The importance of staying focused

THERE IS a friend of mine who struggled for a whole year in business without making any profit. But then, suddenly, he made a huge unexpected profit. He was so confused about how to spend the money. He told me he has decided to shift his office to more flashy premises, start building a residential house and buy a posh car. These were not bad ideas in themselves, but to me, withdrawing that kind of money from such a young business sounded unwise. I advised him to reinvest the money in the business so that it could first grow other than allowing a luxurious life to distract him from the very business that had earned him that profit. I explained to him about the ten-year cycle that money takes to grow and assured him that those luxuries and other elements of a good life would come in after that cycle has been completed and the business has sustained a predictable cashflow. Surprise, my friend took my advice in bad faith. He told me that instead of rejoicing with him in his success, I was underestimating his potential. He assured me he had a Big God who would do all those things. I barked off and let him be. And for a long, long period of time, I never saw him. Fast forward, two years later, I meet him on the street and only for him to narrate to me a sad story. He had started building but couldn’t finish the house because the money was not enough. His posh car had been crushed by a girlfriend in an accident and it had almost been written off. He had taken a loan in order to repair the car and complete the house but it wasn’t enough. Back at business, the cashflow was bad and so he had failed to pay back the loan. In the end, he had closed the business and was looking for someone to buy his unfinished house so that he could reduce on his debts. From my heart of hearts, I believe it was luxuries that diverted my friend from the right course. In fact he allowed me to share his story with my readers so that they too could learn the lesson and avoid being distracted. To succeed at anything, we need to remain focused, no matter the good things inviting us outside. Some people divert their attention on one important thing, claiming that they are diversifying. But, even if you are starting other projects for the sake of diversification, don’t do it at the expense of your major project which has already proved that it brings results. Be patient and give it your all until it has grown to the point where you can remove resources and attention and it continues growing. Try diversification in dating and see; you might focus on several potential marriage partners to avoid putting all your eggs in one basket only to end up breaking all the ‘eggs’. Once you have purposed to pursue a certain dream, don’t allow yourself to lose focus of the bigger picture except if you have realised it was a wrong and unfruitful endeavour. Personally I set myself to do business and I’ve been doing the same business for close to a decade. I give it 15-17 hours every day and because of giving it all my attention, its income has been more than tripling every month. My friend, stay focused on whatever you have purposed to do. Bake is the MD, World of Inspiration & Founder, Authors’ Forum in Uganda.