There have been times when I’ve chased the proverbial rabbit down a dark hole.
You know what I mean. You’re concentrating hard on a particular task or subject and before you know it your mind starts wandering or you start daydreaming or chasing some esoteric idea down an internet rabbit hole.
It’s what happens most of the time on Facebook and Instagram.
Because I do struggle some with focus, I began researching information on how to be better focused. I found a number of “focus” related quotes which I thought (somewhat) helpful.
“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.” - Zig Zigler
“That’s been one of my mantras – focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” - Steve Jobs
Basically, then, we have 24 hours to move a mountain.
If it were only that simple.
I’ve been intrigued for quite a while about what makes a good leader. Why is it that some people succeed as leaders while others don’t? Why are there thousands of books and articles on leadership? Shouldn’t one good book tell us what we need to know regarding how to be a leader?
Apparently not. Research by Eric Douglas at Leading Resources, Inc., claims that 40% of all new executives fail within 18 months.
18 months?! Ugh.
Ostensibly, there are many reasons for leadership failure. Douglas’ article says failures happen because of issues usually dealing with culture, teamwork, expectations, and political savvy.
One thing which wasn’t mentioned by Douglas was how traumatic events shape a person’s brain in such a way that makes it hard to effectively lead (and follow).
Let’s see if we can make a case for helping leaders succeed by understanding the connection of trauma and leadership.
Daniel Goleman, a leader in the discipline of Emotional Intelligence, wrote an article titled, “The Focused Leader,” which was published by Harvard Business Review in December 2013.
Goleman said that leaders need to focus their attention on three areas: on yourself, on others, and on the wider world. He found it’s the internal and external focus (i.e., yourself and others) which helps cultivate emotional intelligence.
For brevity’s sake, I’d like to discuss a few insights on focusing on yourself. We will look at focusing on others and focusing on the world at a later date.
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