People strong in the Focus theme can take a direction, follow through, and make the corrections necessary to stay on track. They prioritize, then act.

You can tell a person strong in Focus by these attributes (source: Dr. Hulme, APU)

• Prioritize actions
• Good follow-through
• Goal-oriented—need to see a clear destination
• Stay on track
• Filter out anything that doesn’t get them toward the goal

 More about Focus:

• Needs on a team: To finish
• As a Leader: Prioritize and follow through
• In Conflict: Stay on track
• Partner with: No specific recommendation, but find other hard workers.
• In academics: 

  – loves to reach their destination – often has powerful and specific goals – tends to enjoy courses that are practical in nature or have practical value to them – will ask questions of how a course will prepare them for life or will help them reach their goal – can concentrate for long periods of time and often has very effective study habits, so can undertake challenging courses if they see a practical result of taking the course – prefers profs who stay on track and don’t ramble – probably will have their classes mapped out in advance but may have questions about why they have to take certain courses

Where does Focus Theme rank in the population?

29	29	31	29

Out of your Top 5 CliftonStrengths, it’s statistically:

• most likely to appear with Achiever and
• least likely to be found with Connectedness

The genius of your Focus talent begins with what you can do with your mind. You can focus your attention to an unusual level of concentration. That concentration enables you to amass facts and information, read with clarity of understanding, and solve problems with great precision. You can concentrate to the extent that people may come into a room you are in, and you may not hear or see them. While others pride themselves with their ability to multi-task, you know that for you, you are most productive when you concentrate on one thing at a time. Your focusing talent results in prolonged concentration to address and solve complex problems and planning processes. You learn in great depth, and because of your focusing, when you learn, plan and solve problems,your recall is remarkable.

A more detailed explanation from Gallup:

“Where am I headed?” you ask yourself. You ask this question every day. Guided by this theme of Focus, you need a clear destination. Lacking one, your life and your work can quickly become frustrating. And so each year, each month, and even each week you set goals. These goals then serve as your compass, helping you determine priorities and make the necessary corrections to get back on course. Your Focus is powerful because it forces you to filter; you instinctively evaluate whether or not a particular action will help you move toward your goal. Those that don’t are ignored. In the end, then, your Focus forces you to be efficient. Naturally, the flip side of this is that it causes you to become impatient with delays, obstacles, and even tangents, no matter how intriguing they appear to be. This makes you an extremely valuable team member. When others start to wander down other avenues, you bring them back to the main road. Your Focus reminds everyone that if something is not helping you move toward your destination, then it is not important. And if it is not important, then it is not worth your time. You keep everyone on point.

Action Items for This Theme

• When you set goals, discipline yourself to attach timelines and measurements. These will provide regular proof that you are indeed making progress.
• Take the time to write down your goals and refer to them often. You will feel more in control of your life this way.
• Seek roles in which you are asked to function independently. With your strong Focus theme you will be able to stay on track with little supervision.
• Be sure to tell your manager your mid-term and short-term goals. This might well give your manager the confidence to give you the room you need.
• Your greatest worth as a team member might be to help others set goals. At the end of each meeting, take responsibility for summarizing what was decided, for defining when these decisions will be acted upon, and for setting a date when the group will reconvene.
• Identify your role models. Write down in detail why you want to focus your career toward similar kinds of achievement.

Be ready to:

• Allow others to think, act, and talk less efficiently than you do. Sometimes their “detours” will lead to discoveries and delights.
• Stretch your goal-setting beyond work. If you find yourself becoming too focused on work goals, set goals regarding your personal life as well. These goals will give weight to your personal priorities and thereby help restore balance in your life.
  • The Clifton StrengthsFinder and the 34 Clifton StrengthsFinder theme names are protected by copyright of Gallup Inc., 2000. All rights reserved.

How to Tame your wandering mind

Daniel Goleman: “Focus: the Hidden Driver of Excellence” | Talks at Google

THE POWER OF FOCUS – Best Motivational Videos Compilation

Go deeper

• Using your strengths in school and college with great ideas on building relationships, study techniques, class selection, and extra curricular activities.

Podcast episodes to help you understand and leverage your Focus Strength

• Episode 1: Mastering Concentration in a Distracted World – “The Tim Ferriss Show”
• Episode 2: The Power of Deep Work – “The Science of Success”
• Episode 3: Strategies for Enhancing Focus and Productivity – “The Productivityist Podcast”
• Episode 4: Mindfulness and Focus – “The Rich Roll Podcast”
• Episode 5: Overcoming Attention Challenges – “The Tony Robbins Podcast”
• Episode 6: Women Leaders Who Maintain Focus in a Chaotic World – “The Female CEO” (Host: Stacey Sargison)
• Episode 7: The Focused Woman: Strategies for Success – “Lead Like Her” (Host: Angela Brooks)

Listen to great Strengths Podcasts

• Theme addicts is a series created by UnleashStrengths to highlight the massive impact the StrengthsFinder assessment through interviews and discussions.
• Lead through your strengths features many interesting guests and Career Q and A about leverage your strengths at work.
• Maximize Your Strengths features interviews and discussion on developing your strengths. She really drills into each of the themes by interviewing real people on how a specific theme shows up in their lives.
• Called to Coach is a webcast resource for those who want to help others discover and use their strengths. We have Gallup experts and independent strengths coaches share tactics, insights and strategies to help coaches maximize the talent of individuals, teams and organizations around the world.
• ISOGO TV promises a lot: So dramatically increase your energy and decrease your frustration at work, that you cannot help but take the Strengths paradigm home to your family. Fueling life-changing stories.
• The True Strength Podcast by Ian Pettigrew (Kingfisher Coaching) features inspiring true stories of how people succeed through applying their strengths and being resilient. It often includes a Gallup StrengthsFinder profile.
• If you are looking to identify and develop your strengths and talents, take calculated risks and make decisions, The Strengths Revolution with Steve Morgan will help your personal development, as well as helping you support your clients, employees, teams and wider organisations. Knowing your strengths will also support positive risk-taking and decision making as part of good risk management.

 

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Sources:

• Balconies and Basements
• Leadership, team and conflict
• The Genius and Beauty of Strengths
• Strengths-based academic Advising
• Strengths partnerships