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TERRI: Hi, I'm Terri Savelle Foy your cheerleader of dreams. Hey,
if you've never subscribed to this podcast just push the
little red button right there to get consistent teaching tools
and tips to help you live your dreams. Today I want to talk
about focus on your one thing. Focus on your one thing, in fact
let me ask you, when people hear your name what do they think of?
What do they associate you with? When you think of people like
Michael Jordan, what do you think of? Basketball. When you
think of Leonardo DiCaprio, what do you think of? Acting. When
you think of people like Celine Dion, what do you think of?
Singing, like the greatest voice ever. Well see, being known for
something means you're not a jack of all trades, you're a
specialist. I heard someone say one time, "It's better to be
world class at a few things, then mediocre at most things."
So, what is it that you're supposed to be world class at?
What are you supposed to be known for? See, being known for
something it points you in the right direction. In fact, I love
this story I heard about a guy named Jerry, who he said he
didn't know what he was going to do with his life. He got a
financial degree, he became a financial planner, and he said
he started all these little businesses that failed. Nothing
was going his way. He actually went through a painful divorce
with his five sons at home to support, he had all these little
businesses on the side, but nothing was working. He said, "I
don't know what I was doing." He said when he was a kid in
Catholic school the nuns used to put him down and they'd make
statements like, "If you don't get serious you're going to end
up making burgers for a living." He said one day he got to
thinking about this little hamburger joint in his hometown.
He said all the owner did was sold nothing but burgers, but he
was happy. He said all of a sudden an idea popped into his
head about burgers. He said, "That's something I know I can
do." He said, "Maybe the nuns were onto something. Burgers.
Keep it simple right?" He said, "This could work." Well, he went
and met with the bank. The bank thought he was out of his mind.
Well, he found a place where the rent was low, out of the way,
hard to find but he said, "If we can get people coming, we got
something." He put $35,000 into this company. He said it was
just a little standup. He even asked his kids, "Do you want to
go to college or do you want to use your college money to start
this burger joint?" His kids wanted in on it and they poured
their focus into it. Then he said they're sitting at the bank
and the bank said, "Well you need a name." He said, "Oh yeah,
I hadn't even thought about that." He said he looked around
at his kids and he thought, well until we think of something
let's call it Five Guys. Five Guys Burgers, he said the first
day about 1:00 they were packed out. They found their one thing
and the money came. They said if you met the owner at a party
today, he'll say, "My name is Jerry. I make burgers." Well,
today Five Guys has a revenue of two billion dollars. Well, when
you really think about it, most people they don't win a gold
medal in two sports, they go all in on one thing. Well, here's
what I want you to realize, when you get laser focused on one
thing, it helps you choose. Your friends, number one, who you
should hang around. Number two, your library, which type of
books you need to be reading and pouring yourself into. Your
time, where you need to allocate your time. Number four, your
energy, where do you need to spend your energy the most? And
number five, your money. Somebody once said, "Show me
your checking account and I'll show you your priorities." Well,
like I said earlier, it's better to be world class at a few
things, then mediocre at most things. Same with Domino's
Pizza, the founder Tom Monaghan he said the same thing. He was
asked, "What is the secret of your success?" He said, "A
fanatical focus on doing one thing very well." He said, "If
it's pizza, focus on pizza." Bill Gates said the same thing,
he said, "If you want to be a great software company you have
to be only a software company." So it's when we dabble in so
many ideas and shiny things that come along that make money,
that's when we become okay at many things, but not great at
any one thing. So, most of the successful people that you
admire they're not great at everything, they're great at one
thing. In fact, you may have heard this before, somebody
said, "The key to making money is in the word money." They
said, "Take the two outside letters my and focus on your one
thing. When you determine your one thing, that's when you begin
to prosper. That's when God gets to use the gift he's given you."
You've heard the statement, "Where your attention goes the
money flows." So, I want to encourage you to become so
focused that you distinguish yourself. You know I love this
that Myles Munroe said, he said, "Carve out a niche for yourself
that they can't ignore you." Now, see if someone offers you
something and it doesn't line up with your vision, it's easy to
say no, 'cause you weren't born to do everything. Myles Munroe
says, "We tend to think that we have a lot to do. We don't." He
said, "When you study people like Joseph, Moses, Paul, John,
Jesus, Abraham, their lives were very simple people." This is the
term associated with them, this one thing I do. So, get to the
point where you know your one thing that you do. And I love
this story about James Cameron he said when he was asked how he
managed to produce two of the highest grossing movies of all
time, Titanic and Avatar, you know what he said, "Focus." He
said, "You've gotta be super focused like a laser to get
anything worthwhile done." He said, "When I did Avatar I was
super focused for four years." Same with Larry Page the
co-founder of Google he said, "You should focus on one
important goal and you need to be single minded about it."
Well, like I said before successful people are not great
at everything, they're great at one thing. James four says, "A
double minded man is unstable in all of his ways." How many of
his ways? All of them. Listen to this real quick about a guy
named Richard St. John. He has one of the highest few TED talks
that's out there on YouTube. Well he said, for 10 years he
was all over the place. He said he was dabbling in business and
music, design, photography, then he got into sailing, and
cooking, and running. He said, "I was okay at a lot of stuff,
but not great at any one thing." Well, finally he decided to put
all of his focus on doing one thing. What was it? Photography.
He said, "I want to become an expert in photography." Well, he
became very successful advertising, an advertising
photographer, he won many awards for photography, including the
best corporate video in the world. In other words, focus
pays off. So, I want to encourage you, have a to-do
list, but also have a to-don't list. Winston Churchill said
this, "You'll never reach your destination if you stop and
throw stones at every dog that barks." In other words, you must
be focused and not distracted by everything around you trying to
get your attention. So, focus on what matters and let go of what
doesn't. So, I want to mention real quick our YouTube
subscriber for this week is a precious girl named Liz. Listen
to what Liz wrote she said, "You may have a petite and precious
voice," thank you Liz. "But to hear your words are powerful. I
believe God intentionally led me to you for many reasons. You're
such a blessing and a fantastic teacher," thank you Liz. She
said, "God has richly blessed me by just listening to your
videos." She said, "I now have a plan." I love that. "Thank you
so much for your obedience to the Lord and may He continue to
bless you, others, and us as we sow into your ministry. I love
you and your daddy." I love my dad too, thank you Liz. I'm
cheering you on Liz because I'm believing now that you have a
plan you're going to succeed on purpose. So, thank you for
taking the time to write in. And I want to encourage you, be sure
to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and
Pinterest. You'll find the handles below. And subscribe to
this podcast for consistent encouragement. Thank you
for watching and I'll see you next week.
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