The Rolling Stones are one of the most prolific and enduring rock-and-roll bands in history. To date, their career has spanned four and a half decades. Mick Jagger and his three friends are nearing the age to draw Social Security and still perform to sold-out stadiums around the world. Like or dislike their music, their success is hard to deny.
They played to a sold out crowd in the OU Memorial stadium a few years back. I could hear the music and the crowd from my home. Here is what took place before the concert: over two hundred people built a mammoth structure several stories tall and half the length of a football field. A convoy of more than twenty semi-trailers was required to haul it from the last location. Two private planes jet the key people, including the band, between cities. A decade ago their world tour earned more than $80 million in profit.
A limousine pulls up back of the stage. The four band members step out and wait for their cue. When their names are announced the crowd roars, they walk on stage and pick up their instruments. For the next two hours they perform to the delight of their fans. After the final encore they wave good-bye, step into the waiting limousine and exit the stadium.
They don’t get involved in the setting up or tearing down of the stage, figuring out the complex itinerary or a hundred other jobs. They let other skilled people do those things. They do what they are best at doing—singing and performing (Focus, J. Canfield, p.33). That’s focus. They knew clearly what they were supposed to do and they did it.