Why Focusing on Your Goals Will Make You Poor
And how to turn those wealth-enhancing brain circuits back on — intelligently
Many wealthy and successful people attribute their great successes to focus. For example, tennis sensation Serena Williams points to her laser-like focus to avoid distractions. And wealth creators Warren Buffet and Bill Gates used one word to describe the reason for their success — “focus.” On the surface, this sounds believable. Yet, on further examination, you will see that the secrets to their success are far more complex.
In contrast to consistent focus, in other interviews Williams has also added, “It’s important for us to set new goals and keep trying to innovate.” And she has emphasized that it is key for her to “stay focused and relax.” She may be focused, but she also needs some downtime and to frequently change things up.
When you look at the lifestyles of Buffet and Gates, they too need to build unfocus times into their days. Gates believes in “think weeks” — time away to ponder the future. And Buffet himself has said, “I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business.”
These statements may seem like overt contradictions, but they are part of the paradox of wealth creation. According to the most recent research, both focus and unfocus are essential for our brains to act optimally. On their own, each will likely impede even the most ambitious people on earth.
How focus blocks wealth creation (and questions to ask yourself):
The “blinker” effect: When you focus, you effectively proceed through life with blinkers on. And the more you focus and stay fixed in your thinking, the less you will notice amazing opportunities.
Kodak, for example, was so fixed on optimizing traditional film capture, that they did not see the digital transformation that was happening all around them, leading to their demise. No matter what you are doing, add unfocus time to your day if you want to know what’s happening around you.
Question: What is happening around you? What are others doing that you are not? How is the competitive landscape to your work developing?
The “low beam” effect: When you’re in deep fog, it may make sense to look only at what is in front of you. But when you’re on an open road moving at top speed, your high beams are what will help you see ahead to avoid a deer crossing the road.
In wealth creation, this means that you would benefit from turning your “focus” beams off, and your “unfocus” beams on from time to time. This is what will help you see the impact of disruptive technology on your industry. And it’s what will help you know the competition that is ahead as well.
Question: Is there some unknown in your future that you are missing? Have you talked to people about upcoming trends? How will you adapt to these trends?
The “disconnected” effect: Some of the greatest wealth-creating opportunities have come from seeing connections. For example, Apple was able to see how a telephone, e-mail and music could live on the same device. You don’t get these kinds of insights from simply plodding ahead. Your brain needs time and the right conditions to make connections and develop these insights too.
Question: What connections are you missing in your own life? How would you connect 2–3 phases of your life? How would you connect two prior jobs to understand yourself more deeply? How might you connect two things that interest you?
The “reality” effect: Most people in the world are not wealthy. As a result, the probability of anyone being wealthy is low. Poor people live with this perspective of reality as a guideline. The wealthy dare to engage their imaginations to see beyond reality.
You have to turn to possibility-thinking, a way of navigating forward with questions, answers, and course correction, rather than one single way forward.
Question: What is one obstacle to your life? How have others in similar positions to you overcome it?
How unfocus can increase wealth creation (and questions to ask yourself):
To be clear, I am not suggesting that distraction is the way forward. Rather, I am suggesting that you loosen up on the grip of focus. Ask new questions. And build unfocus time into your day to create new wealth.
Let’s say you are low to average wealthy. You may be tempted to procrastinate over your next career moves. Yet, the actual opportunity for wealth may be metaphorically on the other side of the horizon — you may not be able to see it from where you are in life. How do you then proceed with unfocus by your side?
Here’s a three step unfocus strategy that could help you get unstuck. Start working on this today.
1. Start with possibility thinking: Serena Williams beat Victoria Azarenka in the 2012 US Open, despite being 3–5 down in the final set with Azarenka serving. Most people would simply try to stay in the match. But that wasn’t what Williams said that she did in an interview after the match. Instead, she quickly calculated how many points she needed to win, and she went after them. The probability was that she would lose. But she simply focused on what was possible to win.
Possibility engages the brain’s unfocus network, and like our belief in placebo, it relaxes us because our natural opioids increase. It also increases the brain’s reward chemical — dopamine — and you feel more motivated to win.
Question: Do you believe that wealth creation is in the cards for you? Do you believe this deeply? Are you committed to this belief?
2. Navigate forward with your imagination: When you’re poor, your brain is also more cognitively compromised. Focusing on your life will just depress you more. That’s why you need to turn elsewhere. First, you need to have a growth mindset — the belief that your conditions can change. Studies show that this reverses the impact of poverty on achievement. Then, you need to imagine what you want.
This is not just some pie-in-the-sky idea. Imagination stimulates the movement areas of the brain. It serves as a kind of navigation and will help you refine your goals too. Imagining your next move or goal will get you out of the obstructive effects of poverty on your mindset, and you can refine this image as your learn new things too.
Question: Do you believe you can change something to increase your wealth? What one outcome do you imagine? A bigger house? More travel? Can you imagine this without any thinking about how you will get this during your imagination time?
3. Build in unfocus time like Gates, Williams and Buffet: Identify the slumps in your day to recharge your brain with unfocus. Mid-morning, after lunch and mid-afternoon are key targets. There are many ways to intelligently unfocus.
If you don’t have a lot of time, 10 minutes of napping will increase your clarity for wealth plans. Napping for 90 minutes will increase your creativity for wealth planning. Make walking a habit for a year, and it will engage your unfocus/creative circuits too. This stimulates creative thinking about solutions for wealth, and outdoor activities have a similar effect too. So even if you have a 9–5 office job, make outdoor activities part of your life today.
Question: What new unfocus time have you developed in your day?
Focus is an important part of the wealth-creation mindset. But without unfocus, it is sterile. It will turn off the very circuits in your brain that you need for possibility thinking, imagination, self-confidence and creativity. And as a result, it will likely drive you away from the wealth that you desire.
