Time for a Cold Shower?
March 12, 2009
A cold shower demonstrates that when you focus all of your energy and all of your conscious thoughts on a single objective, you can achieve great results.
With all the demands on our time, it is amazing that we are able to accomplish anything meaningful in the course of a day. It would be much easier if we were able to focus our full attention and energy on the task at hand.
For example, think about getting ready to go to work in the morning. You wake up early and decide to use this “bonus time” to start off the day with a relaxing hot shower. The water feels wonderful as it hits your back, and you imagine staying there all morning until you just melt into the floor.
As you’re enjoying the moment, the hot water suddenly runs out; and the water, very quickly, becomes ice cold!
Suddenly your dreams of a leisurely shower vanish, and the only thought in your mind is, “How fast can I get cleaned up and out of this shower?!” Instant focus. All of your energy and all of your conscious thoughts are focused on a single objective. Finish the shower. Now. You become very focused and very efficient.
A sense of urgency can add an incredible amount of focus to any situation. The ability to eliminate unnecessary distractions and focus on the immediate objective is as important for organizations as it is for individuals. Excessive meetings, political infighting, and changing directions all remove focus from achieving the organization’s objectives.
Try to identify the distractions in your environment that affect people’s ability to focus. See what can be done, if not to eliminate them, then at least to reduce their impact. Create an environment that allows your team to focus on what is important.
When you provide a clear direction for the organization and remove the endless distractions and roadblocks, you create an environment in which people can be more effective and produce tangible results.
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