Information. Ideas. Action. Commitment.

By Craig Arthur

There is much of the first two, very little of the third and even less of the fourth.

Stay FocusedYou are standing beneath a waterfall flowing heavy with information. Your mind is swimming in a swarm of ideas.

The danger with so much information, so many ideas, is that you never implement anything. Or you start much, but finish nothing.

We have become like butterflies… happily flitting and drinking from a field of brightly coloured flowers (websites, books, magazines, seminars, podcasts, newsletters, Facebook, Twitter…) oh… there’s a pretty one… and another… and another.

Information and ideas, no matter how brilliant, are worthless without action and commitment.

So to action…

1. Select ONE idea
2. Commit to this idea
3. Map a plan
4. Implement your plan
5. Stay focused… don’t be side-tracked by pretty new possibilities.

Let’s look at this another way… below is an extract from Making Ads Work.

“The idea of media mix assumes that your advertising budget is adequate to do a good job in each part of the mix. Proctor & Gamble, Coke, Pepsi, Ford, and the other big boys are able to accomplish a media mix without being forced to compromise any part of it. They can mix radio, television, newspaper, magazines, and skywriting without having to do anything halfway.

Is this true of your company?

Do you have this kind of budget?

If not, I recommend that you do one thing well rather than two things badly. You may be able to do two things well, but our firm has never worked with a company that could do three things well. But then our firm has never worked with anyone who had more than a couple of million dollars to spend on advertising.”

The above principle of concentration of resources as opposed to dilution applies equally to your business ideas.

Do you have the resources to commit to multiple ideas at once?

If not, we suggest you do one thing well rather than two things badly.

Select one idea. Commit to that one idea. Implement that one idea. Finish that one idea.

Then move on to the next.