Amplify Focus: Doing Less to Achieve More
For years, I have been obsessing over how to become more productive. I’ve read countless books, taken courses, and even written my own book. Eventually, I arrived at this golden rule: Busy is not productive.
It’s easy to confuse the two. In a relentless, detail-rich, service industry, the list of busy work is endless.
Yet, to be less busy, we need to be less busy.
If this sounds overly simple, it is—but simple doesn’t mean easy or unimportant. As a leader, becoming less busy is one of the kindest things you can do for yourself and your team.
It’s also the only way to grow exponentially.
If your goal is not just to grow your business but to scale it—working less and achieving more—then getting to the root cause of "busy" is the most important work you will do.
Here are a few tips to Amplify Focus on productive, meaningful work every business owner needs:
1. Decide on Your Big Goals—with Clarity, Meaning, Structure, and Timelines
2025 is around the corner, and it’s time to get your goals out of your head and help your team gain clarity with theirs.
Pro Tip: Your team’s goals give meaning to your work. Yet, most owners either focus solely on their own goals and run out of time to complete team goal-setting, or they simply don’t know where to start. If you need help, download my 2025 Team Goals Workbook.
2. Connect Today’s Work to Your Big Goal
Today’s tasks should directly connect to your big goal. As the saying goes, “Don’t show me your priorities, show me your calendar.”
Pro Tip: Use a roadmap to visualize your big goals, then break them down into quarters, months, and days. Keeping today’s work aligned with your larger vision ensures progress.
3. Decide What Matters Most, Do It to Completion, and Forget the Rest
We spend too much time on tasks that are “busy” but not productive. Busy work makes us feel useful, but it’s rarely the work that truly matters.
In his book The One Thing, Gary Keller asks: “What is the one thing that by doing it makes everything else easier or unnecessary?”
Pro Tip: Start by writing down all the tasks floating around in your head. Rarely is “the one thing” the first thing you jot down. Work through the list in order of impact, group similar activities, and eliminate the unimportant until you’re left with no more than five daily priorities.
4. Drop the “To-Do” List: Create a “Do” List Instead
In my book Flying Colours, I recommend focusing on five priorities a day. It might be three or seven, but over time, I’ve found that five is deep enough to make an impact while leaving room to be responsive.
Pro Tip: Use the “Move It Twice” Rule—never move a priority more than twice. If you don’t complete a task, you must either get it done, delete it, or delegate it. This is the perfect time to ask yourself, Why am I procrastinating on this?
5. Manage Energy, Not Time
Our energy ebbs and flows throughout the day. Success comes not from managing time but from doing what matters most when your energy is at its peak.
Sometimes, this means tackling hard projects first. Other times, it means starting with something you love to “grease the wheels.”
For example, an advisor I know set a goal to make ten customer calls each day. He found it easier to get started by calling his mother first, hearing a friendly voice to boost his confidence. This simple habit reduced friction and enabled him to focus on the one activity that made the biggest difference.
Pro Tip: Doing the work I love first not only removes friction but often reveals to me a way to make a bigger impact. For me, I start everyday writing. It is such a privilege and I am so grateful to you for taking time out of your busy day to search for nuggets that will make you, and your team stronger!
What is that thing you love to do? Perhaps the most meaningful “do” on your list is to love yourself, in service of others, by doing what you love first!
Amplifying focus to achieve results is easier when you have a structure. My next book, The Atlas of a Travel Business, due in January, breaks down the essential areas of focus to help busy owners do less while achieving more of what matters.
Here’s a sneak peek:
The Mission: Your big goal and how to achieve it.
The Team: Empowering high performance.
The Customers: Attracting and converting customers for life—a team approach.
The Performance: Knowing your numbers and mastering the cadence of your business.
I’m excited to share this with you in January as part of my Growth Accelerator Program!
Final Thoughts
Focusing on what truly matters will help you achieve your goals with less stress and greater clarity. The path to scaling your business lies not in doing more but in doing what matters most.
The Book Shelf – Books I Love to Inspire Your Journey
I highly recommend The One Thing by Gary Keller. His key point is to keep seeking clarity on what matters on your list until you find the one thing that is going to drive the biggest result. The one skill, the one passion, the one life – it always boils down to this: “What’s the one thing I can do such that by doing it everything else becomes easier or unnecessary.”
What stood out most for me was the simple yet profound realization that there is always one thing that is most important—but often hidden beneath a mountain of busy work.
Keller says, “Achievers always work from a clear sense of priorities.” Which means to lead achievement, we must strip away distractions and relentlessly make clear to our advisors what truly matters. It means we have to be careful not to lead them down the garden path. Sometimes, we inadvertently contribute to the chaos – too many promotions, too many instructions, too much! Keep it simple.
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