I find when I work with individuals and companies very often the details overwhelm the judgement of looking critically as what is important. There is no more important skill than to apply good judgement on what is important, and strip away distractions.

Being busy has become a badge of importance. Too busy to talk. Too busy to call someone back. Too busy to write a complete sentence. Or say please. I see executives who fall prey to trying to do so many things that they are ineffective at the important stuff.

I recently saw something attributed to Warren Buffet on how to prioritize. The lesson was to list twenty-five top priorities in order. Examine the bottom twenty and work hard to avoid them, as these are the distractions that will keep you from getting the top five things done.

One of the lessons I love about visual design is to question the value of every element. The example I remember distinctly was a graph that had all the typical elements - axis, labels, tick marks. Slowly as you take away these elements and ask yourself “was that necessary” it becomes clear that many of these elements aren’t necessary to discern the message of the graph. In the end, the graph is simple, elegant and powerful. (Apparently this resulted in a term chartjunk coined by Edward Tufte)

I was looking at a presentation the other day and the amount of detail on the slides obstructed the focus on the important story. I found myself asking “what is important for the listener to hear?” Anything that distracted from that message could be removed. I hear the concern “what if I’m asked to substantiate the detail behind this projection?” Depending on the audience, come prepared to address the detail (even distribute an appendix) or schedule more time to discuss. Don’t presume you have to slog through the detail in order to get your message across.

I see effective executives prioritize relationships and create connections. Effective leadership involves doing those things that nobody else can do. Effective leadership is also letting go of things that others can help you get done.

Maybe you are nervous about choosing just a few things that are important. Maybe you worry you’ll choose wrong, and the really important things won’t get done. When you choose to do everything, you do none of it well enough. You are guaranteed to do the important things badly.

Do you agree? Comment on how you find focus, and share this post with others.