So, I’ve attended dozens of real estate conferences over the years, from small intimate Bar Camps to the multi-day extravaganza that the National Association of Realtors puts on at its Annual event drawing thousands of real estate professionals.

Sessions are often lead by people who shell out tactical advice on how implementing “X” into one’s business will yield “game changing” results. I watch attendees leave these events, heads swimming, as they reflect on all of their newly acquired knowledge; thinking about which products and services will take take them and their business to the “next level” and how they’re going to implement it all. . .  tomorrow.

Unfortunately, this is backwards… really backwards.

The traditional real estate conference has fostered an environment of tactical addiction, where all of the focus is on how to use and abuse a myriad of shiny new things, products and services. There is little to no focus on actual business strategy that can help qualify any of the tactical advice you’ve previously received, even applies to your business.

It’s time to Refocus.

By the time you reach my session “Key Activities, Resources and Costs”, you should already have ideas around the following (and more):

We’ll help identify your businesses most important costs, which activities and resources are the most expensive, yield acceptable returns as well as briefly dive into various cost structures.

To get your mind moving… Key Resources may include things like intellectual property, people who help set company culture and/or office space.  Key Activities are those things that you need to do day to day to succeed.

Remember, all these things relate back to the other blocks on your business canvas.  As you identify certain things in one block, what you thought belonged in other blocks are likely change.

Your canvas will become a living, evolving framework for your business.

It’s important to note that we’re not here to give you answers. We’re here to help raise questions. We’re here to move you to think critically about vital components of your business, regardless of which aspect of the industry you serve.

Expect to be challenged.
Expect to be pulled out of your comfort zone.
Expect epiphanies.
Expect actionable results.
Expect to see your business and greater industry in an entirely new light.

This will be a fascinating and deeply personal experience.

You will be covering material not taught in conventional real estate-related schools or continuing education courses… the process and results are far more actionable, lasting well beyond your two days at RETSO.

Once we’ve completed our session, Daniel Rothamel will guide you through the “Key Partners” block of the business model canvas.

It’s time to Refocus on how you view and evaluate current and potential vendors, products and services.

Game changer. Revolutionary. Gonna change everything. The end of the industry as we know it.

We hear stuff like this all the time at conferences, in blog posts, and repeated and retweeted across the social web.

It’s usually being said about technology. I’ve said stuff like this about technology.

But I’ll tell you something that isn’t a game changer or revolutionary but is instead simple common sense: technology doesn’t change games or participate in revolutions. 

People do.

People change their game and do things differently. People participate in revolutions and change the outlook and stance of their society.

Sure, technology plays a part. But it’s people who are doing. Every single time this is true. People do something, maybe with technology, but people are the ones doing something.

How does this happen? How do the game changing ideas or values get transmitted from the broker or agent to the customer? And how does all that look from a relationship standpoint? Or a revenue stream standpoint?

Using the business model generation framework, there are two areas dealing with  customer communication:

1)  The channel for delivering product/service; and

2)  Relationships for getting feedback about your product/service.

You can sort of think of the channel as stuff going from you to the customer. And you can sort of think of relationships as stuff going from the customer to you (though it’s very nice if you think of this as two way communication as well).

Channels and relationships flow from value proposition and values

There are a lot of game changers out there that want to revolutionize your channels and your customer relationships. While chasing them in order to avoid the end of the industry, you may be distracted from your values.

Don’t let that happen.

Don’t lose sight of your value proposition. Because that’s the only part you own–the technology nearly always belongs to someone else.

If it doesn’t feel right for you, it’s not going to work. If it doesn’t feel right for your customers it’s not going to work.

In my session for RETSO this year, “Channels, Relationships, and Revenue,” I’m going to be giving away some data about how technology is used by customers in real estate. I’m going to be talking about how technology can reinforce different ways of making customer relationships work. I’m going to give you some tools, techniques and models to do this sort of stuff on your own as well.

After you’ve worked with Jeff Turner to determine what your value proposition is–the big “Why?” in your business–I’ll be working with you to figure out how to deliver that value to customers and and how to assess whether you’re actually doing it.

It’ll be a game changer.

It’s a critically important topic. I typically attach it to conversations centered around vision and values. And it’s a topic of frequent discussions between me and my friend and mentor, Bill Leider, author of Brand Delulsions.

The Swanepoel Trends Report cites the chief problem facing real estate brands:

Why is this true? The answer seems obvious to me and it appears obvious to Swanepoel. The report states, “The service delivered in almost every national real estate franchise office will differ significantly from office to office within the same stable, and even from agent to another agent in the same office.” Bill Leider labels this phenomena, a brand within a brand within a brand.

