Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have shared the same key to be successful: choose what to focus on

Bill Gates’ father brought together several people, among whom He was Warren Buffett, and asked what it was, in a word, The secret of his success. Both Microsoft’s founding millionaire and his good friend Buffett responded exactly the same: focus

“You must focus. Eliminate distractions. Commit with only one thing and become excellent in it. “These are some of the advice that insistently repeat many productivity experts, such as the author of ‘Atomic habits‘, James Clear.

This idea sounds logical. However, the big question for those who read those advice is How to know what to focus your energies.

Experience before choosing

How to know what to dedicate your attention and energy if you don’t know what really interests you? That is one of the questions you must answer before asking yourself What to focus on.

Before deciding on what to concentrate your energy, it is necessary to try different paths. As Clear tells In your personal experienceDuring his first year as an entrepreneur he made many mistakes: “I launched my first product without having an idea who would sell it (big surprise, nobody bought it).”

Therefore, your recommendation is Do not get obsessed with a single idea will work. It is necessary to try between four and five different alternatives for a while and, if it does not convince you, go to the next.

This approach to “try things until something is easy” is essential because, regardless of the objective, it must adapt to your nature and skills.

If you are looking to be more productive, experience with several Organization techniques. However good they are and no matter how much they work To people in your environment, you may not adapt to your way of working, To your biorhythms or your way of processing the information. Simply stop committing you to work with you and try Another different technique.

The same happens if your goal is to start exercising, prove different sports. Maybe the Running Don’t be yours And it seems bored, and what you really enjoy is yoga or paddle.

As the author of the Best seller on productivitythe important thing is not to obtain that a single option must work at all costs. Leaving behind what does not fit with you will allow you to discover what best suits your personality and lifestyle.

Choose and Persevear: Invisible work

Once you have experienced enough to discover what fits you and what is not, it is time to decide What are you going to focus on. As Clear explains, there comes a time in the process in which you don’t need more information, you just need to make a decision. This is one of the most difficult moments, because it implies putting aside the constant search and commit yourself to a single option. It’s time to focus.

From here, perseverance becomes fundamental. Real progress It is not usually visible at the beginning. For example, you must be aware that, if you start going to the gym, you will have to do thousands of repetitions before noticing physical changes. If you want to be a great chef, you will first have to cook many mediocre (or bad) dishes.

As Ira Glass pointed outfounder of the podcast This American Life“Your taste is good enough to notice that what you do disappoints you.” That is, only through repetition and constant learning the basis of success for a project, regardless of its nature, begin to lay. It doesn’t matter if it’s about Study oppositionsimprove your productivity, read more either Acquire new habits healthy

The practice and art of simplifying

Excellence is achieved with constant practice. After going through the phases of experimentation and hard work, the time comes when you can start simplifying.

James Clear summarize it like this: “Only after completing the repetitions you will understand which parts of the task are fundamental for success.” It is then, when You have created a solid systemWhen you can Cut processesbetter choose your tools and eliminate what does not provide value.

Getting something simple is, paradoxically, the most difficult. As wrote Blaise Pascal: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”

True mastery consists in knowing exactly What is essential and what is accessorysomething that is only achieved after a lot of practice and learning. Each person has their own rhythm, but the path to simplicity and approach inevitably happens through experience and perseverance.

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