Ready, Fire, Aim

That's kinda backwards, isn't it?

I catch myself doing it all the time. I get an idea, remember something I need to do, all while I'm in the middle of something else. I'm distracted by the new thought, so I get up to go fix whatever, grab whatever, do whatever, so I can come back and focus. But then sometimes I can't remember where I was going or what I was going to do. Or I see something along the way and stop to do it, then move on to something else, and remember my original goal, um well, sooner or later.

50+ mentalpause may be partially to blame.

But not really.

Our pressure to deliver is my prime suspect. We have to do something to feel worthy, to make progress, to stay ahead of the crisis that is sure to come. So we rush into action, way ahead of thinking through our plan. We focus on the doing, the busy-ness, pointing to activity as progress. We do, do and do again and wonder why we never reach our goal.

We're so busy doing, we don't know when we're done.

We head into markets firing with all our value, assuming something will hit a willing buyer right between the eyes. We cover the proverbial wall with marketing and sales campaigns - assuming something will stick.  We cold call potential customers with the same androgynous script, firing our chest-thumping messages at them before we understand their specific focus. 

Doing, without a goal, is wasted energy.

A crisp, well-defined goal helps us focus our doing. With a specific goal in sight, we can leverage all of our actions into a coordinated effort. Each step of doing becomes a building block for reaching our ultimate goal. We're more efficient, we get more done and we're more successful.

We can only hit the target after we take aim.

So the next time we get that urge to rush out and do something for the sake of doing, let's all slow down. Plan, take aim and then do. We'll get much better results. And who knows?

We might just hit the Bull's eye!

Comments

[Rebel]

A friend shared her personal experience about this post and I had to share with you.

She was racing out the door to make a plane,. looking everywhere for her briefcase that she had packed late the night before. She couldnt find it anywhere (luckily her ticket was in her purse). So she grabbed her laptop and headed out to avoid missing the plane. Jumped in the car, drove to the airport and parked. When she opened her door to get her luggage, she found her briefcase. And NO luggage. She had to make the flight so she grabbed the luggage and headed out.

When she called home that night - her husband asked why her luggage was sitting in her office chair - open and waiting.

Ready, Fire, Aim.... Doncha love those moments:)

Thanks for all your comments. We ALL can sharpen our focus, if we just SLOW DOWN a bit.

Keep smilin'

reb

[ava diamond (@feistywoman)]

For me, there's always the challenge of the delicate balance between staying focused on the goal and moving forward with laser focus, and letting things unfold organically and allowing some air in the schedule for serendipity.

As someone who is easily distracted by the next, bright, shiny object (such as commenting on your blog post, dear Rebel, rather than creating the site architecture for my meeting with my web designer this afternoon), this post is a great reminder for me.

[NaxiaYata]

I usually end up with so much to do that I can't even begin to remember where I was going last. Most of the time I just hope I end up where I want to be somehow. Hell I don't really know where that is but, you got me thinking that I should set goals and stick to em. Now if I can only keep track of all my goals.

Bleed u Later: NaxiaYata

[Bonnie Lelak]

Great article, and the upper portion really really sounds like me, thanks for helping me get back on target.