. Todd recounts stories of shooting up at half-time of football games. After his brief stint in the NFL, he shifted between rehabs and jail. You might have even seen Todd if you’ve spent time in Newport Beach. He could be seen skating around on the boardwalk. Put simply, he turned into an addict.

Todd had all the care in the world–in fact, he had too much care, and he turned into a drug addict. Jill was raised in a violently broken home, yet she became a successful young lady.

So, what separates Jill from Todd? One word: Focus. Yet, I’m not speaking of focus in its traditional sense (as used to represent concentration). That’s short-term focus, and we covered that in the last chapter. I’m referring to long-term focus, which is driven by four elements: purpose, values, actions and habits. That’s what this book is about.

The rest of this book is dedicated to showing you how to become a focused person through re-awakening your purpose, defining values that drive your everyday actions, outlining activities that can help you focus and establishing a set of habits that will make it easy for you to step into a state of flow. Not only will this enable you to finish projects that you start, you’ll be able to achieve dreams you were put here on earth to carry out.

I can’t tell you how many people I know who still feel empty at night even as their Visa Blackcard rests in their wallet. The problem with success is that it’s the wrong goal. Most people seek success, when in reality they’re looking for significance. Success does not make you significant. Significance stems from actually making a difference in the world. Many people are shocked when they discover that significance isn’t achieved through action. It’s reached throughout taking focused, purposeful action.

Below, I’ll touch briefly on the four components of long-term focus.

I. Habits

In the first section of the book, we’ll explore various habits that drive a focused person. These habits revolve around doing something that sharpens your mind before you start the day. Essentially, you get to work before you get to work. Good habits not only enable your mind to focus better during the day, they enable you to feel better. You feel younger, more alert and, put simply, you feel happier. I believe that you should establish one of the following habits outlined in the section of the book, and then carry it out once per day.

II. Purpose

Purpose revolves around living a life built on meaning. It stems from visualizing how you will impact the world and what you are here to do. Living with purpose is then actualized by setting a simple, focused goal, which you reach in a short time-span (three months). We’ll cover this in a later part of this book.

Here’s an example of someone who let focus and purpose drive their life. The following passage was uncovered in Bruce Lee’s personal journals after his death.

My Chief Personal Aim In Life

I, Bruce Lee, will be the highest paid Oriental superstar in the United States. In return I will give the most exciting performances and render the best of quality in the capacity of an actor. Starting in 1970, I will achieve world fame and from then onward till the end of 1980 I will have in my possession the sum of $10,000,000—then I will live the way I please and achieve inner harmony and happiness.

Bruce Lee
1969

Lee, who died at the young age of 32, often said, “If I should die tomorrow, I will have no regrets. I did what I wanted to do. You can’t expect more from life.”

Bruce Lee lived a life filled with focus and purpose.

III. Actions

It’s not: Ideas without action are worthless.
It’s: Without action, ideas are worthless.
(Feel free to read that again to catch what I mean)

Long-term focus centers on taking action in simple, logical and effective ways. The philosophy of this book outlines ways to break apart the complexities in life, and only focus on what truly drives results. In later sections, I’ll show you how to use tools including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email and other activities in a focused fashion. I’ll outline how you can expand your mind through auditing Ivy League courses for free. I’ll also cover how you can sky-rocket the effectiveness of your organization through practices and philosophies that lead to less work, and more effectiveness. If you’re stuck in a job or in a routine that feels as if you’re trapped–as if you can’t focus due to your lack of interest in whatever you’re doing–I’ll show you how to get out of that situation. I’m not promising that you’ll be an organized person. I’m by no means organized. At all. And my wife can attest to that. What I do specialize in doing better than most around me, is thinking about one thing that truly matters every day, and doing it. Nothing more, nothing less. We’ll get into all of these actions in the book.

IV. Values

Purpose tells you what you should be doing; Values tell you what you should stand for.

As we learned through Jill and Todd, values aren’t driven by our parents. Of course, your family influences your values, but they don’t define your values. Values are entirely your own decision. You must make sure you understand what you stand for, otherwise, society and your environment will do it for you. And that’s dangerous. As we’ll learn, our minds have a tendency to get carried away with things that are driven by dopamine–but aren’t necessarily good for us.

Before beginning the journey and quest in becoming focused, I first want you to spend some time defining what it is you wish to get out of this book, as well as what your values are. But before that, I’ll share with you my personal values.

Defining Values

We live in a perfect time to exemplify and learn about the importance of defining personal values. Michael Jackson died from drugs. Michael Phelps took a bong hit and lost millions in endorsements. And Tiger Woods had a sex scandal erupt that will stain his career forever. These people lived a life filled with success. But they didn’t live a life filled with significance or sustainability. Their values were focused on the wrong items. Their focus was on earthly items. Items that society defined as symbols of success; not symbols of significance.

Before his scandal, Tiger Woods said, “My main focus is on my [golf] game.”

When one places their focus on earthly items, a downfall is almost certain to follow.

Thus, think hard about what values drive your life. But don’t get too crazy. Have fun with defining and setting values for yourself. If you have a family, bring them together and create your own family creed.

My personal creed centers on four values:

Integrity: Honesty is not bullshitting others. Integrity is not bullshitting yourself. If you make it your job to sound off an alert anytime your mind moves towards cognitive dissonance, you’re living a life of integrity.

Growth: Physiologically, our brains are either learning, or dying. Until around the year 2000, we believed that we were given a certain number of brain cells as a baby, and then they would die as we progressed through life. Neuroscience now tells us that we actually fire up new pathways within our minds as we grow. We come from the jungles. From a land of adjust or die; thus, our minds must constantly sharpen itself and learn about the environment. (Source: John Medina, Brain Rules)

Hard Work: We live in a land of “work less, take a vacation, travel the world.” I agree with pieces of this. I believe that one should work smart, which will lead to them working less; however, I believe that working smart is hard work. Don’t let successful people trick you. Significance (and success) takes hard work.

Enjoyment: Of course, you’ve got to follow up Hard Work with Enjoyment. Otherwise, you’ll turn into a work-a-holic.

Those are my values. They’re what drive my actions everyday. They’re what drive my purpose. In order to practice that art of focus, you must first start with your values.

Without any further deliberation, here’s the exercise:

1. Name
2. Email(valid email required)
3. What are your values?
4. What specific challenges are you facing that you would like to learn from this book?

 

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Conclusion

In summary, a focused person is one who doesn’t merely have a gift of concentration. Someone who is focused has a foundation built on four things: purpose, habits, focused action and values. The rest of this book is dedicated to a variety of these items that help you become a more focused, productive person. In the next chapter, we’ll cover the concept of “Flow,” which is an organic combination of Short-term Focus (concentration), and Long-term Focus (outlined in this chapter).

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