Today’s strategy for increasing your focus is specific to learning new skills. It works best for skills that have are physical and also have a mental component to them.
The good news? This focusing strategy will give you amazing results.
The less-than-good news? This strategy has to become a permanent part of your practice regime. It’s not something you do only occasionally.
Zero in on the Real Issue
To see real forward progress in your skill set, you’ll need to zero in on the exact issue that is holding you back. This means two things:
1. You will clearly identify the issue.
2. You will work on the issue in isolation, that is, not combined with related skills.
To improve your skills, focusing on a specific aspect of the skill is an essential focusing strategy. Being vague won’t help you!
Here are some specific examples:
FOR PRESENTERS:
Let’s say your audiences are not following your call to action. It may be that your call to action itself isn’t strong enough or compelling enough, or it may not be an action that your audience feels will solve a problem they have.
On the other hand, your call to action may be perfect, and the real issue is the opening of your presentation. You may be starting your presentation in a way that does not create trust with your audience. If they don’t trust you, the world’s best call to action will fall on deaf ears.
First, identify exactly what the issue is. Then, work on just that issue. Come up with new ideas. Practice your physical presentation for that opening section. Practice over and over. Trying to fix your entire presentation is likely unnecessary. You must know the real issue that is stopping you from having the success you want.
FOR ATHLETES:
Let’s say you’re a tennis player, and your serves are not landing the way you need them to land. Since there are many components to creating the perfect tennis serve, simply practicing your serve over and over is unlikely to improve your skills.
Instead, you need to work with your tennis pro, or find a serve coach, and isolate the exact issue that needs the work. Then, you’ll practice improving just that issue. Could be your weight distribution. Could be the angle of your elbow and how that affects your racket placement. Could be your grip. Could be how tightly or loosely you hold your racket.
There are dozens of potential issues that need your focus. You must determine the real issue and zero in on it while practicing.
FOR MUSICIANS:
If you’re a musician, you may find yourself playing through an entire song over and over again. You may do this even if there are two specific locations in the song where you often make the same mistake. There is no reason to practice the entire song, hoping that the problem will fix itself.
Instead, work on just the specific area that needs your attention. Even when you’ve isolated the notes that need the work, you’ll still need to zero in on what’s causing the issue. Do you understand the rhythm? Can you get from one note to the next comfortably? Are your muscles tightening?
Determine the issue and focus only on that single issue to create a breakthrough in your skills.
FOR EVERYONE:
Once your attention is focused on the exact issue that you need to master, practice very slowly, accurately, and deliberately. It’s at this very point that you’ll be starting the process of building a new, successful muscle memory. Only through intense focus will you fix the problem.
