Many people want to do more and accomplish more. The problem is they go about it in the wrong way. Modern conditioning teaches us to take on as much as we can at once so we can get as much work done at once. However, this is counterproductive. Instead, we need to teach people the importance of having a main focus.

I've talked about focus before, but this is something I haven't touched on yet. Sure, having multiple goals is excellent, but sometimes it isn't necessary.

This doesn't stop modern people from overwhelming themselves on their own accord. This leads to unnecessary stress and lower quality of life.

By dialing in on your most important goals, you learn the importance of having a main focus. Here are the two reasons to have a main focus.

1. The Pareto Principle

More often than not, the majority of your efforts have a minimal effect. Conversely, the minority of your efforts have the majority of the effect. Whether this is a law of the universe or some other unseen force, this principle has been observed to be true time and time again. Rather than fighting against the flow, it would benefit you more to go with it.

The Pareto principle states that 80% of the outcome comes from 20% of the effort, and vice versa. Whether it's actually a real effect or not, there is great wisdom in this.

By adopting the Pareto principle into your life, you change the way you go about accomplishing your tasks. Instead of spending energy unnecessarily, you only spend the amount you need to get results.

Now, this is no excuse for you to be lazy. Far from it, this should actually make it easier to push yourself toward your goals.

Adopting a main focus naturally makes use of the Pareto Principle. This is useful because it allows you to preserve energy for other things that may come up during the day or for other tasks you need to accomplish.

The biggest benefit I've noticed is much lower stress in completing my tasks. 

By setting a main focus, you are saying, "If I do only this today, then my day is complete." This lowers the bar for you, making it easier to accomplish more if you so choose to do more.

Regardless of how you go about it, incorporating the Pareto principle into your routine will make accomplishing tasks much less stressful and more enjoyable.

2. Learn more about yourself

Be honest with yourself here, how long have you drifted through life for? If you're like me, chances are it's longer than is acceptable. However long that is, the main cause of it is not knowing who you are. Many people in the modern-day don't really know themselves because they aren't ever given opportunities to discover themselves. Setting a main focus is an excellent place to start.

Self-mastery and self-knowledge are vital to self-improvement. In order to master anything, you must understand it; mastery over yourself is no exception.

Many people in the modern day lack self-mastery because they either never got opportunities to discover themselves, they were denied opportunities, or both.

The part of setting a main focus that teaches you more about yourself isn't setting the focus. It's blazing the trail that the focus compels you to take.

For many things in life, you won't know that you're passionate about it until you cross paths with it. 

This is exactly what happened with me and psychology & human nature. I didn't know how interested I would be until I dove into it.

It was a very pleasant surprise. Once I stumbled upon it, I had so many questions that I wanted answers to.

This type of rabbit hole is the kind you want to stumble upon when finding a main focus. It's how you'll know you've found the topic for you.

Whatever topic you end up focussing on, make sure it's one you actually are interested in. If you have no idea, give it a try! What's the worst that can happen?

Yes, it is about what you want

Too many people say that life isn't all about what you want. Sure, I can see the logic in that. But these people say it as if you can't have anything you want.

Technically speaking, there is something you want, or at least would rather have, in any situation. So technically speaking, life is about what you want.

Life is about balancing what you want with what you know you need to do to get to what you want. In order to get there more efficiently, make sure you learn a lot about yourself and you aren't spending unnecessary energy.

- Karl