Most entrepreneurs I know brag about their level of ADD, as a badge of honor. And for some, jumping from idea to idea really works, yet it’s tough to scale that, delegate it, or pass it on, because this pseudo ADD is really your communication style.
Businesses grow by communication as well as conversion; if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, you have to go beyond your efforts and get others to help you. Use your persistence to help focus your message from a long list of rambling ideas to 3 specific actions people can take, and test, to see if those ideas make sense.
(Quick disclaimer; I know ADD is real and important to deal with from personal experience. What I cover here is the growing acceptance of Enterpreneur’s ADD – a world of ever changing ideas and reactions to challenges – that can be the driving force or the destroying force of most businesses.)
Beyond the Entrepreneur’s ADD Excuse: Get Your Team to Focus by Focusing Your Message, and Be Persistent
Most entrepreneurs have no problem being persistent, up front and in people’s faces to get things done. I want to challenge you to bring a new persistence, based not just on your drive but getting others to help you build your business without having to be like you.
This ADD you brag about is likely your key challenge in business, because it’s hard to follow. Inside your team it may work for a while, but as you grow and add people, it gets harder to understand. You want your Team to focus? Then focus how you communicate your business and message to your folks.
Persistence and focus are so critical to your success. I think many entrepreneurs use their “ADDism” as an excuse not to focus, excellent point. One thing I’ve learned is to take those reams of ideas and pick the 3 you can focus on for the next 3 months, and prioritize, because no one can do everything they list, it’s all about the execution of the idea, not the idea.
Here’s how to delegate your ideas and bring focus:
1. Do a session where you go free form and write down all those ideas, list them up. Soon you will find a list that could choke out the will of any Team to execute on. From that list do your first editing and cut out the vague and general ideas, so you edit down the list to something usable.
2. Now stare at that list and challenge yourself, use your persistence; if you could only choose 3 things to do, 3 actions that would provide measurable impact for your business based on this list, and had 5 minutes to choose, which ones would you choose?
3. Take those 3 and focus your Team, and yourself, on executing those ideas. Give them a chance to test it and don’t just run away if it doesn’t work. Keep doing your lists, and keep doing your editing, and soon you’ll find that your business is really only working on those 3 top ideas, and the rest are just a waste of time for you, and for your Team.
Persistence without focus may work, but likely just for you as an individual entrepreneur. In today’s world of social and mobile media, it’s how you motivate your connections, both inside and outside your business that understand what you do, to take action that separates the winners from the also rans.
Don’t let what works for you get in the way of what works for other people, who are the majority after all. Constantly cull your idea stream into actionable items that people can execute on and create measurable results.
Results are all that matters and it all begins, as an entrepreneur, with your persistence and focus.
How do you keep yourself focused and going? Share some things that work for you…
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