Top10 Black Belt Focus Tips

Top 10 Black Belt Focus Tips

Everyday Clients and friends ask me how they get Black Belt focus. They talk about the need to get more focused so that they can accomplish the things that they want to in record time with greater outcomes than they currently experience. To answer this and be effective, I have taken 19 years of martial training and over 25 years of business experience to distill it down into our best ways to sharpen your focus. Please leave a comment below to let us know your top focus tip!

1. Work from a clean workspace

Ensure that the 2-3 feet before your eyes is clear of clutter and things that will distract you from focusing your best. Turn off the gadgets, ignore the phone, clear the top of your desk. Only focus on what is now in this 2-3 feet of focus space.

2. Never start with a blank sheet -> Always use a template.

Very rarely are you the first person to be doing something that someone else has not attempted or succeeded at. Find a template that can springboard your ideas and creativity. This is a world-class shortcut that can save you hours of painful and wasted time each week. Ask around. Look online. Search and you will find a template that can enhance your available time that can be spent creating value and solutions.

3. All your stuff in one place

It’s really simple, but for a lot of people it might not be easy to do initially. You have to get all of your stuff in one place. Your stuff is the things that roll around in your head, the stack of paper, the 1,000 plus e-mails that’s in your inbox, and everything that’s falling out of your pockets. All that stuff is part of what I call 3D clutter. When you capture it into one place, you can capture, manage, and organize it without really worrying about it. If your stuff is in ten places, you worry about all those ten places. This dilutes your focus. One place equals strong focus. There are great tools out there like the Ultimate Information Manager that will help you achieve this goal.

4. Find Your Sensei

Everyone needs a Sensei. Sensei means teacher or mentor. Your Sensei is someone who has gone before you along the path that you want to follow. Your Sensei will be able to collaborate to help you determine your goals and how you can reach them faster together than you can on your own. Your Sensei will help strengthen your assets and help you minimize your weakness and train for both. Your Sensei can be found in someone you know or from a prominent author in your field of interest.

5. Know your Fundamental Success Indicators™?

At Samurai Innovation, we define Fundamental Success Indicators as a system that will help you reach your Essential Priorities twice as fast with half the effort. Essential Priorities are the top 3-5 goals, dreams or desires that will transform your life. By realizing these essential priorities you will make huge leaps towards what is truly most important in achieving in your life. We then add the key metrics that you will focus on move the needle forward.

6. Get to the next Practice

All success comes from a result of showing up on a consistent basis. To earn your Black Belt takes approximately 767 successive practices attended. You can substitute the word practice for whatever unit of measurement applies to your essential priorities. Some examples of a practice may be a workout, sales call, report completed, class attended, years of service, etc.

7. Choose the Best Weapons (tools)

Focus starts by choosing the best weapon for the task. Samurai carry 3 weapons that allows them to be prepared for long range (Katana/Sword), medium range (Wakizashi/ Short Sword) and close range (Tanto/Knife) battle. You need your tools to support you and be your slave versus being your master. Don’t struggle with a slow laptop, hard to use smart phone or an uncomfortable pen. Having great tools that work will allow you to focus on the result of completing the task versus struggling to complete the task.

8. Be Successful Before the World Wakes Up

What do you do first thing in the morning? Do something each day first thing that will contribute to realizing one of your essential priorities. Often, this can be done in the first hour or two after you have got out of bed. You will feel an immense sense of strength and confidence going into your day by having been successful in one key area of your life.

9. Work When Everyone Else Isn’t

People often are rated amongst the biggest distractions and obstacles to getting the things that you want done accomplished. Work on important tasks and projects when everyone else is on a coffee break or eating lunch. Drive to work earlier or later than everyone else and use that same time period for higher productivity. You will find that the coffee shop, restaurant and highway will be less busy when you get there because everyone else is not there. Plus, you will have had uninterrupted focus time to move closer towards achieving your essential priorities One day, everyone else will wonder how you became successful faster than them!

10. Celebrate Don’t Denigrate

Often times, we are harder on ourselves than anyone else can be. You need a formal written place to capture and record your wins. Big wins, small wins, they all count. Read this list whenever you feel frustrated by the twists and turns that life often brings. It will help you get back on track quicker and remind you of the strength and power you have.

BONUS TIP

11. Never quit on a bad day

A wise Sensei once told me to never quit on a bad day. Always quit on a good day when your mind is clear and your focus is sharp. Let persistence and perseverance build your power of focus. Your focus will get better and you will have more good days than bad. Leaving, stopping or quitting on a good day is the result of careful planning which sets you in a position of strength with greater choices and options to work from.

About the Author Shane Fielder

I am a grower of human capability and a business builder. The best part of my life is helping people become stronger and develop their skills, talents and character in order to lead powerful lives. I have had the great privilege to study under some of the greatest minds of business, leadership, health and fitness along with the most talented Martial Arts instructors. My passion is helping people to become even more powerful in life than they already are.