Total Focus: Make Better Decisions Under Pressure by Brandon Webb

Total Focus: Make Better Decisions Under Pressure Reviews

• 
  Annie

  This is a great motivational book. The key point is to pick one thing to be EXCELLENT in and focus on DOING that one thing well. There are also other skills that entrepreneurs need to develop (but tend to ignore). An important one is 'know your number' - meaning knowing exactly how much revenue is required to be profitable, what are the sources of that revenue, and what is everything costing. Don't depend on someone else to track the numbers because the task seems too daunting. If you don't know the number you need to reach, how will you know what it takes to be successful?
  
  Other benefits of this book is there are several chapters that profile individuals who faced obstacles and difficult decisions to make, took the risks, put in the hard work, and came out stronger for it. While the advice is typical, the real-life stories give readers something to relate to and help them envision their own path to success.
• 
  Cav

  "Chase two rabbits, both will escape..."
  —Russian proverb
  
  Total Focus was a decent read, but not really what I was expecting... Although the book was well-done, it focuses primarily on the author's business ventures, and the lessons he's learned in the business world.
  
  Author
  Brandon Tyler Webb is a former United States Navy SEAL and SEAL Sniper course Head Instructor, with one combat deployment to Afghanistan and one to the Persian Gulf. He is also the founder and CEO of Hurricane Media Inc.
  
  Brandon Webb:
  
  
  
  The book is my second from the author, after his 2018 book:
  Mastering Fear: A Navy SEAL's Guide, which I really enjoyed.
  Webb opens the book with a good intro. The writing here is decent, and it shouldn't have trouble holding the reader's attention. The contents are divided into 7 parts, which correspond to 7 different principles:
  

  1) FRONT SIGHT FOCUS
  2) TOTAL SITUATIONAL AWARENESS
  3) VIOLENCE OF ACTION
  4) EXCELLENCE MATTERS
  5) EMBRACE THE SUCK
  6) ONE TEAM, ONE FIGHT
  7) LEAD FROM THE FRONT

  
  Each chapter above also features a case study, where Webb talks about a relevant person in his professional life who embodies the previous principle.
  
  Webb also briefly covers his SEAL training in the famous
  BUD/S program; mentioning that many of the physically strong candidates he thought would succeed washed out early. Mindset and grit are more important than pure physicality in making it through the famously grueling training, says Webb.
  
  The importance of self-talk is also covered early on here, as is his professional career.
  He gives the reader a brief history of his background story; his time in the SEALs, and the eventual founding of his website SOFREP.com.
  
  
  ***************************
  
  As mentioned at the beginning of this review, I enjoyed Total Focus, but it was not really what I was expecting going in... I also did not enjoy it quite as much as Mastering Fear.
  A more apt title of this book would have been something along the lines of "Business Success and Resilience: A Navy SEALs Guide."
  There is still much value here, and I would recommend this one.
  4 stars.
• 
  Carl

  Motivational-type of book, which I was able to take-away a few note-worthy suggestions.
• 
  Vasyl Fedevych

  Не фанат мотиваційних книг, але в цьому випадку доволі нетривіальний підхід робить чергове мотиваційне кліше доволі цікавим. Мова насамперед йде про паралелі між досвідом у бізнесі і досвідом колишнього снайпера і морського котика.
• 
  WhatIsItLike.to

  I need to disagree with the "just focus on one single thing" (which seems to be the basic premise of the book). As someone who hates working in teams and became successful/fi ALONE, this kind of advice just doesn't resonate with me. I've said it in other reviews about books that try to tilt people in this direction, that what one can achieve on its own is far more moneywise than what could ever be spent realistically. Anything on top of that and you overwork, trade your time, introduce team overhead, all for what exactly? Unless you love teamwork ofc. I'm no Richard Branson but I'm always looking at the next interesting thing, have no problem doing things in parallel, multiple projects. That's what keeps it interesting! Many are long-term, but by juggling which day is about what, I'm longing for the other. Just like my move everyday thing where I rotate between multiple activities, instead of plateauing or injuring myself by spamming the same thing every day.
  
