Focus

I have been intending to do a blog post on focus for some time, but ironically, there's been too much on for me to ... well, focus.

But the more I read and hear lately, the more I'm convinced that focus is a key to success. Better to do one thing exceedingly well than ten things averagely.

Easy to say, but for me currently heavily involved in two companies (SimonYoungWriters and iJump) and with an oversight role on another (Looksy.org) it's getting pretty tricky spinning the plates sometimes.

There's also two cultural factors that come into play. Kiwis have traditionally been generalists because they need to be. And as a journalist, I'm expected to know everything about everything that's happening.

So why am I convinced focus is important? A blog post by Jim Donovan started it all off, and then a conversation with Craig from Cyberglue added fuel to the fire. Cyberglue are evolving from a content management system company (which would be a good field to get out of, given the relative awesomeness - and freeness - of systems like WordPress and Drupal) to a niche provider of Membership Relationship Management systems to associations and industry organisations.

They were helped in their quest by Tony Seba, whose book (apparently, I haven't read it) demonstrates how focus has paid off for companies like Google, LinkedIn and others.

It's all pretty compelling, but how to get focused without smashing some of the many plates suddenly spinning?

And of course there's the fact that having multiple projects can be kind of fun, when they're not so stressful.

Will keep you posted!

(a hearty thanks to ihtatho for the photo!)