If you want to follow your dream, say no to distracting things

Original author: Oliver Emberton
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imageArticles written by Oliver Emberton are constantly provoking keen interest. Today we present you a translation of the latest publication of the author.

Disclaimer: we did not set ourselves the goal of a literal or absolutely accurate translation of the original. The main thing is to convey its meaning. Please keep this in mind when reading. So, let's begin!

If you want to follow your dream, say no to distracting things!

Our brain sometimes behaves like a beach ball filled with bees. Hundreds of conflicting impulses push us in different directions.

People don’t want to focus on one thing. We need to do everything at once. At the same time, we want to do exercises, learn Spanish and order pizza. Each person simply has countless desires, independent of each other, each of which is trying to push our beach ball in its direction.

And in the end, the ball remains in place.

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- I want to write a book!
- I want a new job!
- I want a kitten!

That is how most people live. We feel an endless conflict within ourselves. We never have enough time. And those processes that occur within us are stronger than our ability to deal with them.
So let's fix it!

The curse of “another brilliant idea”

Imagine that you were a genius 20 years ago, and you had the idea of ​​developing Google, Amazon and Facebook. You just took and came up with the three most ingenious business ideas of the last century, and if you implemented one of them, now you would be a billionaire. But if you decided to implement all three projects at the same time, you would not succeed.

Simply generating brilliant ideas is not enough. Many people suddenly have very smart ideas. I will say more - the problem is that too many great ideas just neutralize each other.

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- I want to launch Facebook!
- I want to run Google!
- I want to launch Amazon!

That is why a team of very smart people may not be successful. Leadership does not work in breadth. The more cases you exchange (the more bees pull your beach ball to the greater number of sides), the less distance you will advance.
How do people achieve the impossible?

Imagine that you have a very ambitious goal. Say you want to write a book or fly to Mars.

If you just need to do it - your life and the life of all those who are important to you depend on it - how exactly do you do it?

For the sake of this super important thing, you will abandon the rest. A hundred bees will turn into one giant bumblebee, which will push the ball very quickly in the right direction:

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Manic focus on one thing is perhaps the main secret of success. This rule has been confirmed many times - from Edison to Einstein. When you can focus on one goal, you can reach your maximum:

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Most people cannot succeed without a lack of potential. The thing is that their potential is sprayed in different directions.

How to tame your swarm of bees

You will always want to try something more than what you can achieve.

Unfortunately, spraying on several cases at once, you are guaranteed not to achieve success. Focusing on one important thing is the fastest way to succeed.

Try the following:

1. Set high goals. If you have low ambitions, they are easy to overcome. Paradoxically, it’s easier to set yourself truly ambitious goals, because they are worth it to postpone smaller things for a while.

2. Limit to three. Make three lists for different parts of your life — say, “work,” “home,” and “leisure.” Designate one goal for each of the lists. If you just need to do more, just keep in mind that adding each new goal reduces the efficiency of completing tasks from the list by 25%.

3. Set aside. Everything that is not in priority now can be postponed until later. Mark Zuckerberg was smart enough to start Facebook first and then start learning Chinese.

4. Beware of idle desires. Control "those things that are in principle unimportant, but really want to do." Perhaps they are performed on the machine, they look completely harmless and bring you comfort. But in fact they are deadly. One new business will reduce the likelihood of success of your main task by a whole quarter.

5. Ask your bumblebees the right course. You may not be able to come up with the next generation of Google, cure cancer, and land on Mars at the same time. But you can simultaneously become, say, a successful CEO and a person in excellent physical shape. Success and good fitness can be complementary tasks: a healthy person is more likely to become a good leader. These two goals are like two bumblebees that push the ball in one direction.

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Those few people who have achieved truly impressive successes have done something very important for our world, they are unlikely to be able to fully realize their goals, spraying on several things at once. They gathered all their bumblebees and directed them in one direction, saying “no” to all the other possibilities that life gave them.

If you want to have power over yourself, want to follow your dream, you need to say “no” to all the bees who are trying to lead you off the right course. It’s not easy, but now, at least, you know how important it is.

Good luck!

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