8 Steps to Master Strategic (Macro) Focus: curing "too ambitious and spread too thin" disease of your brain.

Strategic focus might be the most underrated superpower in our full of opportunity world.  

While most of us understand the importance of avoiding momentary distractions, few master what I call "macro focus" - the discipline of channeling your energy toward one strategic priority until meaningful progress is achieved. 

Drawing from Alex Hormozi's insights on entrepreneurial success, this episode reveals a pattern I've observed across high performers: the biggest obstacle to extraordinary results isn't lack of ambition but ambition spread too thin.  

How do you fix it? (Spoiler alert: we have an 8-step process)  

When we try to pursue multiple offers, customer types, marketing channels, or goals simultaneously, we end up with mediocre outcomes across the board.  

The alternative? Doing less AND achieving more.  

This counterintuitive approach, concentrating your resources like a firehose rather than sprinkling them everywhere, transforms results in business, habit formation, and personal development.  

I walk you through my evidence-based, 8-step process for developing this crucial skill.  

The process draws from behavioral science, coaching methodologies, and real-world application.  

It's not just conceptual, it's a practical system you can implement immediately to develop your macro focus muscle. By the end of this episode, you'll understand why limiting your focus isn't actually limiting at all but rather the leverage point that unlocks extraordinary achievement.  

Ready to transform your approach to goals and stop leaking energy through scattered focus?  

This episode provides the blueprint. Tune in!  

Transcript

Introduction to Focus Mastery

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to Change Wired Podcast, where we explore what it really takes to create change that lasts, whether that's personal, collective, organizational, societal. We are here about scientific and evidence-based approach to change. My name is Angela Sharina, I'm your host, I'm your executive coach. 360, your resilience, mindset and meaningful systems for work kind of coach, also change leadership and culture transformation consultant. And in today's episode we are talking about one of the key areas of mastery that all of us need to work on if we want to achieve great results. If you want to achieve more by doing less and who doesn't want that? Like, show me a person who doesn't want to have more results by doing less and believe it or not, but that is a necessary strategy to get extraordinary results 100%. But to get any result worthy of talking about, unless it's some easy thing. But then you know, if it's an easy thing that everyone can get with minimum amount of effort, like, was it worth it? Probably not. That's not what we usually want everything that you can get like this. And that's where focus in macro becomes true object, desirable object of mastery Focus in macro. So today we're going to unpack what it is, why it's important to have focus in macro, not just the put away your phone kind of focus, but the focus that makes or breaks your business, your life, your growth, your momentum, strategic focus, focusing on the right thing. Focusing on the right thing, the one thing, for a period of time until you make considerable progress and can put it on autopilot. And by the end of today's episode, guys, you're not just going to get some insight and understanding, which is useful in its own way, but you're going to learn how to apply a habit formation, behavioral change formula which is evidence-based, research-based. It's a distillation of different schools of thoughts that are successful in the real world. So today you're going to get a system of how to actually develop that macro-focused muscle. So it's not just something you think about, a good idea, but it's something you actually do. So let's dig in, let's get wired for change.

Speaker 1 2:55

The other day I think it was a couple of days ago I was listening to Alex Hormozy's podcast. If you don't know who Alex Hormozy is, you should, because also he's coming out with a new book. The launch is in August. It's not a promotion, but I'm just such a fan of his launches of books, it's one of a kind fun experience. And he's coming out with a new book about money models, what makes money more money and what, I guess, makes less of it.

The Plague of Ambition Spread Too Thin

Speaker 1 3:24

But anyhow, I was listening to Alex Hormoz's podcast and this specific podcast was on the mindset of entrepreneur and a plague that plagues the ultra-ambitious, but I also believe it's a problem of humanity in general just focusing on too many things. We want all of it and all of it right now. That's not such a desirable feature of the brain, but in evolutionary times that was an advantage this impatience and wanting and all this looking in all these different directions, because you never know what opportunity comes and what you need to be seizing to get that I don't know food or safety and shelter or the next mate to capitalize on that right. In prehistoric times, during evolution, long-term thinking wasn't such an advantage because you could be killed in a short term a lot faster and a lot more frequently than you'd need to think about of long term and what you're going to do in the next decade of your life. But anyhow. So macro focus, strategic focus, is definitely a plague for most of us and Alex Harmozy on this podcast was talking about how, after talking to so many business owners over the years that's his job he helps business owners to grow, and so he hosts events, he talks to business owners, he creates a lot of social media, he networks.