As I’ve often said, people love to blame “the model,” or the independent contractor status of the individual real estate agent, or the inability of real estate franchises and brokers to lead effectively. Or they use the state of real estate professionalism, Trend #6, as a scapegoat. Furthermore, they use all of these as excuses for failing to establish a truly consumer-centric brand.

The real culprit, at every level, is a lack of vision, no clear actionable values, and a misguided understanding of what brand really is. “Your brand,” writes Leider, “is a widely held set of beliefs and expectations about what you deliver and how you deliver it, validated by customers’ experiences.”  And it’s that “customer” word that seems to be throwing real estate brands for a loop.

All of this highlights the fact that, for many, there is no clearly defined path.  It’s hard to get people to follow your lead when you don’t know where you’re going. This is why I’m so excited about what’s happening at RETSO this year. RETSO is moving away from delivering tips and shifting its focus to strategy.

This is not a knock on other conferences. Quite the opposite. There is a place and a need for tips, and for conferences that focus on new technologies and how to use them. I enjoy learning about new technologies as much as anyone. But that conference field is saturated. The problem with tips is that while they generate excitement, they usually don’t have staying power, or real change power. They wow us, we pause to reflect on what has just been said, but after the tweetable moments pass, we go back to living in the present and doing things and relating to people in the same ways we did before we heard the tip – and nothing changes.

I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I’ve been one of those speakers and I’ve been one of those listeners.

“Change requires a conscious plan (even if it’s oral, or written on a napkin),” Leider wrote to me last week in an email. 

A key word in that paragraph is “path.” Strategy is a path. The path is likely to be different than the one you’re on today. So, staying on the path also requires a clear vision and an explicitly stated set of core values. It’s not something that can be accomplished in a day, in a large group, but it’s something that can begin. You can lay a foundation.

Defining a value proposition requires that you answer a few important questions.

What customers’ problems are you solving?  What needs are you satisfying?  What services are you offering to each Customer Segment? If you’re a Broker, there are likely two distinct “Customer” constituencies: end user clients; and real estate agents. There are different value deliverables for each of those groups. By answering the questions you will establish your real value deliverable. And the beauty of the Business Model Generation Canvas, (which is the basis for how RETSO is organized this year) is that it provides a framework for having meaningful discussions around these questions. It becomes even more valuable when these diverse customer segments are defined, because otherwise it’s easy to lose focus in those scenarios.

You must take a hard look at the characteristics of your value proposition, like newness or uniqueness, performance, status, or simply “getting the job done.” There are many characteristics to consider. How you answer the questions will require that you address the various characteristics of value that come into play. Of course, all of this is in the context of your overall business model, “the rationale of how you create, deliver and capture value.” This is simply one very important part of the model.

On April 4, 2013 at 1:00 PM, I will be leading a general session defining  The Value Proposition block of the business model canvas. In this session we’ll outline the process of defining your own value proposition and how to answer those questions. Then you’ll be able to start working on answering them for yourself and your organization.

And one thing is certain, if value proposition is to truly be “a trend transforming 2013 and beyond,” it’s going to require some intelligently focused effort. I’m looking forward to it. Thank you, Stefan, for naming this a 2013 trend. It is that and so much more.

RETSO has always been for the doers of the real estate industry. As we strive to refocus the industry on what matters most, we can’t do it without the doers. At this year’s event we will teach strategic thinking, build unique business models, and learn a common language – but none of this will matter if the doers stop doing.

While we’ve been pointing a finger at what’s wrong, I want to also acknowledge that three fingers are pointing back toward us. RETSO is as guilty for sharing ideas and technology without giving relevant context to your actual business model as any conference. Our video on the homepage said we needed to break RETSO. Now that we have, let’s rebuild it for the doers to do amazing things. Here is a quick breakdown by industry segment of what you will be able to do by attending RETSO Refocus.

Agent
Real estate agents will discover unsatisfied customer needs and design business models around them. If they already have the business model designed, then we will help them articulate the goals, strategies, and values of their model. We will also help them assess the opportunities for improving their business. They will leave with a custom business model in writing and the confidence to master execution of their strategies.

Broker
Brokers will be able to evaluate their current business model.  Some will then design a new business model in an old industry, others will recognize unique advantages their model affords and adjust focus to leverage the advantage.  We will teach the business model canvas to be applied to internal departments.  They will leave knowing they can’t decide the future, but will have a tool in their hand to allow them to design the future.

