Your Most Valuable Asset
The Amplified Impact Podcast
January 22th, 2023
The transformative power of focus and attention cannot be overstated.
In today’s episode of Amplified Impact, Anthony shares how he feels more energized and alive when he is able to fully engage and be present in the moment.
He also mentions how our environments and habits can change our perceptions, and how important it is to be open to new things and challenges.
Anthony encourages us to put a premium on focus and attention, as it can improve productivity, give you a sense of fulfillment, and overall improve your quality of life.
We should learn and re-learn the value of focus, rather than just consuming new information.
TWEETABLE QUOTE:
“Focus is the highest return on investment skill.” – Anthony Vicino
LEAVE A REVIEW if you liked this episode!!
Let’s Connect On Social Media!
instagram.com/theanthonyvicino
Join an exclusive community of peak performers at Beyond the Apex University learning how to build a business, invest in real estate, and develop hyperfocus.
Learn More About Investing With Anthony
Invictus Capital: www.invictusmultifamily.com
Multifamily Investing Made Simple Podcast
Passive Investing Made Simple Book: www.thepassiveinvestingbook.com
Episode Transcript:
Anthony: [00:00:00] I just got back from a walk and I want to share with you guys the fact that if you live in a place where it is beautiful year round, it’s warm. Like down in the south, maybe Texas. I used to live in San Francisco in the Bay Area, and it was always like 67 degrees. Mildly sunny with a little bit of overcast, but generally like really beautiful.
Anthony: And what I discovered from living there over the years was that I started to become a bit of a weenie, anything that was like five degrees over 67. So if it got like to 72, 73 degrees, suddenly I was like hot burning alive, like on the face of the sun. I couldn’t handle it. And then if it ever got five degrees colder, it was like 61, 62 degrees.
Anthony: I was like, oh my God, this is, this is like being on Hoth. It’s, it’s the worst. So you kind of like, you acclimate to the environments in which you spend all your time. Right? And so that was one of the reasons why I left the Bay Area actually, is like, I didn’t really like that. I didn’t really like that I was becoming so acclimated to such a narrow range of, of, [00:01:00] stimuli when it came to the weather in particular.
Anthony: So, but I wanted to share this because I just went for a, a walk around the block. I live here in Minneapolis. For those that don’t know, Which is like six months out of the year, just, like Hoth, like it is a frozen wasteland. It is very, very cold and miserable for the most part. And today was like the first day of spring where it was like genuinely nice out.
Anthony: It was, it was just sunny, beautiful, warm. I walked outside and just put this huge smile on my face and I, it just made me think of the fact. People who live where it’s beautiful year round will never understand the simple joy, ecstasy of walking out to the first sunny day after six months of, of frozen hell.
Anthony: So I just wanted to share that with you guys. So I’m not saying you guys should go move to, to Minnesota or anything like that. You got to have a, you have to have a, a certain predilection for pain. But there it is. I wanted to share that because it, it is just, I’m feeling good. I’m feeling that that vitamin D sun.
Anthony: Right, right now, because where we live up here in, [00:02:00] in Minnesota, we don’t get a ton of vitamin D during the winter. So I, I start to get a little bit of seasonal affective disorder and I, I get a little mopy, a little tired, a little dis, a little depressed. So I’m excited right now because it means we’re entering the time of the year where I’m going to be like a Energizer bunny all fired up and psyched.
Anthony: So, without further ado, let’s, let’s get to the topic at hand here today. I want to talk about, and you guys know, I, I, I talk a lot about hyper folks and the importance of. focus or your attention as the, the most important, valuable asset that you have at your disposal. It’s not time cause you don’t really control time.
Anthony: It’s, it’s something that comes and goes with or without you, but your attention, where you decide to focus it and in what quantities and in what qualities that’s going to dictate the, the, the outputs. It’s going to dictate what you give. . And I’m not just saying like from a productivity standpoint, if I focus on this thing, if I can go into deeper focus, then I’m going to get better work out of it.
Anthony: But also I’m just going to get better fulfillment and if I’m present, if I’m able to focus, say on my loved ones are like not working and playing and going [00:03:00] at that full tilt when I’m doing that, the quality of your life is just going to, improve exponentially and. I, this is not an episode today to necessarily talk about how to focus, but just remembering and reiterating, cause I think it’s so important.
Anthony: I think a lot of the learning that we do is less about learning something new and consuming a new piece of information rather than re-remembering or relearning something that we’ve already known. And so today, I just want to reemphasize this, this singular point, not just that focus and that your attention is your most valuable asset, but this.
Anthony: That focus is the highest ROI skill in the world. So let’s say that again. Focus is the highest return on investment skill. So the time that you put into learning how to focus and the time that you put into actually focusing, they are going to pay the biggest dividends across the, the length and breadth and width.
Anthony: That’s not a word of your life. So everything that we can do to focus on how do I, how do I improve at focus? , [00:04:00] if you’ve hung around these parts long enough, you know, one of the big com biggest components of this is just around environment design and making sure that the way that you have your workday set up or your life set up is conducive to folks.
