Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

There’s a lot of noise in this world.

Everywhere we turn, distractions clamor for our attention and affection. Perhaps never has this been truer than in our age of social media megalomania.

Not all these distractions are necessarily bad. Many good things vie for our attention every day, week, month and year. Our problem is that the more we say Yes to, the less we do well. The more we let into our lives, business, project or just a regular day, the less we can focus on what matters most.

We have to start by discovering and defining the main thing. What is the most important thing about your brand? What’s the one thing you do better than everyone else in the world? If you can’t give something to believe in, then there won’t be value in it.  It actually requires a tremendous amount of focus, strength, and restraint to identify this and then stick to it. Most businesses want to make 3 things the main thing. But that’s impossible.

And when we lose focus, we lose impact.

So when it comes to your next project, there will be many temptations to chase secondary things. We can gather massive amounts of information about your company or product, but if we can’t distill it into a singular mission and objective — this doesn’t have to be bland, but can and should have depth and richness — then we won’t be fully capitalizing on the opportunity in front of us to resonate deeply with your audience.

As Jim Caviezel once said, “I do what I do, and I do it well, and focus and take it one moment at a time.” Give yourself permission to let go of the secondary things so you can give your best to what matters most.