MLS
Are you a key resource to your customers or do you perform a key activity?  Is your customer the agent, the broker, or the buyer or seller?  We will help codify these answers in a way that allows everyone to understand the role an MLS plays in our industry.  Completing the blanks in the workbook will bring clarity to your business model and allow mastery of the value proposition you provide.

Association
Can an association serve the public, the agent, the broker, and the affiliate under one business model?  We will showcase the versatility of the business model canvas to account for multiple customer segments and mulitple value propositions on one page.  Association staff and volunteer leaders alike will leave with confidence on how it creates, delivers, and captures value for all it’s customers.

Lender
Lenders play a key role in the real estate industry as they provide access to money.  But how do customers prefer to access money?  Does the answer vary by customer segment?  We will show lenders how to deliver value via preferred channels and also define the role a key partner plays in a business model.  Lenders will leave knowing not only how they provide value, but also how to play the role of key partner effectively in other business models.

Vendors/Consultants
Vendors and consultants play a vital role in our industry by helping clients question their business models and envision building better ones.  However, they often need to find the right business model themselves in order to launch an innovative product.  They will leave with a codified business model and mastery of the language to spread their ideas throughout the industry.

Executives
Executives will be able to take their vision for the company and design a business model to execute effectively.  They will take their ‘why’, turn it into ‘how’, in order to accomplish the ‘what’ of their unique ideas.  Through the simple yet powerful resource of the business model canvas, executives will leave with a tool to change their organization.

Intrapreneuers
Those doers who work for executives yet perform like an entrepreneur are what make companies amazing.  We will help them exploit technological developments by tweaking business models to allow creative tactics for success.  They will leave with the ability to communicate with executives on a level playing field and collaborate to find meaningful innovation.

While we still acknowledge the key role technology plays in our industry, we simply want to change the focus to start with business model design. From there, we can properly evaluate technologies as either a key resource or key activity to create value for your customers or a channel in which to deliver value. It’s this language of business model design that is so important for our industry to unite around. A common language is one of the most powerful tools a culture can own. RETSO Refocus wants to help the doers of the world master the language of business model generation.

Tools, Tactics, & Technology are not the answers you need

Three of the biggest challenges facing your business model are also three of the most frequent topics found at a conference. It’s time to put these into the box they belong in and step away to look at the bigger picture. New doesn’t equal valuable and potential certainly doesn’t mean you should buy it or even try it. 

So how do you know the difference of what’s worth trying and what’s not? By placing the content before you into the proper context of your actual business model. More often than not, tools, tactics, and technology are simply key resources, activities, or channels within your business model. The most important parts of your business are still missing. Mastering customer segmentation and value proposition will help provide context to the tools, tactics, and technologies needed to properly design your business model. It seems the real estate industry is consumed by shiny object syndrome.

It’s time event organizers asked better questions instead of providing answers to problems no one needs to solve. Enough of the show and tell, let’s just sit down and work together to make something meaningful. Where do we start? By asking the right questions. At RETSO, we required all of our partners to explain what problem do they solve for the real estate industry? We’re going two steps further and asking, What key resource do they provide? and What key activity do they perform? We will continue by asking attendees even tougher questions, such as what bundles of products and/or services are you offering to each customer segment your business model serves?

When will the real estate industry stop the cycle of latest tips and greatest tools?

At RETSO, we’re stopping everything on April 4th. From sitting still, we will work to methodically build your custom business model that will enable you to avoid the distractions and noise. You will leave empowered to describe the rationale of how your business creates, delivers, and captures value. Using a method that has been applied and tested around the world and is used by organizations such IBM, Ericsson, Deloitte, NASA, and many more, we will craft a blueprint for your strategy to be implemented through organizational structures, processes, and systems.

The starting point for our workshop style conference this year will be to establish a shared understanding of what a business model actually is and how do you go about designing the optimal version for your future success. From there, we hope not only to empower you to make a difference in the world but also to be able to challenge your fellow doer by asking the right questions based on the shared language and understanding of business model generation.

RETSO Refocus will deliver the same level of content that people fly all over the world and pay up to $2,000 to attend – for only $300. We think it’s an incredible deal, but you decide what’s valuable in your life.

RETSO is not designed to be NAR, Inman, CRS, or any of the other national events. RETSO was built for the doers of the industry.

It’s hard to refocus when distracted by nightlife, fine dining, and the big city. RETSO is intentionally away from all that noise.