Speaker 1 5:00

He's just all in on this one thing figuring out and documenting the journey of a business owner, of an entrepreneur, in his own life and in countless hundreds, maybe thousands by now, of lives of other entrepreneurs. So he analyzed all his experience and he thought you know what? What I notice is the biggest thing that stops all entrepreneurs to grow to the next level of revenue, whether that you're a small business and growing to your first million or you're trying to go past a couple of millions. So he said the main thing is focus. Now, of course, if you are a multi-million dollar corporation, you start having different services and products, but for most entrepreneurs that is not the case, at least not the most entrepreneurs that he worked with, and I'm talking to. If you are a billionaire like Bill Gates kind of billionaire, you're probably not going to get a lot of value from this podcast. You probably already got what you needed to get and now just exploring different avenues to distribute that talent, but anyhow.

Why Fire-hosing vs Sprinkling Energy Matters

Speaker 1 6:10

So what Alex Karmouzid noticed is that the lack of macro focus, or too much ambition, is actually what's stopping a lot of entrepreneurs. I also blogged about it and so it's not ambition or intent or thinking big. It's too much ambition spread too thin. Too many offers, too many customer types, too many marketing channels, too many goals, too many habits. Let me read to you what I wrote in my blog today. And so Alex recommends one offer, one ideal customer profile, one marketing channel, one social media channel. And then you might ask but wouldn't that limit my options? Yes, but wouldn't that limit my options? Yes, and it will double, triple, quadruple your efforts, energy and resources per goal, per offer, per whatever it is you're trying to sell, which will make you succeed. And that is how doing less helps you achieve more. Doing less helps you achieve more.

Speaker 1 7:25

You know, when you build one habit at a time, you know why. When you build one habit at a time, you're almost guaranteed to succeed. And when you try you probably can relate to that To build a bunch of habits, you're like I want to change all of it. All of it right now. You're almost guaranteed to fail with this approach or, at the very least, take a lot longer to nail it, like I want to make my million dollars.

Speaker 1 7:50

So maybe I need to focus right. I'm scratching my own itch Because when we stop sprinkling our energy, our money, our time which is already limited and insufficient, money hour over time, which is already limited and not insufficient when we stop sprinkling it all over the place and start firehosing it directly to one thing, things start to move. Imagine the sprinkle and a firehose like. You have this power with your focus. So maybe that limitation of focusing on just one thing can be your winning edge, your leverage, the word of the year for many people, especially with the AI, and all start thinking oh, now I can just do more AI for everything. But you know, mediocrity distributed into many channels and scaled doesn't change the fact that it's still mediocrity, it's just going to be more of mediocrity.

Speaker 1 8:57

So if you are feeling stuck, unclear or spread too thin which I'm honestly feeling maybe the issue isn't just a momentary distraction put your phone away kind of distraction but how you use your focus in macro and you need to do less to actually get more. So one of the questions I'm asking myself today at my strategy session where am I leaking energy, time, resource by trying to do too much all at once? Great questions, and today again, right now I'm going to walk myself and you through the eight-step process that I also documented on my blog, daily Thought for Change. Let's walk through this process, which is again a distillation of many schools of thoughts in application, behavioral science and coaching modalities. So this is the process that I'm going to be using, while thinking how I can make myself more focused, more consistently for the next, for the till the end of July at least. Right, it's a good experiment.

The 8-Step Focus Process

Speaker 1 10:12

Obviously, in entrepreneurship and in life, you don't really have a proven strategy, like if you already had it, you'd already had the result. So you need to test things out. But you see, what I'm also learning and have learned from high performing Navy SEALs, as I got certified with one of them, is that you don't just need to be adaptable and flexible, you also often need to stick with things for a while to understand whether they work for at all. A lot of times working with other entrepreneurs, keeping them accountable, for example, on their business strategy, because ultimately they don't know I might not know, but combined with accountability, we actually might get somewhere and design a better experiment and test. What I noticed with other entrepreneurs is they do a certain strategy and I definitely again can notice it in myself for, let's say, a few days, a couple of days, and you reach out to 50 people and you're like, well, it's not working. Nobody bought anything, but maybe A the way you approached wasn't exactly the right one. Maybe you sent a bunch of emails and all of them ended up in spam, somebody's spam folder. But, number two, maybe it's not the right wording or not the right person and you need to change the experiment in micro but pursue the same strategy.

Speaker 1 11:34

So, eight-step process, let's dive into that, how I'm going to be thinking through making myself focus for the next months, not just thinking about that for the next I don't know six months to several years, and kind of still being stuck at the same level, which is very painful and undesirable, wouldn't you say? Or you'd rather keep yourself stuck. So step number one define the behavior right. I want to get more focused. Focused is not a behavior.

