2. Focused Thinking Gives Ideas Time to Develop
I love to discover and develop ideas. I often bring my creative team together
for brainstorming and creative thinking. When we first get together, we try to be
exhaustive in our thinking in order to generate as many ideas as possible. The
birthing of a potential breakthrough often results from sharing many good ideas.
But to
take ideas to the next level, you must shift from being expansive in
your thinking to being selective. I have discovered that a good idea can become
a great idea when it is given focus time. It’s true that focusing on a single idea
for a long time can be very frustrating. I’ve often
spent days focusing on a
thought and trying to develop it, only to find that I could not improve the idea.
But sometimes my perseverance in focused thinking pays off. That brings me
great joy. And when focused thinking is at its best, not only does the idea grow,
but so do I!
3. Focused Thinking Brings Clarity to the Target
I consider golf one of my favorite hobbies. It’s
a wonderfully challenging
game. I like it because the objectives are so clear. Professor William Mobley of
the University of South Carolina made the following observation about golf:
One of the most important things about golf is the presence of clear goals.
You see the pins, you know the par—it’s neither too easy nor unattainable,
you know your average score, and there are competitive goals—competitive
with par, with yourself and others. These goals give you something to shoot
at. In work, as in golf, goals motivate.
One time on the golf course, I followed a golfer who neglected to put the pin
back in the hole after he putted. Because I could not see my target, I couldn’t
focus properly. My focus quickly turned to frustration—and to poor play. To be a
good golfer, a person needs to focus on a clear target.
The same is true in
thinking. Focus helps you to know the goal—and to achieve it.
