{"id":45153,"date":"2021-08-05T19:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T23:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=45153"},"modified":"2021-08-18T14:48:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-18T18:48:00","slug":"narrow-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrow-focus\/","title":{"rendered":"Narrow Focus: Accomplish More by Going Small"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How can a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/narrow-your-focus\/\">narrow focus<\/a> help you get more done? How can you go small while thinking big?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A narrow focus is key to accomplishing more. Rather than scattering your focus and spreading yourself thin, do one thing and then the next thing until you&#8217;ve tackled a big goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading to learn how a narrow focus can help you do more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Go Small With a Narrow Focus Every Day<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Everyone has the same number of hours in a day, yet some people accomplish more than others in the same amount of time because they \u201cgo small\u201d or narrow their daily focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Going small is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ignoring the vast array of things you <em>could<\/em> do and focusing on the right things.<\/li><li>Recognizing that everything isn\u2019t equally important and finding the things that matter the most.<\/li><li>Connecting what you do (your immediate actions) with what you ultimately want, realizing that you get big results by narrowing your daily focus.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Most people think and act in the opposite way. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-achieve-big-goals\/\">Achieving big goals<\/a> seems too complicated and time-consuming, so they set modest goals and keep busy with immediate demands. They work from jam-packed calendars and unprioritized to-do lists that keep getting longer. Before long they feel overwhelmed and even modest goals seem unattainable, so they scale back their goals and settle for less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doing too many things without subtracting anything means missed deadlines, high stress, long hours, lackluster results, lost sleep, and missed time with family and friends\u2014when success is actually a lot easier to attain than you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Big success comes, not from lowering your expectations, but from doing a few things well\u2014subtracting rather than adding to your daily tasks. <strong>Do fewer things that have more impact and your daily, focused achievements will add up to success<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Thinking big but focusing small works in any area of life. It means identifying and doing the One Thing that most advances <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/your-life-purpose\/\">your purpose<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Question to Ask Yourself<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If the key to getting extraordinary results is a narrow focus on the right One Thing, then you need a way of figuring out what that thing is. The way you determine it is by asking the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/focusing-question\/\">Focusing Question<\/a>:<strong> \u201cWhat\u2019s the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The focusing question takes two forms\u2014a big-picture and a small-focus question: 1) \u201cWhat\u2019s my One Thing?\u201d and 2) \u201cWhat\u2019s my One Thing <em>right now<\/em>.\u201d You ask the first to determine your purpose and the second to determine the most important immediate action toward attaining it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can apply it to every area of your life\u2014spiritual, health, personal, relationships, job, and finances\u2014to ensure that you\u2019re doing what matters most. Customize the focusing question by inserting your area of narrow focus; you can also include a time frame (this year\/month). For instance\u2014for my health, what\u2019s the One Thing I can do to ensure I exercise (today, this week, this year) such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A narrow focus helps you accomplish what is most important right now on the way to your bigger goals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How can a narrow focus help you get more done? How can you go small while thinking big? A narrow focus is key to accomplishing more. Rather than scattering your focus and spreading yourself thin, do one thing and then the next thing until you&#8217;ve tackled a big goal. Keep reading to learn how a narrow focus can help you do more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":45157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,7,30],"tags":[455],"class_list":["post-45153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-lifestyle","category-work","tag-the-one-thing","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Narrow Focus: Accomplish More by Going Small - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to use a narrow focus to accomplish more in the same amount of time. 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