What My Kids—and LinkedIn Ads—Taught Me About Focus

By: Stuart Knight (Founder and CEO) | November 19, 2025

Have you heard that famous story of when Warren Buffet once had dinner at the family home of Bill Gates?  At the end of the dinner, Bill’s mom challenged everyone at the table to write down one word on a piece of paper that best described the reason for their success.  When each person read their word aloud, it was discovered that both Bill and Warren had written down the same word.  Focus.  Pretty cool huh?  And while that’s an interesting story, there’s so much more to it that I think most people miss.

I think it’s fair to say that we all have a general idea of what it means to focus, but I believe those who credit it as the number one reason for their success define it differently.  Most people see it as not allowing yourself to be distracted, while the rare few understand it as a calculated set of steps toward achieving something great.  

My children, and especially my son, constantly need to be reminded of the importance of focus.  Most of that happens while they are doing their homework, or eating a meal.  If being distracted was an Olympic sport they’d both have multiple gold medals by now.  There could be so much as a pencil on the table during breakfast, and rolling it back and forth will instantly become more exciting than eating the meal that is now going cold.  

You see, my children have yet to learn one of life’s most important lessons, which is to use a desired future as motivation to maximize the present moment.  Especially when that moment is either boring, or requires you to do something you do not want to do.  In my children’s case, that would be using the desired future of watching TV, or playing games before bed as motivation to get their homework done now.  And I want to be clear that I believe in the importance of not letting thoughts about the future disrupt your enjoyment of your present moment.  However, I do believe that envisioning a fabulous outcome we want for ourselves can powerfully drive us through moments that may be difficult, monotonous or even painful.

When I was in my 20’s, I watched my friends begin building careers soon after graduating from university.  This predictably allowed them to start buying things like cars and houses, and enjoying vacations, while I lived the life of the “starving artist”.  Instead of using my business degree to climb the corporate ladder for immediate gain, I opted to create something from scratch that had zero promise of guaranteeing financial rewards.  Ten years later, I was 250k in debt, and ten years after that the debt was paid off.  By then I had checked all of the boxes for “success”, and had built a foundation from which to leap into new adventures.  

Looking back, I can recount hundreds of times where I would have much rather been doing something else, but placing my attention on the future I wanted helped me get through those hard stretches in life.  It all came down to focus, which ironically, even as I write these words, I find myself facing yet again today.  Over the past month, I have decided to become proficient with the skill of learning how to professionally advertise on Linkedin.  I didn’t want to outsource this task to a third party, as I prefer to be in control of this marketing outreach on my own.  Well, after countless hours of educating myself on the topic by watching Youtube videos, and reading every article under the sun, I can say that I don’t remember the last time I did anything so boring.

It turns out that creating Linkedin advertising campaigns is a science that requires meticulous attention to detail, and it’s left me fully understanding why most people choose to hire other companies to do it for them.  However, by constantly reminding myself of the future that I can create by making this effort now, I am easily able to focus on the task of doing the damn thing I’m really not excited about doing.  In the end, it will fast track my new company, The Human Connection Group, toward a leveled up experience I’ve never had before in business.  And I know that to be true only because this has been the way it’s gone in the past.  Essentially, it’s about focusing on getting through the shit, so that you can create the shit you want!

In a world that today provides more opportunities for distraction than at any other time in history, focus has become a superpower that must be harnessed for those truly serious about designing the life they want.  And it goes well beyond setting aside an hour here and there to work toward your goal.  It’s about getting crystal clear on every intricate detail that needs to be covered in order to make that thing happen, and from there placing an almost maniacal focus on completing those tasks.  

It’s often difficult, monotonous and even painful, but if you can do it, there really isn’t anything you can’t achieve.

Much love,

Stuart

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