Leader Compass 44 - Do Less Accomplish More - How to Create Massive Thrust and Achieve Objectives

I'm sure you've never felt stretched too thin. I'm confident you always have every ball you need to juggle perfectly lined up and never drop anything important right? Maybe not. If you are like most you have a tendency to take on too much and lose sight of important priorities.

Ask yourself the following questions to determine if you are currently in a state of ineffective confusion or a massive state of thrust.

1. When you start your day do you have too many competing priorities in your mind that you have a hard time focusing?
2. If pressed, could you answer this question quickly - what it the ONE thing that if you focus on it today would make the largest difference in your business, your team and your results?
3. Are you crystal clear on your focus and have you clearly communicated to your team the key priority for the day, week, month or year?
4. At the end of the day do you wonder "what did I accomplish?" 
5. Are leisure activities creeping in distracting you from your most important need and priority?

The challenge we often run into is we tend to clutter our minds, our schedules and our lives with too much. Too scheduled, less time to be present in the moment. Too many worries, less mind space to create. Too many priorities and none get the appropriate attention. 

Without appropriate focus we can't get any significant thrust and movement in our true priority in life. Note I said our true priority, not priorities. Gaining control and getting thrust requires focus and detail. 

Michelangelo's David is a true masterpiece. It was created by a master who knew how to remove the unnecessary to reveal the true beauty that lay within the marble block. To create a masterpiece in your life you must edit out the things that don't matter right now and only focus on what does. 

As Yvon Chiounard, founder of Patagonia has said "The hardest thing in to do is simplify your life. It's so easy to complicate things." Think about it - were the great masters amazing multi-taskers? Were the best of the best great because they were very "balanced?" No way. The best of the best were and are focused, passionate and perhaps obsessive. All the great thinkers, artists, athletes or business magnates all knew and know one thing - they are the best because they do less but accomplish more.

So the question we need to ask is "how do I create what I want?" How do I gain massive, jet-fighter-like thrust in my life and accomplish more? Let's look at 5 keys to creating thrust. 

1. Discover Your Why. Why do you do what you do? Why are you in business? Why are you a leader? Why did you start doing what you are doing? Why are you you on this earth? Dig deep and then develop a short statement about your why, your mission, and/or your purpose.
2. Get Clear. Determine what you want to accomplish. As a leader what is the most important focus area for your team right now? What is your most important personal focus? Get clear on what you want to accomplish and set a crystal clear objective. 
3. Edit Out. What is wasting your time? What habits do you have that are no longer serving you? What skills are outdated? What are you filling your schedule with that are
   distracting you? Like Michelangelo you need to edit out the non-essentials to create your masterpiece. Make a list and start to edit out the time wasters.
4. Do Less and Obsess. Ask yourself daily "what is the most important thing for me to do today that will move me toward my objective?" Another impact question I ask myself daily is "what will I be most proud of accomplishing at the end of the day?" Scale down and obsess. Commit fully to your growth and know that no one else will get you to your objective. Through passion, focus and obsessive effort you will be well on your way. 
5. Live Examined. Living an examined life is tough. It requires significant time to pause, reflect and examine what you are doing. Regular journal time, accountability conversations with a friend or coach, partnering with peers can all help to keep you accountable in your efforts.  

The 5 keys to thrust will help you move from a state of ineffective confusion to a state of massive thrust. Focused effort can help you develop any skill, improve any area and truly create what you want. Do less, obsess and accomplish more. Lead on!