RETSO Refocus may not be for you

The last thing we want to do is take someone’s money and have them come expecting one thing and getting another. [highlight]Please be sure Refocus is for you before purchasing a ticket.[/highlight] We’d rather have 300 attendees here to focus on true business model generation than to have 800 attendees who came looking for shiny objects, nightlife, fine dining, or something similar to other events. We have intentionally changed RETSO to refocus on creating meaningful business models. We understand this may not be for everyone.

We took the theme of ‘Refocus’ very seriously and every decision we’ve made to improve RETSO has been intentional. We raised the price. Changed the floor plan of the event. Cut down on social chatter. Reduced the number of speakers. Removed simultaneous sessions. We even limited the number of sponsors. But most importantly we focused the content to be powerful, simple, and transformative. RETSO is refocused to help you understand, design, rework, and implement custom business models.

The truth is we’re doers just like you. We constantly seek knowledge and do what we learn. As Marty Neumeier shared in his new book, Metaskills, we need to insert design thinking and actually make things before we do them. So we rebuilt RETSO to help everyone design the one thing that means the most, your actual business model.

We’re still going to have the smartest people in our industry gathering to share ideas, meals, and drinks with you. We’ll have lots of fun challenging and encouraging each other by mixing formal sessions with barcamp style workshops. We may even throw in a surprise or two, because we believe in working hard and playing hard while making the future.

We look forward to seeing our fellow doers in April.

Over the weeks between now and the beginning of RETSO REFOCUS on April 4th, we’re going to be sharing with you exactly what makes RETSO REFOCUS unlike any real estate conference you’ve ever attended.

As we’ve stated before, and as the title suggests, RETSO REFOCUS is about helping you refocus your time, energy, and resources on the things that will maximize your chance for success.  In order to do that, you’re going to need a plan, a system, a method you can follow to achieve that focus.

Enter: the Business Model Canvas

The methodology that we have chosen to share with you to help you refocus on what matters is called the Business Model Canvas.  At this point, I could launch into what would probably be some overlong and rather inadequate explanation of what the Business Model Canvas is, what it does, and how to use it.  I’ll spare you from that and just let you watch this excellent video that explains the Business Model Canvas by those who created it:

This is just a brief overview of the Business Model Canvas, so you’ve probably got a ton of questions about the Business Model Canvas and how it’s going to be used at RETSO REFOCUS.  Questions like,

Don’t worry. Over the next few weeks, we’re going to answer all of those questions and a whole lot more.  Our goal over the time between now and the beginning of RETSO REFOCUS is to prepare you have the most productive and fruitful two days you’ve ever had a real estate conference.

Semper Paratis

Being prepared for RETSO REFOCUS is going to be key.  I know that I sound like I’m repeating myself, but I’m repeating myself because I’m very serious about this, and you need to understand this:  RETSO REFOCUS will be unlike any real estate conference you’ve ever attended.  

RETSO REFOCUS will be unlike any real estate conference you’ve ever attended.

Because RETSO REFOCUS will be unlike any real estate conference you’ve ever attended, it’s critical to us, and for you, to be prepared for the experience.

It’s never too early to start preparing yourself.  So, over the next few weeks, we’re going to take you on a journey.  This journey isn’t for everyone.  But if you decide to make this journey, our paths will converge on April 4th and 5th in what we hope will be the most challenging, inspiring, and rewarding experience you’ve ever had in your business career.

Let’s go. . .

If you know us at all, then you should know us well enough to know that we practice what we preach.  Doing so lead us to the launch of RETSO REFOCUS.  Brad set the stage for us with this excellent explanation of what we hope to achieve on April 4-5, 2013 . . .

In the weeks between now and April 4th, we’re going to explore more deeply what we mean and what you can expect from RETSO REFOCUS. Allow me to begin by setting the stage just a bit. . .

How we got here

When I wrote in my last post that I am partially responsible for what I view as a lack of innovation and failure to fulfill promises made by real estate conferences, I was (and still am) dead serious.  That was not hyperbole.  That was not some clever marketing gimmick to get you to pay attention.

When we sat back and looked at RETSO in its entirety, after 5 wonderful iterations, we knew that it still wasn’t where it should, or needed to be.

It was bold; but not bold enough.  It was innovative; but not innovative enough.  It was pretty awesome; but not nearly awesome enough.

In searching for a solution to cure our burning desire to make RETSO into what we truly believed it should be, we decided that we needed to be willing to make hard decisions.  All options were left on the table for innovation.  That meant that there was also the option (however remote a possibility it was) that we shut down RETSO entirely.

