Problems distract your focus

from the book "NO EXCUSE! in business"

First of all I drew for John a line, which represented the past, the present and the future. The left end was the past, the right end was the future and I placed a human figure into the middle where the present was. I placed a “goals” sign on the right side and my little figure faced directly the sign.

- This is you, my friend. - I said to John.
- I like that I am thin but I am not bold. - he joked back.
- You are right but believe me you do not want hair in this picture.
- Why?
- Because the hair, or let’s say the lines of your hair represent your problems. But let me explain it to you.
- I am really curious. - laughed John, who had no idea what I am talking about.
- Okay. So in a perfect state our guy is watching forward towards his aims. As you can see his eyes are focusing without any distraction. This is what all the leaders and visionaries are aiming to do. Because if you are able to get a clear view on your goals then you have a much better chance to approach them. However the reality is very different, specially nowadays.

I continued my drawing and I started to draw the margins for the field of success or let’s say I was ready to outline the border of the survival of his business venture.



- So this is the border, which separates success from the insecurity and failures. Until your focus is in this field you can reach any aim. However problems are always distracting you.
- Usually.
- Yes, but if you can delegate and solve your problems, your focus comes back to your goal. However unsolved problems can easily remove your attention because they will pull your focus back to the past.

I started to draw him the unsolved problems and all of these problems were connected with a line to the head of our figure. This represented his hair. What really was different now in the figure was the angle of the eyes.



- As you can see all the “lines” represent unsolved problems.
- Got it.
- The source of the unsolved problems is coming from the past. It is like a rule, because if you could not solve and close a problem, then you probably did not handle its source. And even if you can not really see their effects believe me that they will pull you back and slow you down in the future.
- I have some of these. But do you know what I miss?
- What? - I asked John.
- Time to handle them.
- Success is coming with solved problems and released mind my friend. As you can see all the problems are related to the head of our “little John”. And these little lines are pulling back his attention. This means he will loose his focus from his goals and instead he will start to focus on the unsolved problems.
- Yeah, but he has to solve the problems, right?
- No. A leader, a company owner or a visionary can not work on daily problems, otherwise his company will never develop towards the settled goals.
- So what do they do, just sit and watch?
- Delegate. - I replied promptly.

I wanted to wait a little bit more to give him the time to digest the information then I continued.

- A real leader is able to delegate the daily tasks and he is capable to control the results. However a leader needs to focus on the results because this is how improvement comes. A company owner becomes an entrepreneur when he loses his focus on the development and future aims. Just imagine how daily problems and stress distracts your positive thinking. This is why you have to convert yourself to be a good leader.
- I can do that.
- Of course you can do that!

I felt that John started to realize the power of this small drawing and he understood well that his eyes look far away from the target. He also understood that if he is the one who solves everything in his company he will never look forward towards his goals, only backwards to the problems. He had a clear vision at this point to have a delegation method in action. John was ready and motivated to convert himself into a leader. I know it is a long process, but I was happy to see his determination.

- Do you remember my very first book?
- The Inspirationaliste?
- No, the Creating Business Value.
- Yes, yes. The small guideline.
- Yes. - I smiled at John - And do you remember the first chapter “The angle of incidence of the Sun”?
- Yes, stating that everything depends on me, right?
- Right. And also that the decision to improve is in your hands. “Economy, politics, weather, your neighbor, etc... it is easy to blame these factors for your failure, but believe it or not these factors influence also your competition not only you.” - I quoted the book - So put back your focus John.

I was very happy at this point because John started to be more relaxed. In the first moments when he arrived to our dinner he was very frustrated and he really needed some fresh thoughts. So I decided to cheer him up and give him some more ideas.

- Do you know the joke about the Chinese girl?
- No.
- Two girls with long hair are meeting in an event. The browned hair girl wears her hair loose on her shoulders. The black haired girl wears her hair in a ponytail. This girl has almond shaped eyes so the other girl asks her:
- Are you from China?
- No, it is just my ponytail, which is way too tight.
- Idiot. - laughed John. - But I got the message. I do not want to look like a Chinese boy just because of my problems. So let’s make sail and let’s go forward! - he said with a little toast for me.

We lifted our glasses and finally we enjoyed something more than simple water. Finally I could taste my favorite eighteen years old Chivas Regal.

Paperback:  229 pages
Publisher:   Lulu
ISBN:  978-1-300-52746-6
Language:  English

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