Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Hey! “Keep Your Eye on The Ball”!

How any times have you heard that expression? Was it as a kid at bat for the first time? It could have been any sport really where one needs to focus “on the ball”. Or, maybe you’ve shouted it out to your child during their little league baseball or softball game. Regardless of whether you heard it or said, it is probably the universal call to pay attention, focus and avoid distractions.

So, what does this have to do with you and your business or career? Heck, nobody is perfect 100% of the time. However, I want to talk about those times where you wasted an opportunity that should have been yours because you took your eye of the ball – i.e. you allowed yourself to get distracted and lost your focus.

From my experience, people take “their eye off of the ball” for several reasons:

• They either did not have a plan or the one they did have was poorly constructed; lacking clarity on what was supposed to get done; by when; by whom and where it fit in to the big picture.
• They did not have a comprehensive vision of what they were trying to create, with measurable benchmarks to be achieved over a specific timeframe.
• They thought that they could wing it. You know make it up as they go. Winging it is not a strategy or even a realistic tactic. The answer is to plan; have goals and practice your craft until you can execute it flawlessly on a consistent basis under all types of conditions.
• They don’t take the time to learn from their mistakes when they took their eye of the ball previously. Failure to learn from your experiences condemns you to a life of re-living your mistakes. Geez! Is that what you really want?
• Finally, a lack of self discipline is probably the single greatest cause for someone not keeping their eye on the ball. They simply have not formed a strong enough habit to do the things they need to do consistently, persistently and systematically.

Keeping your eye on the ball and developing your ability to focus effectively, is critical to your success. You can dramatically increase your chances of “keeping your eye on the ball” by having a clear vision of where you want to go; reflected in an accurate plan with realistic goals supported by a disciplined approach to execute the plan.