We have very high standards and expectations for the experience that we deliver to the RETSO community.  So we knew that we either needed to create an experience worthy of the RETSO community, or create nothing at all.

Lucky for you, we we came up with something that we think you’ll love.

What is RETSO REFOCUS all about?

RETSO REFOCUS is not your run-of-the-mill real estate conference, or any other industry conference, for that matter.  We knew right away that if we were going to transform the real estate conference experience into something meaningful, we weren’t going to find much inspiration within the industry.

We began with a little idea that anyone who has been to more than one conference will tell you, “the best part of the conference takes place in the hallway.”

I, myself, have said this very thing.  This very thing has been said about RETSO (admittedly, that stings a bit, but in a good way).

That’s exactly what we set out to do.

At RETSO REFOCUS, we’re going to bring all of those deep, high-level, face-melting, business-changing conversations inside the conference rooms.

Does all of this sound ambitious?  Hell yes.  That’s just how we roll.

Thing is, we know that’s how the RETSO community rolls, too.  Together, we’re going to make this happen.

Who’s in?

So there’s this slightly uncomfortable thing I need to talk about–  RETSO REFOCUS isn’t for everyone.  It just isn’t.

So, if you’re a doer, then RETSO REFOCUS is for you.  This experience will be unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before at a real estate conference.  I know I keep saying that, but I can’t stress it enough.  I’m dead serious about it.  Quite honestly, we modeled after an experience that very smart people around the world are paying thousands of dollars for.  We’re only asking for a few hundred, and it will be worth every penny.

Are you in?

One more thing

I just wanted to close out this introductory post with one more thing–  when I was talking about RETSO REFOCUS to someone, telling them all about it, they made a very astute observation, “if this is truly as different as you say it is, then how will you even know if it was successful?”

Good question.  I’ve been thinking about this for a while (and Brad and Mike might have different opinions), and I’ve come up with my own very simple measure of the success of RETSO REFOCUS:  I want the #RETSO hashtag to be virtually empty on twitter during April 4-5.

“But Daniel!” you say, “That’s crazy!  Why wouldn’t you want people to be tweeting about RETSO during the event?  Isn’t that just more publicity?  Doesn’t that just drive the conversation? Don’t you want RETSO to be a social object?”

Sure.  But you know what I want even more?

I want people to be so engrossed in the experience of RETSO REFOCUS, and so focused on improving themselves and their businesses for those two days, that they won’t have the time or desire to even open Twitter.

That’s my goal.

Now that you know all this, whaddya think?

Are you in?

November 9-12 was the NAR Annual Conference and Expo in Orlando.  I attended every NAR Annual from 2007-2010.  I even spoke at and lead sessions a few of them.  Heck, I helped to plan the very first NAR BloggerCon, which was an early precursor of what would become the very successful and widespread RE Barcamp scene.  At that 2007 NAR annual in Las Vegas, there are a few things that I distinctly remember:  1)  That very first BloggerCon in a tiny corner room of the Venetian that was attended by a handful of people.  2)  Meeting Jeff Turner for the very first time.  3)  Listening to Seth Godin give the keynote address.  4) My fingers literally aching from live-tweeting my way through the whole damn thing.

I’m not telling you all of this to brag or seek congratulations.  I’m telling you this to give you some context.

In 2007, all of this blogging and tweeting and social technology was a new horizon for real estate.  There was a community of real estate professionals who were passionate about the technology and its potential to influence the industry in a positive way.  The sun was just beginning to rise and shed light onto what promised to be a glorious new world.  At that time, the larger industry was basically completely unaware of what was coming.

Fast forward to today, 5 years later, and I kinda feel like that sunrise has come and gone, and the industry has largely missed it because we’ve all been too damn busy staring down at our iPhones.

As I searched through the #NARannual hashtag stream, I had to stop because it was depressing me.  It is almost completely devoid of anything that could be described as valuable information to anyone who wants to know anything about the real estate industry, or to any professional seeking to improve their business.

I know that sounds harsh.  But it’s the truth.

This is the most accurate summary of the #NARannual hashtag that I can come up with:

That’s it.  Honestly, I could learn more about the conference from looking at the schedule than I could from reading the hashtag history.

After reading the hashtag, I’m actually kinda glad that I wasn’t there.  I mean, sure, I missed out on seeing many of my friends in person (which is always great), but on the positive side, I got to spend those 4 days with my family (which is better).

