How to Focus in 2023 with Matt Alder
Today, we’re re-posting an episode of the Recruiting Future Podcast where host, Matt Alder, interviewed our very own Erik Qualman. Erik and Matt discuss Erik’s journey to writing the #1 bestselling book The Focus Project, the importance of saying no, spotting patterns, time fencing, the 20/20/20 rule, and much more.
In addition to hosting the Recruiting Future Podcast, Matt Alder is a professional speaker and has delivered keynote presentations at events in 17 countries. Back in 2006, Matt created one of Europe’s first blogs on talent acquisition and has researched and written extensively on the industry ever since. Matt co-authored the book Exceptional Talent with Mervyn Dinnen, which was published by Kogan Page in 2017.
5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling. Qualman is also the inventor of the bestselling board game Kittycorn.
Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.
How to Focus in 2023 with Matt Alder
Episode Preview:
“What if I just for a month focused on organizing my house? Like that was my key focus, instead of just kind of picking out? What if I just focus on organizing the house? Or from a business perspective? What if this month is focused on sales that there was this really hardcore and sales rather than just doing all the maintenance of a business? Why didn’t why don’t I just focus on sales? And so when I pause, I go, Well, life’s still happening. So I can’t just do 100% sales, so I carved out time for where I go. Also, if I would have put this in the book, how much time do people have to dedicate? So that’s why I really spent each day I started with two hours and cut it back to a half hour just to half our day is going to focus on that big thing. And each month, I was going to pick something different. So one month was family. The first month was sales or growth, I call it growth. So people that what’s the one thing you have to do to be able to afford to do this project? And for me, it was sales. But those were kind of the things that I tackled.
Now, the top learnings that I got from it, were number one, the focus is very, very, very, very hard. This is why I hadn’t been able to do it. And it took me six false starts before I was able to do it. So literally, I’d say, All right, we’re gonna do 30 minutes a day for sales or growth for this month. And I had six false starts, like there’s months ago, 18 minutes that for the day, I go 18 minutes for the month. Here I was laser-focused, I couldn’t do it. So six false starts with one focus is very, very hard in this unfocused world. Number two, the people that were able to figure out that focus better the most, don’t have it inherently in their DNA, rather, they put in systems and processes in place. And primarily, they say no to most things. So they can say yes to the big one. So they’re better at saying no than most of us. And they have systems and processes to do that. And then last but not least give yourself some grace, that it’s about progress, not perfection. So it’s literally just 1% Better per day when Sunday’s you’re going to be in the negative. But over the course of time, you want to just think about that roller coaster, there’s ups and downs, but you just want to make sure that over the course of five years, 10 years, that that roller coaster that that line, if you drew it out, would be continuing to go up. So again, think progress over perfection. So those are the top three takeaways that I got focus is very, very hard. Number two people that are very successful at focusing, it’s not inherent in their DNA that is putting systems and processes to make sure they achieve that focus. And primarily it’s about saying no. And then last but not least make sure that you’re giving yourself grace. It’s about progress, not perfection.”
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The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.