  He shunned multitasking and distractions. But what if I enjoy my work better when there is a Twitch stream on the 3rd monitor? Also, I never would have "read" this book if I wasn't multitasking by listening to it while working out. This way I read over 100 books yearly, go figure. This was more about his business achievements and an ad to his persona, and mind you I have no idea who he was. I thought he was another David Goggins. I thought this was going to be about being a sniper, but there was barely any mention of that. I had to google what tis "sofrep" is.
  
  He works too hard. He pushes too much for excellence. I guess being a SEAL changes you, there seems to be a tendency of the force spitting out entrepreneurs. It's okay if you need to hear the advice of this book, and to motivate you or something. For me it was rather neutral. Not bad, but not terribly useful either. Maybe we'll "meet" down the line a few years later and it turns out I should have focused on the one thing. But I just can't help it, life offers so many interesting side quests, and sometimes they become main quests!
• 
  Chris Esposo

  This was not the book I expected to read, with a title "Total Focus" I was expecting a more "tactical" book on increasing once's ability to concentrate/focus on complicated tasks. In some ways, this book does aim to help the reader do this, but more from a "strategic"/30k feet in the air perspective. The author is a former Navy SEAL, and he has some interesting stories on the nature of endurance, namely that it's mostly psychological (at least with respect to passing the critical physical training to achieve the membership to the Navy SEALs or other SpecOps units).
  
  His contention is that one should not scatter-shot their endeavors to multiple different things, but to instead focus on one thing, and spend much of one's time building up that thing. Agree (to an extent). However, he doesn't really go into the mechanics of building up "focus" or what one can do to augment/increase one's ability to focus. Also, the nature of the author's use-cases are mostly within the realm of business/entrepreneurship. There's some good examples dealing with maintaining focus during adversity, personal, business, livelihood etc. However, these like the rest of the book are very high level.
  
  It's not a bad book, just too broad for me to find it useful. Conditional recommend for pep-up.
• 
  Book Chui

  If you have read a fair amount of self-help books, it's easy to "triangulate" a set of lessons for success. Most books point out a similar set or subset of laws or principles and Total Focus does the same albeit through a Navy Seal/Sniper-slant. The author correlates success in the battlefield to success in the business arena and manages to share a ton of life and business lessons that are rarely covered in other self-help books. His years in the service also provides a lot of eye-opening experience and insights for civilians. The only thing that prevents me from giving it a fifth star is absence of a tightly-integrated framework for immediate application (in the vein of 7 Habits) but I'm guessing that is not the objective of the book. It serves to inform, entertain and inspire people to focus on what drives them and materialize it now. Overall, it's a worthwhile read from a person who has walked the talk.
• 
  W. Whalin

  Worthwhile Listening to this Audiobook and Packed with Insights
  
  No matter what your business, you will gain encouragement from this audiobook. Brandon Webb is a former U.S. Navy seal sniper but faced and survived failure as a civilian. He raised millions to get his start-up off the ground and then lost it all when problems spiraled out of his control.
  
  Yet Webb did not wallow in his failure but used those lessons for his next business—a media company called Hurricane Group. Within five years Webb grew the company to a staff of over fifty, tens of millions in their audience and a valuation of over $100 million.
  
  The book focuses on seven key lessons and each chapter ends with a pointed and interesting case study from business. I heard this audiobook cover to cover and highly recommend it.
• 
  Shannon Enloe

  This is one of those books you read and then you buy and keep it on your living room table with a highlighter so every few days you open it as a refresher and highlight something new. Rinse and repeat until it’s years later and the book is all one big highlight. THEN, well then you choose a different color highlighter and go again! Then? Get a pen to underline. Yes, it’s that good and deserving of constant attention. Stay situationally aware and continue to read this book and use it as a wet stone to sharpen yourself daily!
  
