We have a friend who is witty, creative and breathtakingly stunning. She’s skilled in a number of areas through efforts of her own as well as formal training and education. She’s a hard worker and has a track record of success.

And she’s looking for work.

Her plight got me to thinking about two things: First, men are idiots because she’s also single, but I digress. Second, I find myself returning again and again to three core focuses when encouraging those around me about their life. I’ll explore each of them in depth in upcoming posts. They are:

Wants

I think you should be able to thoroughly explain two things about your life in a minute or less each: what you want to do and why you want to do it. If you can’t, work on this until you can and here’s why:

  • If you can’t explain the what and why of your own life to yourself, how do you expect to achieve it?
  • If you can’t explain the what and why of your own life to anyone else, how do you expect them to help you achieve it?

The four key words here are thoroughly, explain, your and life. Think about it.

Impact

When considering the lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of things you HAVE to do, consider this: what todo list item will make the most impact towards my wants? Do that.

Skill

Think about your struggles and roadblocks and ask yourself what skill could be learned that would have the most impact in those areas? Go learn that skill at least well enough to get the impact you need.

Repeat

Perhaps the strongest reason I keep returning to these core focuses is that they are always present.

You’ll always be thinking about your wants whether consciously or not, you’ll ALWAYS have a to do list and you’ll always be one skill shy of taking the next big step forward.

Focus.