Speaker 1 12:01

A behavior is, instead of changing my strategies and what I do daily, to sell offers, to sell services, to sell products in my case, to sell my service of change, a leadership consultancy of culture transformation. So, instead of trying to sell many things, let me try to sell one thing by having one thing I'm talking about by having one offer, by reaching out to one specific customer profile, like the other day, somebody asked me what's your ideal customer profile? And I said I don't really have the answer yet because I'm still testing it out and yet I need to continue to test things out. But I need to A prolong the test so I actually figure out the pain point for that specific customer. If there is one, a lot better, so then I can say with confidence whether it's working or I need to change the test.

Speaker 1 13:04

But for step number one, you also want to apply what is called video recording test, meaning, if I were to video record what you do, would I know that you changed your behavior? For me, if you video recorded my online activity, let's say on LinkedIn, or how I reach out to my clients, yes, you would see the change of my behavior. So define the behavior and for me, the behavior that is not working is trying to talk to too many people and again, you can see it through my conversations, through my messages, having too many themes in my social media content and trying to sell too many services, trying to address too many pain points. So the way I'm talking about that and the way who I'm reaching out to and with what offers. So that is the behavior that I want to change.

Speaker 1 14:06

Step number two define the starting point and your winning state, so what it is not working right now and what it is what the future is going to look like when you're done. So what is not working right now? That is the behavior that we defined in step number one reaching out to too many customer profile without any system, kind of randomly selling too many things, too many offers, and trying to talk about too many themes on my social media. So that is the starting point. What is the winning state? The winning state is I'm talking for the next month to one specific customer profile let's say it's digital transformation leaders and I'm talking about behavior-first approach to transformation in many different shapes or forms. But it comes down to design for behavior change and I'm also using just one platform. I'm kind of starting doing that, but just want to make sure that my focus is LinkedIn and I create content. I focus on content for LinkedIn specifically. So I'm selling one thing to one avatar, which I'm yet to define today, and I'm talking about one theme on one social media channel as my focus. Yes, I can copy some stuff, but my priority focus and when I design my schedule, I design it, I optimize it for posting on social media, talking about one thing, talking to one person, selling one offer. So that is the winning state for the next month.

Speaker 1 15:45

Step number three and I'm reading these steps actually on my blog again, daily thought for change, and I'm going to link it in the show notes as well. Step number three. So number one define the behavior that's not working anymore, not just you know. Again, I want to be more focused, but if I were to videotape you, what would I see? So define the behavior. Number two define the starting point and the winning state. And then we have number three identify the system that's currently producing the problem.

Speaker 1 16:19

So what actually is helping you in your environment to do this thing? And for me, it's just not having any limitations, any limited factors to focus myself on writing one thing, on talking to one avatar. Just not having system. I don't have any calendar reminders or any reminders in my own paper journal that from now on, for the next month, I'm focusing on this. So I have no system, no reminders, nor did I truly have any intention to focus, and that is my system. So when you have no focus, it's like I wake up and what I think about it, what I write about, and, because my mind is very idea rich, I can be talking and thinking about many, many things, which happens. So, what I need in terms of system and that we'll talk about step number five in a little bit more detail I need some limitations and intention and I need to put on my calendar. This is the theme I'm working on and this is the content. This is the time for me to reach out to this specific customer. So, for me, the system that is currently producing the problem is having no system, no limitations, no guardrails, no intention to actually limit that focus, and that's why I get the result that I'm getting being with my focus all over the place, because, well, because, why not? Right? So that is the system.

Speaker 1 17:51

Number four choose the practice that bridges a gap between now and the win, so between starting point, kind of talking and selling a lot of things to the winning stage. So what is the practice? And the practice is going to be putting it on my calendars, the intention Today I'm going to define the behaviors exactly. Today's my strategy day and I'm going to put it on my calendars in my Google and in my paper calendar and I'm going to define exactly who I'm going to be reaching out to with which offer to learn what this ideal customer actually needs and what I can be selling, and then also put in my calendars time to create specific type of content on a specific schedule. So that's going to be my new practice, and when I get new ideas, I'm going to jot them down. I have a special notebook for content ideas and then maybe at the end of each week I'll see what's relatable or what's connected to my area of focus. So that is the practice that will help me to get to the winning state.

Designing Systems and Tracking Progress

Speaker 1 19:00

Now you design the systems to support the practice which I'm going to be getting busy with right after I record this podcast, and for me that means first defining like that is what I'm going to be focused on, and then defining when and through what actions. And then I'm going to be focused on and then defining when and through what actions, and then I'm going to put that in my calendars and then I'm going to ask ChatGPT to follow up with me, sending me email, as it's actually already doing, but I need to refine the task that it's sending me every single day to my email, the option that is available on the Plus account. Then I'm also going to put it in my journal and every day I'm going to open it up, have a reminder about what it is I'm doing and why it is I'm doing, what's my area of focus. So that's going to be my system. But, again, fine-tuning I'm going to start doing right after I finish recording this podcast, and then step number six is setting up a way to track whether it's working or not, whether you're doing the thing that you said you're going to be doing or not. So, number one, you need to track the implementation, the consistency, I'd rather say, and then I'm going to be doing that.

