Maniacal Focus – Do You Have It?
Updated: Feb 11, 2024
Written by: Dale Halm, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
People’s inability to pay absolute attention toward achieving their goals is a huge impediment to their success. What’s missing is maniacal focus. Maniacal – sounds unconventional right? Exactly. Do you want to produce extraordinary results? Then you must behave in exceptional ways. Why maniacal? Because being maniacal means bringing deliberate and obsessive enthusiasm to your project. Do you do that? Ninety-five percent of humanity does not. This article highlights how being laser-focused on your goals is vital to your success.
Why successful people win
Do you want to accomplish that big almost impossible to realize goal you’ve been wanting to reach? Then get hell-bent on achieving it. That’s generating maniacal focus. What do Serena Williams (23-time tennis Grand Slam champion) and Satya Nadella (the CEO who reinvented Microsoft into a trillion-dollar software solutions business) have in common? They fixate on their goals with unshakable resolve. Colonel Harland Sanders (his chicken recipe was rejected more than 1,000 times before finding his first partner), Marie Curie (two-time Nobel Prize winner), and Thomas Edison (developer of devices in the fields of electric power, mass communications, and motion pictures) were considered outrageous. However, they changed mankind’s experience. They implemented innovative ideas. They achieved seemingly unattainable goals by being unbelievably devoted to their cause.
Maniacal focus is essential
Super successful people are incredibly focused. Think Stephen King (best-selling author), Tim Cook (CEO of Apple Inc.), Mackenzie Scott (philanthropist), and the late Kobe Bryant (professional basketball player). You might believe being fervent is foolish, but what’s tragic is not accomplishing your goal because you aren’t loyal enough to it. You are multitasking and telling everyone how busy you are. Congratulations. You are highly active but are you attaining your goal? The truth is you lack focus. You get preoccupied. You can spend time scrolling social media or take on an alternative approach − maniacal focus. This is being dedicated solely to achieving your goal. You need to be resolute. This is about having the audacity to be fanatical about reaching your goal.
Be laser focused
You must play boldly to win. You must starve your distractions and feed your focus. Cut out everything that takes away from your goals and priorities. You must become deadline-driven. If you have scheduled two hours of time for designing promotional materials on Wednesday at 3:00 pm, you do it. You must continuously envision yourself steadily succeeding. Block your time. Only do tasks that link to your goal. Refuse to let anything divert you. You must be laser-focused and unrelenting. This is living on purpose.
Be adamant about achieving your goal
You might be saying to yourself, “I’m just not wired that way.” So what? I don’t care how you are wired. What matters is reaching your goal. See the difference? You can justify your methods or break free from your safety net by going after what you want. Don’t let anything stop you. Be uncompromising. Guess what? It starts to be fun. How bad do you want your goal?
Less is more
Focus is better than intelligence, optimism, or ambition. Define your boundaries. Say no to things that push you off track. Honor your priorities over other people’s desires. A person who is highly centered directs their energy on only the vital few activities that are truly relevant to reaching their aim. They carve out concentrated time for the important tasks they choose to work on. As Author Tony Rush says, “You don’t get what you want in life. You get what you focus on.”
Just say “no”
You become more focused by reducing the number of commitments you make. As Warren Buffett (billionaire and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway) said, “The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” Concentrate on one week at a time, one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time. If you want to maximize why you are here on planet earth, focus.
Dale Halm, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dale Halm is the Founder of Dale Halm Consulting, LLC. He has held leadership positions for a Fortune 500 company and has contributed significantly to record-setting start-up operations resulting in multi-million dollar cost savings. Dale's extensive experience includes various training and organization development roles at Intel, Freescale (NXP), and Arizona Public Service Company. He is the author of The Excellence Agenda and specializes in transforming workplaces and maximizing human potential. Dale has been a speaker at numerous conferences and holds both a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Northern Illinois University.
