Focus - but not all the time

Focus! Focus! Focus!  That’s the advice we are given. If we focus, we can perform, we can achieve.

But as with all such exhortations, such simplistic advice, such trite sayings, there is another side to examine.

Those who don;t focus all the time, who don’t keep their mind fixed on the way ahead, on the goal, are the ones that will have the sideways thought, the idea of a new direction, the innovative idea, the recognition of new ways of doing things.

Innovation does not arise from rigid thinking, from doing what we’ve always done but working harder at it, concentrating more.  We need new inputs to create new insights, new stimuli to create new ideas.

So, by all means, consider the goal and the direction of travel. But for some periods at least, allow your mind (and those of your staff) to wander down new paths, to explore things so far unexplored.

A single focus can be limiting.