But if that’s all you are focused on, then it’s easy to get frustrated with having to make food - all the chopping and stirring and adjusting seasonings - so that you eventually forgo the process and just get takeout instead. Preparing food – The outcome is a meal.

The composure skills you build here will flow through to all areas of your life. Focus on taking each little challenge on the road in your stride. Focus on your surroundings and paying attention. It’s easy to see how an outcome focus here can lead to frustration due to delays, and even road rage. Driving in traffic – The outcome is to get to the destination.Think about these examples, and if they might be useful for you: A process-focus is more applicable than what we might expect on everyday activities. If we shift our mindset to focus on the process, rather than just the achievement itself, we can find enjoyment in many everyday activities. When we subconsciously focus on the end result of personal activities, we can sacrifice the pleasure we could have enjoyed along the way because we focus only on the fleeting moment of achievement right at the end. While businesses deal with these trade-offs in various ways, having an outcome-focused mindset in our personal lives can have a negative effect on our wellbeing. Of course, there are also downsides to an outcome-focus, such as cutting corners, sacrificing quality, and feeling frustrated when things don’t go as smoothly as expected. About 95% or more of the time, we are engaged in the process of getting to the outcome.īeing outcome-focused has many advantages in the business world, such as promoting pragmatism and efficiency, which are very important factors in getting things done, and businesses need this focus to survive.

But here's the problem – the outcome is just a small fraction of the time we spend on completing a task. When we work hard, it’s all about getting that promotion. When we work on a project, it’s all about successful implementation. When we prepare for a race, it’s all about the prize at the end. You can't just use focussed and focused in the same document - you need to stick with one, or you'll look like you've gone insane with choice.We are heavily conditioned to favour outcomes over process. The bottom line is that when you are in Australia, you have the option to use both spellings, as long as you are consistent. I know what you're thinking: You thinking 'what the fuck?! Why can't they just decide on one spelling!?' Well, you make a good point, but you're just a foot soldier on the grammar battlefield, and the question of focused and focussed is an interesting example of Australian spelling being an English ho, incorporating both UK and US spellings without so much as blushing. And you know when the Sydney Morning Herald is involved, shit is serious. But in the majority of publications, such as the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, the spelling focused is used instead. But it's not really as straight-cut as that, because Australian English can't make it's mind up which one to use.Īccording to The Style Guide, which is the official guide to all the spellings in Australia, you should use focussed.

In UK and Australian English, it's spelt focussed. In US spelling, this word is spelt focused. Some words have two different spellings in the same country, and can be used interchangeably. These can hurt your head.Ī prime offender of this is the word focussed. As you know, we have already battled with the rules of when to use different spellings for the same words, and it has been no small task.īut the thing you have to understand that you can never really win the battle with words – you can only hold them back for long enough to crouch down in your trench and write a letter to your loved ones, telling them how much you miss the farm, and that you don't know when you'll be home.

Focussed vs focused