Here is the complete transcript of the podcast
Welcome, or welcome back to Success with Srini. Today on the podcast, we are talking productivity again, I have done numerous podcast episodes talking about productivity. So today’s episode is not going to be that different. But it is different. So I want you to hang around with me. Listen to this. And if you like it, please rate the podcast, you’re watching this on YouTube. You can comment, you can share. Well, you can subscribe, you can like and all that.
Okay, so let’s get into this. Because of the kind of profession, I’m in, every time I meet people, one of the common questions, I get a screen is there one thing that you can share about success. This is one thing. Recently, just a few days ago, I was on mission peak, and I was going up. And this gentleman was coming down. And he says, Hi, Srini, nice to meet you and all that. And I said hello in all that. And then it says Sweeney, is there one thing that you can share with me on success? And I said yes. It’s one thing. I hope you got it. But again, when I said one thing, I meant it, it was a deep response. But then I said it jokingly, very quickly because I was going up, it was running down. So what I meant by one thing is everybody’s looking for that one thing. That’s the drive, that’s the push. But if there was one thing, then this whole thing would have been easier. And that is not the case. There are many things. And who knows how many things nobody knows. I don’t know, even though I do lists, I have no idea how many things are there that will get you to your goal. We know a few things. I don’t know what will work for you or what will not work for you. Hence we take our shots in the darkness. Literally, as I do this podcast, I’m taking shots in the darkness, I have no idea what is going to help you what is not going to help you. So we established a common baseline with like, we’ll say okay, go get some focus, go commit to your goals, set some goals. Do you know what card said your time? I mean, we tell these things, all of us, all the experts, all the gurus, whoever has any bit of an influence, they all say this, then how do we know what’s going to work? So when I said the one thing, what I meant was just do one thing, just one thing. And imagine just doing that one thing, whatever you have got going without any distractions, and with clarity, what will happen to you by saying one thing, what I meant was, keep everything constant in your life. Because there are many things in life you cannot change. Changing a job is hard to a new house is hard. Changing relationships is hard. We can’t change these things. Let us keep all of those as constants, and then only modify one thing. And that is your focus. And today’s podcast episode is about focus. And I’ve gone on to say how the book The Power of focus changed my life. And in fact, I’ve credited multiple authors, speakers, trainers, and mentors, on this podcast who contributed to my understanding of focus. I am who I am as a result of their contribution to me. I’ve studied their work. I’ve listened to them. I’ve heard them, I learned from them. So there are many. And today on this podcast I want to celebrate an incredible author, and speaker trainer, John Maxwell, and his work in leadership is second to none. And specifically, John Maxwell, in his book, how successful people think talks about the power of focused thinking. He says focus thinking can do about three to four things. The first and foremost thing focused thinking does is it will harness energy towards the desired goal. Whatever your desired goal is, you want energy behind the goal, then focus on thinking is the way to do it. He says focused thinking gives ideas time to develop. If you’re struggling with your ideas, you don’t have time to develop your ideas, just set some time, schedule some time, and go intense on those goals. That means you’re not focusing your thinking. Now we are in a culture where we are subscribed to expansive thinking, we think about this, we think about that. And we need to do all the 100 things that are piled on things that we have got going around us. But then focused thinking allows you to become selective with your thoughts.
That’s the big one. Becoming selective with things that he says focus thinking brings clarity to the target, how many times you have done things without knowing what the target is, if I can keep on making money, eventually I will retire with a lot of money. Not true. If I keep on exercising every day, eventually I’ll get to a point where I’ll, you know, have the body, I’ll have the health, not true, focused, exercise, focused income creation, focused investing. So clarity is important. Focus thinking does it and finally says, focus thinking will take you to the next level, whatever that next level is, you’re still struggling with your level, wherever you are. And you want to get to the next level, whatever that is for you. Focus thinking. So you have to take time to think through and put yourself in a position to think through to get to the desired goal, whatever those desired goals you have, or whatever that next level is for you.
Now, he also says something interesting, he says, now that you and I all agree that you know, focused thinking is necessary, where to focus on he says three things, the first thing you have to focus on is to identify your priorities. Something that we don’t do, we just flow by with life. We let life happen to us. And we are never in control. So priorities are important. And get the practice, right, the goals work. To identify priorities. So if you have to do something today, if you’ve got this podcast or listen to this podcast and use, say, Okay, what is my first priority, go get the book and read, okay, that’s the first priority. But then your job should take some time, and identify your priorities. That’s where I would start. And then the second one, he says, is to discover your gifts. All of us have gifts. We need to figure out what those gifts are and how to use them, to enhance us to create the big life that we’re trying to create and make meaning out of all this. And then he says, You got to also discover your dreams. Whatever the big dream is, or whatever those dreams are, you need to spend time discovering those dreams. That’s where he suggests that you focus. That’s where I suggest you focus. That’s where I focus every day. Okay, there’s more to this. We’ll continue on this, but I’m going to stop here.
Hopefully, this podcast episode is helpful. We talked about many books, and many authors, specifically when it comes down to focusing on thinking in my mind, focus equals thinking that not two different things. So if you’re an intense thinker, that means you’re focusing, you’re focusing that means you’re thinking, I’ll come back and do a few more podcast episodes, specifically talking about some other writers and speakers, specifically writers from the self-improvement movement that started in the early 20th century, some adulthoods. I did a couple of podcast episodes, talking about the art of thought, and several other books. And we’ll come back to that in the next few days. But for now, this is it wherever you are, be safe, and I’ll be talking to you as early as tomorrow. Stay tuned. Bye now.