Speaker 1 20:15

I have a special software that I use with my clients. It's on the platform called Coach Accountable, where I have, I think that's called Metrics, where I can log in very simply. I can also create a set of reminders that are going to be emailed to me, and then I can log in really easily. So, where I'm going to log in and just record the data Did I do what I said I'm going to do or did I not? And then that's where I'm also going to be capturing my learnings what worked, what didn't work, how I can make this thing work better. So you need to figure out not in your head but registered somewhere a way to track the consistency of your behavior Did you do the reps, did you not? And then also to capture your learnings what worked, what didn't work, why, what you can adjust. So this is step number six a way to track.

Speaker 1 21:08

Well, actually I jumped into step number seven. So the first step, step number six, is set up, the way to track your consistency and whether it's working or not. And step number seven you do the reflection. Let's say, every week, every couple of weeks or every day, I'm going to reflect on what I've been doing, what's working, what's not working, and I'm going to adjust accordingly, or just keep doing what I'm doing. Maybe I need to do more. It's like in the gym Sometimes you just need more reps, not changing anything, which your brain, which likes novelty, might not necessarily be happy about.

Speaker 1 21:46

And step number eight win. What it means is keep going until you get the result, until the result is meaningful to you, and that is all. So you might say it's seven steps and winning is not a step. But what I learned about myself and a lot of other ambitious people, people in general, like sometimes we celebrate things that aren't worth celebrating, like buying a stuff that we didn't really work for. Like buying the act of buying isn't that much work, but we don't celebrate our hard work. That actually earns us all rewards. And that's why step number eight like win and acknowledge that. Acknowledge the hard work done every day. Acknowledge the small milestones, not just again buying something at the end, the small milestones, not just again buying something at the end. Acknowledge every step of the way done. And that's why I also mean in step eight win, win one step at a time. That's also your winning streak. Every learning, every insight, every rep is a winning state. So let's recap step one to eight.

Recap and Call to Action

Speaker 1 22:57

But before we do that, let's don't forget to share this podcast episode with at least one other person. Let's grow the goodness, the high, achievement and bettering of the world, one pair of ears at a time. So please help me to spread it. And also, social learning is a thing. If you share. When you share, you get to keep yourself accountable, you get a confidence boost because you teach something and you raise your social status, obviously if you think it's good enough to raise your social status, which I believe it is, and then also you have someone to keep you accountable on your focus on this process. So share for that purpose to help others grow, to boost your confidence and to help yourself stay accountable. Also, rate review. That also is super, super helpful to reach more ears on iTunes, spotify, stitcher, youtube, wherever you find this podcast right. So please do.

Speaker 1 23:57

And then let's get back to our episode and eight steps to not just think about being more focused, but actually do that. So, step number one define the behavior that is not working. If I were to videotape what would I see? Step number two define the starting point of your new behavior and the winning state. Again, reiterate what's exactly not working where you are right now and in the winning state in the winning future, what you're doing, again, videotape test. Number three identify the system that's currently producing the problem. Again, every system is optimized for the result it's getting, so what is helping you to do the wrong thing? So that is what step number three is all about. Step number four define a practice set of steps that bridges where you are now to where you want to be. Again, no reps, no gains. If your sales didn't increase well, did you do all the work that you were supposed to be doing to even have a chance to hit that new sales milestone? Again, no reps, no gains for the step number four.

Speaker 1 25:08

Step number five design systems that support the practice, the doing. Make the doing the only option, the simplest, no-brainer option. Step number six set up a way to track, showing up, to track your lessons, your insights, not just in your head, but in a well-curated system, ideally somewhere online, so you can then analyze the data with AI or something else. You can process somehow this data. Paper journals are amazing, but you can't. Well, actually, you can take a picture and put it in your AI these days, but it's going to take additional steps. You might also use that.

Speaker 1 25:56

Set up a way to track. Step number six. Step number seven schedule, regular reflection and adjustment. Don't just track your consistency and do the same thing over and over again, but instead set up the timer or weekly, bi-weekly schedule, daily schedule to reflect and adjust. And, by the way, the faster you figure out why you succeed and why you fail and the faster you adjust, the faster you can put in new quality reps and the faster you're going to get to your success. And step number eight, win, which is basically celebrate the work, not just the I don't know buying or the reward, because the work is what gets you there, wherever it is you want to go. So win by celebrating each milestone, each step, even if that step is just showing up for another day. And that's it. Hope you found this useful. Please share, review and till next time, get focused and keep growing.