  “Man’s basic vice, Is the act of unfocusing his mind, the suspension of his consciousness, which is not blindness, but the refusal to see, not ignorance, but the refusal to know.” - Ayn Rand
  
• 
  Jennifer (Jena) Taylor

  This book quickly captured my attention and kept it the entire time. Plus, I craved it and couldn’t wait to get back to it each time I was away from it. That’s not something one says often about a business book. This title is now my top choice for business books! I highly recommend. If you strive to be your best in what you do and understand how passion drives you, this is a must read. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, read this book and discover what life is like when you’re fueled by passion.
  
  While not ground-breaking in the overall message, the anecdotes are engaging and they serve as powerful reminders and motivators to focus on what matters most.
• 
  Kelci Crawford

  For folks looking for hard outlines and steps of how to handle crises at work, maybe look elsewhere. This book is more for developing a mentality of better decision-making. It's not a script for how to make decisions in certain contexts.
  
  That said, I'm going to re-read this book. I'll admit that my own biases made me skip the first half of the book. But the second half had material that REALLY resonated with me, so I'm willing to give this another chance.
  
  Also, can I say how refreshing it is to see case studies of businesses that run with an idea and make money...BEFORE writing a business plan? Because I loved that.
• 
  Kiran

  A good read which advocates a few noteworthy points and principles especially around focus and leadership. It can definitely be useful if you are looking for some motivation before you startup. Most of these are points that one is typically aware of, but the book brings it together into a well compiled list with excerpts and examples both from the author's experience as well as other entrepreneurs. At times, the author does force fit his SEAL experience to these principles, but most times they seem appropriate and well connected.
• 
  Stacey Kelly

  Focused and Simple
  
  Sharing his experience and story, while keeping the message focused and KISS (Keep It Simple/Stupid) makes this a good read for individuals both with an entrepreneurial spirit and those wishing to incorporate or enhance leadership competencies.
  
  Well worth the time to read as the author also does not place his SEAL experience on some form of pedestal to imply this makes him a success but he shares how if one is focused ; driven and committed then success is possible in both good times and bad.
• 
  Stephanie

  I thought this book was excellent in that it provided a practical and tangible approach to excellence whilst also being honest about the amount of hard work and the mindset required. Good examples and case studies of learning from mistakes and failures. He is not claiming that he is perfect now but provides a framework to at least get as close to excellence as you can. This book should leave you energised, focused and with some new ideas.
• 
  Johannes Feschbaum

  Over all a good book that connects principles of leadership common to military and business life, although they can apply to many other areas. At times, the book drifts into name-dropping and chest-thumping about his success. While I enjoyed the book, the author lacked the style and humility of Admiral McCraven's book *Make Your Bed.* There's a way to talk about your knowledge without sounding like you're bragging.
• 
  Adam

  Not gonna lie, I skipped about a bit during the second half of this book. It's ironic that a book called Total Focus can feel like it lacks focus...but there you go. I enjoyed Brandon's other book on Mastering Fear which is much tighter and more concise, the quality of that book felt much higher. My opinion, browse this book if you will, maybe read the first 3 or 4 chapters and then skip the rest. Ps. there's a neat little summary at the very end that you can skim for a spark's note version.
• 
  Allison Kijak

  For a book called Total Focus, it seemed that this book really lacked focus in its guidance. It’s a cumulation of solid business advice, but I found the stories repetitive not only within the story, but also following the author’s other book “Mastering Fear”. This could have been much better with concise language and a clear direction.
• 
  Mike Mann

  It’s a good reminder of what my own values are and how I’m using those to focus my own actions and attention. Maybe a bit overly elaborated and repetitive in places, but some of the case studies were excellent.
• 
  V Hov

  Like the authors voice, just sometimes the message is super cheesy. Editor did a great job, but there was a lot of substance lacking. Also got to begin to sound a bit repetitive. Appreciate the effort, the stories and the motivational direction. Might be what some people want/need.
• 
  Russell

  This book on business leadership was a great and easy read. With the author being an ex-SEAL-turned-businessman, I enjoyed the parallels from the military to the business world. Definitely worth hanging onto this one to reference in the future.
• 
  Ken Hamner

  Outstanding book. One of the best I've read in a while.
• 
  Tracy

  This was a 4.5. Good information about running a business or just being a productive person.