Art of Focus

I read this article in Forbes India Magazine AR Rahman and the Art of Focus. I could not stop myself from comparing this with the corporate world situation. Based on the interviews with ARR, the author has summarized 4 basic lessons for learning and building the Art of Focus.

1. Pause
   Managers and leaders do need to build ability to pause for a few moments when everything around seems completely out of whack.  Some experts may call this introspection. But it does not matter what you call it, what is important is to create time to look at one\’s work and oneself as an outsider. This will not only help in generating energy and motivation that is required, it will also give one an opportunity to make corrections.
2. Pursue your Passion
   Pursue passion is important. This is the biggest source of motivating yourself. I actually call it \”Fire in the Belly\” with the fuel being the passion. People around you may or may not like your passion, but you would love it.
3. Assert Your Differences
   Agreeing with your colleagues &  team members and with your boss does not necessarily means you need to compromise. When we agree with differences we still leave the impact of our disagreement. But compromise is like surrendering oneself. You loose your identity and more important often surrender is not in line with your passion.
4. Choose the world that Supports you
   In order to pursue your passion, we must keep in mind that one may need to create support system around it. If it is not available one may need to create it.  If one resolves to do this, the impediments from existing environment would vanish. In simpler terms, either environment around you would change or you would changed them.
5. Master Distractions
   One needs to learn to manage distractions. The time window that is available without any disturbance is shorter. You have emails, phone calls, etc to make one jump out of the track. While multitasking is critical for success today, but it does not mean one would be multiple thing simultaneously and focus on each of them. One can focus on one and only one.

Great article and great learning form the life of great man.

Read more: http://forbesindia.com/article/recliner/ar-rahman-and-the-art-of-focus/32584/0#ixzz2UTJJp76L