#FPF – Week 25
How are you at darts?
This was a question asked to a room of us attending a WordCamp developer conference over the weekend by one of the presenters.
I thought to myself “I’m pretty good at darts…” the presenter then asked “how good are you at playing darts with your dominant hand tied behind your back?”
[I have never tried, but I’d imagine I’m not so good]
He then went on to share a study that was done among casual dart players, where each was asked to throw darts using their non-dominant hand. They were broken up into two groups.
Before starting, the first group was told: “Just try and hit the board…”
The Result: 4 out of 10 throws hit the board.
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The second group however, was told something slightly different: “Try to hit the bullseye…”
The Result: 10 out of 10 throws hit the board.
The Point?
Most of the time when we are not hitting our mark, it’s because our focus is too broad… In the example above, the second group was hyper-focused on hitting the bullseye and not just settling for landing on the board. Even if they never hit the dead-center, every throw still landed on the board somewhere.
This concept reigns true in business also. The more focused we are on the specific goal we are trying to achieve, the more likely we are to derive outcomes that are more closely aligned to that goal (getting on the board!) Widening your focus leaves too much room for not making it on the board at all (falling short).
It’s Time to Narrow Our Focus…
I know I have been speaking a lot about the Holiday customer service/marketing tactics recently (hey… ’tis the season!), but the sooner you get to the core of what you should be focused on to drive sales and productivity for your business now, the sooner you will find the things you want to achieve falling into place. Narrow your focus, hit the target.
Your objective for next week? “Try to hit the bullseye!”
Thank you for reading and have a great weekend!
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