A few years ago I wrote a book summarising Warren Buffett’s wisest words.
It’s called ‘Thoughts of Chairman Buffett’, and was published by Harper Business.
As part of my research, I studied every known book on Buffett ever written. It was an amazing education on one of the world’s greatest business minds and I learned some really important lessons.
Here is one of the most important things I learned from Warren:
The awesome power of intense focus on your business.
Warren Buffett’s focus is absolutely extraordinary.
Here’s a true story that illustrates how single-mindedly focused he is.
His home office used to have wallpaper that featured a print of U.S dollar bills. (A little unusual in itself and another indication of his focus).
Every day after work Warren would come home and then immediately go into his office to work.
One evening he went into his office as usual and then screamed out to his wife to come quickly.
When his wife arrived he said, “What have you done? You’ve changed the wallpaper!!!!”
And it was true, his wife had indeed replaced the wallpaper… more than THREE YEARS EARLIER.
Buffett was so intensely focused on his work that he never even noticed!
Now do I advocate that we should be that laser-focused, that we don’t notice what’s going on around us? Of course not, that’s a radically extreme way to live.
But it does illustrate how the most successful in business are far more focused than the rest.
So, time for self-reflection: do you need to increase your focus on your business?
Are you doing too many things? Are you committed enough to your business mission?
Only you know the answers, but it’s a critically important area that you should think about.
Intense Focus + Time = Success.
