“Success in any endeavor requires single-minded attention to detail and total concentration.”

Willie Sutton

WOW! This flies in the face of the “multi-tasking” philosophy touted in the work place these days.  It’s a staple interview question, “Can you multi-task?”  It’s also a boiler plate resume bullet, “Results oriented multi-tasker.”  Multi-tasking is a not what peak performers do.  Peak performers do one thing at a time, and do that one thing really really well.  Mediocre performers multi-task and dilute their mental focus.

When the performer spreads his/her mental energy in several directions at once, none of it is effective.  Concentrate on the task at hand, focus your single-minded attention on it and finish it.  Shut out any and all distractions, and you will be surprised how much faster and more effectively you will complete the task versus trying to accomplish several things at once.

One of the greatest tools the Marine Corps put in my Mental Toughness Tool Kit, is triage.  Triage isn’t just for large scale disasters or mass casualty events.  Triage simply is a process in which things are ranked in terms of importance or priority.  The first thing on my triage list is to do daily triage.  I take an objective look at everything I need to accomplish each day, week, month, and yes, each year.  Then I do triage to each task, obligation, goal, and even rest or fun stuff.

In the Corps, we designated tasks as 5 meter targets, 10 meter targets, 100 meter targets, etc.    The 5 meter target (or really close in bad guy or threat), is obviously the first priority.  We were trained to concentrate our fire power on that top priority until it was neutralized.  (Oh, and by the way, we were taught “one shot – one kill”, concentrating fire power doesn’t mean using all of your ammo on the close in target.) 

Prioritize what to focus on, and then CONCENTRATE on it with single-minded attention. (HINT: Put down the phone, the frosty, the burger, or the Slurpee, and concentrate on driving the car.)

Boo yah!!