It’s not easy.  

Radical generosity is about taking risks.  You can’t expect to be nicer than the average person if you act like the average person.  See Sasha Dichter’s related Ted Talk.

I believe that you read this blog, at least in part, because it challenges you to be better - better at something.  I hope that something is related to positive impact in the world but I understand that will not always be the case. 

Reality

I’m not unhappy if the blog helps you become a better boss, employee, spouse, child, parent, or most other things in life.  However, the reality that not everyone strives for a generous lifestyle kind of bugs me.  I think kindness is a must but generosity shouldn’t be that far behind. 

I understand that everyone is in a different situation in a life that will have many seasons.  Therefore, we can’t expect everyone to be radically generous at all times.  I think we can reach for this though.  What’s the worst that could happen?  We fall a bit short and learn some great lessons along the way.  

Reality can be jarring but part of the challenge of being great is staying focused when things aren’t great.

Focus 

None of us are without focus.   Don’t let a resource tell you that you need something to provide it.  What you need is a different focus.  

I find the most stressful of times to be when I’ve become distracted from the most important things.  It’s when I’m focused on things that I’ve been told are important.

In the impact space, there are some typical distracting focuses:

• Metrics (how many people you’ve “helped”)

• Other organization’s successes or failures

• The for profit world (this could are considered controversial)

• Ancillary issues/causes

The point however, is not about what can be distracting but that there is always a battle for your attention.  

The difference between your attention and your focus are your actions.  We know that most people have over 2,100 interactions with their mobile devices per day (see my book, Personal Finance in a Public World).  There’s no escaping these things.  Some of your attention will succumb.  However, they don’t have to take your focus.  

The “To Don’t” List

The simplest way to protect against stolen focus is to implement what I call a “to don’t” list.  We had a recent Twitter Space discussion (my friend Liam and I host these most Wednesdays at 11 am eastern time) about this topic and it was enlightening.  

It’s interesting how most of us can acknowledge that have distractions but deciding to avoid them is a challenge.  I believe it has something to do with decisions fatigue (another concept covered in my book).  It’s harder than you think to choose not to do something, especially when you spend the day making hard decisions about other things.  The mind prefers just to react.  I suppose this has something to do with dietary choices as well.  We know that a donut is not likely a good choice for breakfast but if we’re at an event (like the conference I am currently on my way to) and there’s a buffet of options it’s a lot easier to just grab one. 

You have to make the effort to decide in advance as to what things just don’t align with your efforts.   The “to don’t” list is the way.  You identify things that no matter how tempting in the moment, you’ll not partake in.  

What are those donuts that are distracting your generosity diet?

Other Tools

While it’s been a powerful force in my life, the “to don’t” list is not full-proof and shouldn’t be your only distraction defense.  

There are some more proactive options.  For example, a well filled (not stuffed) calendar is a way to ensure you are well focused.  If you get into the routine of deep work on something specific at a given time, your mind will be more focused during that period.  Be intentional about your work time, it’s sacred.

Another tool is to have two other dedicated periods of time.  I cannot recommend exactly how much each of these windows should be.  Everyone should find their own harmony between these.

Have a dedicated time for “productive distractions”.  These are things that are not on the “to don’t” list but are not priorities.  You might call them necessary evils.  They don’t bring you joy but they must be done.  The most prominent in my life is e-mail (ugh!).  It has to be checked and many people deserve a response.   

The other period that should be scheduled is leisure time.  This is not vacation.  That’s also something that should be scheduled but most would agree and already do this.  There needs to be time every day that you do nothing (or next to it).  This time relaxes the mind, avoids, decision fatigue, and ultimately makes it possible for you to work really hard when it’s time.

Working Really, No REALLY, Hard

I referenced the general challenge of E-Impact above.  The specific challenge of this entry is that you put in the work.

Avoiding distractions is really hard these days.  I believe every generation has its own issues and we can compare them.  This is not to say that ours are worse, just different.  Today, we have to spend time and effort trying to save time and effort.  

You have to dedicate the thought energy to stay focused - the bad news.  The good news is the above tools are not complex.  With that being said, it’s still necessary to dedicate an entire blog entry to this subject.   

Working really hard is not about overworking on the things you love.  It’s about working on the things that you may not love or taking preventative measures to ensure your work is focused.

The Chicken or the Egg

So you’re dedicated to positive impact.  You want to make the world a better place.  Great things, but where do you start?

I’ve called myself the classic visionary who desperately needs an integrator.  I take this information from Geno Wickman and Mark C Winters’, Rocket Fuel.

I have million dollar dreams!

I hope you have big dreams too.  It’s an important part of what we do.

There’s a dangerous scenario for the great visionary though.  It’s when you couple their ideas with a minimum wage work ethic.  

Not only can you not make big dreams come true without hard work, you shouldn’t even address them.  They are a powerful force in life, business, faith, and impact - in either direction.  In other words, visions without work are distractions!

Don’t turn the greatest ability you have into your greatest disability.  

The truth is, I don’t know whether the chicken or the egg comes first.  You could argue the vision comes before the work, but I know that I’ve been inspired by work before.  

The best example is my Habitat for Humanity Global Village trips.  I never had a vision for helping multiple families acquire adequate housing but once I worked on one home I was sold.  I now dream of making numerous other trips across the world.

The fact is that both are important and would be useless, in our context, without each other.  

Why?

We can go all the way back to episode 22 of Speaking of Impact to hear Quinn Tempest talk about our “why”.  

I believe that this is a key piece of your million dollar work ethic.  When you have a well defined “why”, it’s much easier to do the work described above.  

I urge you to develop a personal or family mission statement.  Ask yourself and family what you care about and how you might be able to live that out.  This is a great way to collaborate and build camaraderie.  

Sadly, some families don’t work together on things.  Individuals can be extremely productive on their own but a team, or family effort, significantly increases results.  As they say, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Your personal or family mission statement should not be the same as your impact project’s or organizations’s.  However, it should be somewhat related and assist in developing the “why” for your impact efforts.

There are numerous resources on writing mission statements that are outside the scope of this text.  See the November 17, 20202 E-Impact entry.

Implementation

You’ve got your “why” and the determination to work.  You’ve also got resources and maybe even some assistance.  Now, you have to generate “a million dollars.”

Your goal should be to make it easier done than said.  Yeah, I said it backwards from the norm.  Most visions are easier described than actually implemented.  But, we’ve done the work over the last five hundred words to change that.

Do the upfront work to deny (not avoid) as many distractions as possible, maintain focus, and plan for change.  This will make the grind not much of a grind but a joy.  Hard work will be enjoyable work and believe it or not, will become so natural that it will be hard to describe.

I hesitate to say this because I know recruiting help in the impact space can be a challenge but I want you to be a better player than a coach.  

Congratulations to Head Coach, Steve Kerr, and the Golden State Warriors for winning the 2022 National Basketball Association (NBA) Championship but I’ll take ten Michael Jordans before any Steves.  

No offense to Steve who now has nine (yes, nine!) championship rings, but he was just a role player on the Bulls teams that Jordan lead in the late 90’s.  Steve’s a great coach and Michael wouldn’t be very good at that role.  However, players implement the gamse plans coaches develop, win games, and ultimately league titles.  

You must implement first.  Recruit along the way and teach when needed.

Don’t just work.  Work really hard to maintain the proper focus.  That’s million dollar work ethic.

And with million dollar work ethic, million dollar dreams come true.