Anthony: I think that’s the biggest issue that, um, most of us face. You know, I have severe ADHD, so I’m, I’m fighting a biological battle here, but all that, even if you don’t have ADHD, I, I think that distraction is, it’s a. . It’s, it’s this epidemic. At least that’s something that’s, that we all struggle with, especially in this modern age where we’re all walking around with our, our cell phones and our hand, which gives us instant access to like the entirety of, cat memes and, and all the knowledge of Alexandria at times a million.
Anthony: Like everything that you could ever want, plus then some you have access to and we’ve forgotten then because, because it’s so omnipresent, we’ve forgotten how to create these boundaries around our life so that we can work within silos. And I think. The, if you really want to get great work done, you have to figure out how to silo [00:05:00] yourself during the day, during different activities and, and trying to find the period of time during the day when you’re going to be the most.
Anthony: effective, the most productive. So for me, when I’m creating, it’s usually during the morning or the late afternoon or early afternoon, and you might be different, you know, some people like to do it really, really early in the morning, some people late at night. But understanding that, like we ebb and we flow through these 90 minute cycles every day called old ultradian rhythms.
Anthony: So from the, this is really interesting actually. This is a digression, but when you wake up, your body starts an ultradian rhythm. So for every 90 minutes we go in this like cyclical pattern of kind of going up into a peak state where we’re hyper, we’re high energy, and then we start to come back down. And this happens every 90 minutes or so.
Anthony: And so just understanding like how do your ultradian rhythms kick in during the day and when are you most likely to be effective? And then siloing yourself during that period of time so that you don’t have distractions from your phone or distractions from people walking in the door. And like that you yourself are holding yourself.
Anthony: To not getting distracted and going to YouTube or Instagram or [00:06:00] wherever else. And all this is to say is that every, every, every minute, every, every dollar that you put into, like leveling up, your ability to focus and go deeper is going to be the highest ROI skill that you could spend any amount of time on.
Anthony: It’s going to pay massive dividends throughout the entirety of your life, not just from a making money perspective, which is. But also from just the quality of your relationships and the depth of your experience and like the memorability of this whole thing that we call life. Because if, if you’re like me, I’ve gone through these periods of time where I can get like really sucked into just distraction.
Anthony: And guys, the thing with distraction is that it’s really, it’s really easy, not just from. The way that the world around us is designed, it’s constantly competing for our attention, but also from a biological perspective. Like we’re, we’re lazy humans. Our brains we’re inherently lazy. We don’t want to do more work than is strictly necessary.
Anthony: So we’re always looking for reasons to, to zone out. Right, because focus is hard. It’s calorically expensive, and so your brain [00:07:00] is like, don’t do that. That’s, that’s hard work and it’s trying to like de-emphasize you from going into these states sometimes. But then once you do go into it, once you do expend those calories, it’s some of the most pleasurable time that you can, you can spend and.
Anthony: If you were to spend your entire day just scrolling through Instagram and Facebook, YouTube, and then you were to reflect on that day tomorrow, you would not remember anything really super memorable. It would not be a landmark moment in the life of you that you would look back on and be like, I’m proud to have done that.
Anthony: And so there’s like this interesting dichotomy between, consumption versus creation, which I talk about a lot, which is that if you want to find. In life, you have to consume less and create more. And to create more, we have to find time to focus. So that’s my message for you guys today. I hope you get a little bit of value out of that.
Anthony: I hope this gives maybe just a new lens through which to look at the topic of focus and how you’re spending your time and how you’re designing your environment. If you got any value out of this, just drop a review, hit the subscribe button, share it with somebody that you think would get some value. for those that don’t know, I, I’m [00:08:00] Anthony Vicino.
Anthony: I’m a bestselling author, serial entrepreneur, real estate investor. I’m the co-founder of Invictus Capital, which. You know, a lot of real estate at this point and, um, my only goal with making this podcast is helping entrepreneurs hyper-focus on the things that matter so they can maximize their return on life.
Anthony: So if that’s you, then you’re in the right place. I appreciate you taking a little bit of time out of your day to be with me, and as always, be cool. I’ll see you tomorrow.
This Week On YouTube
These 3 Daily Habits Made Me A Millionaire in 3 Years
Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
1. Unleash your hyperfocused mind to dominate life, business, and everything in between? Here’s how:
→ The Hyperfocused Masterclass: the exact system I used to overcome ADHD, write 12 books, build 4 businesses, and acquire $70M of real estate.
There are a handful of spaces left in The Hyperfocus Masterclass for those who want to snag the early bird preorder special discount of $49.
Email anthony@anthonyvicino.com to let me know you want on the waitlist.
2. Learn to passively invest in commercial real estate with better returns, less risk, and zeo hassle.
→ Invictus Capital: my real estate private equity firm.
→ Multifamily Investing Made Simple: Top Apple Podcast.
→ Passive Investing Made Simple: Amazon Best Selling Book with 100 5 star reviews.
3. Want more like this? Check out these 3 popular articles from the vault:
