4 Ways to Increase Focus (From a Fighter’s Point of View)

As a former fighter, I tend to see many aspects of business through the lens of a Kickboxer. Whether that is competing to reach sales goals, onboarding new customers, or in this case, developing Focus.

If you want to succeed in business there are many, many things that you need to do. But one of paramount proportions is to increase your ability to focus because it literally affects every area of your business. As a fighter, if you increase your ability focus, your chances of getting a hard hit, receiving a standing 8-count or getting knocked out cold diminish greatly. Likewise, in business, if you increase your capacity to focus, you reduce your likelihood to procrastinate, lose sales or drop the ball, thus causing your chances of long-term success to grow exponentially.

4 ways to increase your business focus

1. Focus Your Eyes

   Any good fighter knows that they had better keep their eyes on their opponent at all times. Because as soon as they look elsewhere- bang! – they get hit! Now, you may not be looking to fight for the title anytime soon, but I’m sure that you can remember a time in your life when you took your focus off of an important goal only to find yourself suddenly far away from what you really wanted. I know scores of business owners who have allowed this to happen to them. They let someone or something else plan out their business life for them and then years later they feel unfulfilled and angry at themselves. All because they had lost their focus and taken their eyes off their target.

   On a daily basis, you have to keep your eyes focused on what your business goals are, otherwise reaching them simply becomes an “I really wish I had…” statement later in your life. Fortunately, the “focusing your eyes” step is about as easy as it gets! Here a few simple ways to Focus Your Eyes on your business goals:

• Write your goals on a piece of paper and keep them on your bedside table so you can see them each morning and each night.
• Tape your goals into your day planner or onto the visor in your car.
• Tape your goals on your bathroom mirror to look at each morning and evening as you brush your teeth.
• Tape your goals inside your closet door to see each time you change your clothes.
• Have your goals scrolling across your computer at work as your screen saver.
• Create your own focus exercise.

Read more on using a day planner.

2. Focus Your Mind

   It does no good for a fighter to keep their eyes on their opponent if their mind is somewhere else. That not only gets a fighter hit, it gets them hurt! Each day your brain is bombarded with millions of different messages from staff, customers, the media, the internet, billboard signs, etc. Companies try hard to get your attention and if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll follow just about anything.

You need to be sure that your mind knows exactly what is important to you and what you need in order to achieve it. Because when your mind has that specific information, it will literally find those things for you. Don’t believe me? Look around your room right now and look for anything blue. You found several things and very quickly too, I’m sure. Now look for red. Quick and easy again, right? This is because once you tell your mind what you want, it will literally filter-out what you DO NOT want and give you what you have deemed important. So be sure that you send as many vivid pictures to your mind as you can so that it finds the things that are most important to you.

• Make a Vision Board- Cut out pictures from magazines of what you want your business to look like and paste them on a large foam board
• Have that Vision Board at your office and at home as well.
• Take time to meditate alone with your eyes closed and really imagine what your business will be like when you’ve reached those goals. (The sights, sounds, smells, feelings, etc.)
• Discuss your vision with your closest friends, family members, staff, and use the best verbiage to paint as thorough a picture of what your accomplishment will look like once you’ve achieved it. (The more people you tell, the harder it will be to back out.)

3. Focus Your Body

   Show me a fighter who waits until the week before a fight to begin their training and you would have shown me the loser of that bout. A good fighter gets themself in shape LONG before they enter the ring. So, are you physically ready? Meaning do you go to that sales call unshaven, unrehearsed, or unshowered? Are your clothes wrinkled when they should be cleaned and pressed? Are your pants several sizes too small or too big because you’ve gained or lost lots of weight? If you’re looking for success in the world of business, then you need to dress like it. Not too many sloppy people get great promotions or land big deals. For example, if you’re looking to be a success in the fitness industry, then you better look the part.

Business owners who look like they’re coming off of a week-long bender do nothing to help build trust with prospects and achieve the big deals. As much as you hear the old saying “never judge a book by its cover”, no one ever practices it. You judge someone by the way they look as much as the next person.

In fact, I recently received an invite from someone wanting me to send my clients to him for credit help. He looked like a young thug. Maybe he’s got the goods, but if he’s supposed to represent me when I send customers to him? No way.  So, why not try to make other people’s judgments of you more on the positive side?

• Stand/sit up straight- Mom was right
• Walk with confidence- it will literally give you confidence
• Make solid eye contact (just don’t be creepy)
• Ask good open-ended questions to gather information
• Gentlemen- Trim the nose and ear hairs
• Dress for success- like I just said, if they’re gonna pass judgment, receive a good one.
• Get in good overall physical shape- you’ll finds that you get immediate respect and you’ll be able to enjoy your accomplishments much more without having to catch your breath!

4. Focus Your Actions

   This step is about as simple as it can get: take action. Just as a fighter is set – eyes, mind, body – and ready to go 12 rounds, you need to be ready for business success by taking the actions necessary to reach your goals. Get going on what you need to do to accomplish your biggest business goals because you can write out goals and create vision boards all you want, but if you don’t DO what you know you need to DO, then you’re finished before you even start.

Each day, there should be some sort of routine that you go through that will help you get a little closer to your business goals. The routine can be created by using time blocks for each activity, so you’ll know exactly what actions you should be taking and when. These routines, or time blocks should include:

• outbound call blocks
• marketing blocks
• outside sales call blocks
• social media post creation (not just posting, but creating and planning)
• customer follow-ups and upgrades
• time block for upgrading/improving web site/location
• time block training/coaching staff

Alright, enough reading. Hands up, chin down, and move forward.