Look, if you want to kill my assessment of the conference because I wasn’t there, that’s completely fair.  I can’t argue that.

What you can’t argue with is the fact that NOTHING that I read about in the reactions of people who actually did go to the conference made me wish I had gone.

What Happened?

I feel like for all of the advancements that have been made in technology and all of the growth that we have experienced in the community of real estate professionals who care about making the industry better, we have gone nowhere since 2007.

Maybe nowhere isn’t accurate.  There has been improvement, overall.  But in the industry conference scene?  Not really.

Ok, so maybe the standard conference session topics have changed a bit.  There is more coverage of technology issues and social technology issues, but most of it is almost purely superficial.  Very little of it is really focused on helping you improve your business, which should be the goal of a conference shouldn’t it?

It’s My Fault

I’m standing up right now to apologize for this.  I’ve dropped the ball on this issue as much as anyone.  As someone who has been involved in real estate and technology for most of my real estate career, as someone who has been on the forefront of many of the social technology issues that have come up, as someone who has held leadership positions, the fact that the conversation hasn’t moved forward significantly since 2007 is my fault.

I’m sorry.

But I’ll be damned if I’m not going to try to do something about it now. . .

Enter RETSO

For those of you who were at RETSO 5.0 and heard my closing speech, you know that I am passionate about bringing about positive change in the real estate industry.  I also passionately believe that such change must start with us, the RETSO community.  We cannot rely on any other outlet or community to drive this change.  There are a lot of reasons for this, so many that I won’t cover them here, but you’ll have to trust me that I’ve been involved with many of the other options, and significant change won’t come from there.

So it’s up to us– me and you.  The RETSO community.

We’ve already started the planning for RETSO 2013, and I can guarantee you that this will not be like any other real estate conference you’ve attended.  Even if you’ve been to all of the five previous RETSOs, you’ll be in for a different experience this go around.

That’s a good thing.  That’s what the real estate conference scene needs.  That’s what this industry needs.

At RETSO, we are totally focused on delivering to you a conference experience that won’t just entertain and inform you.  We are focused on delivering a conference experience that will fundamentally change and improve the way you think and your business.  We’re focused on this to the point of obsession, almost to the point of derangement.

We know that if change is going to happen, we must deliver it.  We are committed to delivering that change.  We are committed to you.

We are RETSO.

Like all powerful forces, focus possesses a duality.  Focus on the right thing, and you can accomplish more than you ever thought possible; focus on the wrong thing, and you could ruin your relationships and your life.

Proper focus requires awareness

After I wrote my post about focus, a friend of mine remarked, “but what if I focus on the wrong thing?  I could waste so much time and effort focusing on the wrong thing that it could hurt my business.”

Absolutely true.

That’s why it’s important for you to not only develop your ability to focus when you need to, but to develop criteria by which you will decide where you should direct your focus.

Doing this requires a skill that compliments focus– awareness.

Awareness is the ability to see the big picture in any given situation.  Awareness will give you the ability to properly apply your focus where it is needed most.

You can’t walk through life with blinders on and say that you’re just “focused.”  Awareness prevents your focus from being about shutting everything out, and makes it about choosing the right thing.

Hitting a baseball as metaphor

It has been said that successfully hitting a baseball is one of the most difficult things a person can do in all of sports.  Ted Williams was one of the best to ever do it.

Ted Williams claimed that he could literally see every individual stitch on a baseball as it left the pitcher’s hand at 80+ miles per hour in his direction.  I have no idea if that is true; but one thing is certain– Ted Williams was a master at being able to focus.

Part of his success in baseball was his ability to use  his awareness of the larger game of baseball to properly focus on his task at that moment — hitting a baseball.

With every pitch that he faced, Williams had to be aware of the situation within the game.  His larger awareness of things like pitch count, runners on base, tendencies of the pitcher he was facing, etc. gave him the ability to focus properly on successfully hitting the ball.  He knew what pitches to look for, he knew which ones to ignore.  He knew this before the ball ever left the pitcher’s hand.  That awareness made his focus unsurpassed.  Ultimately, it made him one of the most successful hitters of all-time.

How will you apply your awareness and focus?

The trick for you, is to use your awareness to evaluate your personal situation so that you can apply your focus in the most effective manner.  This is true in every situation.

These are just a few ways you can use your awareness and focus.  There are countless others.  No matter what the situation, business or personal, there are ways that you can apply awareness and focus in order to move you closer to your desired outcome.

What situations can you think of, or what situations have you encountered already, where you used awareness and focus to achieve success?