JJ Resnick - How Do Business Strategy and Focus Interconnect? Business strategy and focus are intimately connected. Having a business strategy sharply focuses your business and focus is absolutely required to accomplish your strategy. You must focus to create and execute a strategy. A strategy clearly delineates exactly what you choose to focus on, and gives a road map to keep yourself on track. You've got a tool to help you eliminate off-focus activities. Here are a few ideas for how you can use this dynamic interconnection of strategy and focus for your business. Gather all your focus for a few hours and create a cohesive and powerful strategy for your business. Know what you want to accomplish and plan how to get there. Clarify your tactics and action steps. Break all this down into the smallest activities possible. Rather than say "increase revenue", put down everything you will do to achieve that. Focus on executing your strategic plan. Refer to it frequently. Revise as needed in real time. Work to the plan. Don't get pulled off track by off-plan activities. If new ideas come up, add them to the plan, but do be sure that they contribute to the plan and aren't just the "latest, greatest, brilliant ideas".
Think twice about following the crowd. There's so much distracting "stuff" coming at us, it's stressful to have to consume productive time to consider the usefulness of all this input.
If "everybody" is touting the value of the latest social media craze, that doesn't mean it's right for your business. You might be better off waiting to see what methods turn out to have real value for your business. Focus on your strategy and let others come up with proven techniques that you can incorporate later. When you are working from your strategic plan, you focus naturally. It's easier to stay on plan. You have strong conviction about what your right next actions are. You feel clear, and don't go through all that confusion that is typical without a plan. You gain momentum, and experience greater success and excitement about your business. Off-plan activity doesn't have as strong a pull on you.
You're more aware when you're acting without focus. Since you've become more accustomed to working on your strategy in a focused way, it bothers you more when you're not focused. You're less liable to continue behaving that way and it's easier to re-focus. You have a written plan to use to clarify your focus at any time. You don't end up spending time meandering around lost. You've got a road map. You have greater security and confidence in your direction and business activities. You must maintain focus to achieve your strategic plan. Because you've already invested in creating the plan, you're more likely to see the value, remain invested, and continue to execute. If you fail to maintain focus on your strategy, you notice it immediately. The more that you use your strategy as a daily guidance tool, the better results you will get.