Efficiency and productivity are critical to business success, but how can you be productive if you lack focus?
Dandapani, a Hindu priest, entrepreneur and former monk, is a highly skilled speaker who teaches business leaders how to focus their minds to achieve greater success.
He recently launched a new app to help people learn to focus. We asked Dandapani why focus is critical for entrepreneurs. The folks at Entrepreneur Organization interviewed him and we share an excerpt from the article:
First, let’s clarify that the words “focus” and “concentration” convey the same meaning. I use them interchangeably.
Focus is important in life because it allows us to solve problems. We all face personal, professional, and even global challenges. One way to solve them is to be able to focus on a problem long enough to find a solution. If you can’t stay focused, how will you ever discover a solution?
Being able to concentrate also allows you to get to know yourself better. The more you can concentrate, the more you can get to know something or someone, including yourself. The better you understand yourself, the more you will know what you want and need in life, and you will ultimately be able to discover your purpose in life. Most people don’t know their purpose because they don’t spend enough time with themselves.
I work with entrepreneurs all over the world. Efficiency and productivity are high on their list of goals, but how can you be productive if you can’t focus?
Being able to focus highly allows you to be highly efficient. The longer you can concentrate on a concept, problem, or idea, the more you can discover about it. Entrepreneurs come up with the best and newest versions of a product, service, or solution. You need to be able to focus on your product long enough to dig deeper into it.
Let’s start by dispelling some myths.
Myth 1: If you meditate, you will become more and better focused. That is simply false. Meditation may show small signs of helping. But concentration precedes meditation. If you cannot concentrate, you cannot meditate. When you try, you will get distracted, because people generally practice distraction all day long.
Myth 2: There are quick tips or tricks to learn how to concentrate. That’s snake oil. It’s like asking the Wimbledon champion: «Do you have a quick tip on how I can win the tournament?» No, of course not! It all comes down to pure hard work, how much you want it and having the tools. The approach is no different.
People are so illogical sometimes. In some things, like building a multi-million dollar business, they are willing to put in years and years of hard work, but in other situations, they expect immediate change. There are no quick fixes to learning how to focus.
The first step is learning how the mind works, because you focus with it. It’s like if you wanted to design something in Photoshop. What’s the first step? Learning how it works.
You must first learn how the mind works in order to concentrate.
I recently introduced an app to help with this. The first five chapters of the course provide a solid understanding of how the mind works.
Once you understand the basic mechanics of the mind, you can control it. Once you can control it, you can direct it and focus it.
The key is to understand the separation between consciousness and mind. Your consciousness moves within the mind. The mind doesn’t move: your consciousness moves around the mind to different areas, experiencing memories and thoughts. The idea is to control consciousness within the mind. That’s the key to concentration.
Start training yourself to focus all day long. The idea that 10 minutes of meditation in the morning leads to a Zen life for the rest of the day is absurd. It’s like eating a carrot in the morning and then eating burgers, nachos, and fries all day and expecting to have a healthy diet.
The whole day must be a constant practice of concentration to be good at it.
My app helps you create rituals to practice high-level focus throughout the day: while having dinner with your spouse, focus solely on your spouse; when working on a project, focus exclusively on that project.
The ability to give your full attention to the person or project at hand is life-changing.
If we can give this ability to as many people as possible, the gift of understanding the mind and being able to focus, then they can solve problems and become better artists, better dancers, better scientists, better entrepreneurs. And life can get better.
My main purpose in life is enlightenment.
My secondary purpose is to impact as many lives as possible with the tools and teachings I learned as a monk. I spent 10 years of my life as a cloistered, celibate monk. I had no contact with friends or family. If I can share what I learned with people and make it practical and easy for them to apply in their lives, that is one of my great missions.
When you uplift someone, you change their perspective so they can see things differently. They see solutions instead of seeing problems. You bring their awareness to a higher, more refined area of mind.
Here’s an example: When you’re standing on Fifth Avenue in New York City, it’s chaos: cars honking, people screaming, and crowds everywhere. But, when you see it from the observation deck of the Empire State Building, you think: “Wow, the city, the Hudson River, Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, this is beautiful.” Your perspective changes because you are elevated. Likewise, as you elevate a person, your perspective changes.
Entrepreneurs tend to have a heightened awareness. They are in the business of solving problems. It takes heightened awareness to be able to solve challenges rather than seeing a problem and letting it be. I want to help more people see challenges as something that can be adjusted, so they can start seeing solutions.
