The Principle of Convergence
The most effective people and organizations are rarely those attempting to do the most things. They are the ones who have learned to direct their energy toward what matters most.
Several years ago I decided I wanted to run a sub-five-minute mile.
The problem was that I wasn’t really training for a sub-five-minute mile.
I was training for a sub-five-minute mile, mountain biking on recovery days, and chasing a handful of other fitness goals at the same time. On paper, every activity looked productive. In reality, they were competing with one another.
My legs never fully recovered. My progress stalled. Eventually, a friend who had already accomplished what I was trying to do told me something simple and direct:
“If you want to get faster, you’re going to have to become more focused.”
At the time I thought he was talking about running.
Looking back, I think he was talking about life.
The older I get, the more I notice that highly effective people share a common trait. They are not necessarily smarter. They are not always more talented. They are rarely the busiest people in the room.
What separates them is that their energy converges.
Focus Is an Act of Exclusion
Most people think focus is about paying attention. I think focus is more about deciding what not to pay attention to.
Every act of focus is simultaneously an act of exclusion. To focus on one thing is to intentionally neglect something else. That sounds restrictive, but it is actually liberating. Without focus, every opportunity feels urgent. Every request feels important. Every new idea competes for attention.
With focus, decisions become clearer.
A nonprofit organization drilling water wells in Africa exists to provide clean water. Every meeting, budget discussion, hiring decision, and strategic conversation eventually returns to the same question: Does this help us provide clean water?
The moment the organization loses sight of that question, energy begins to scatter.
“Not every good thing deserves equal attention.”
The people who create unusual impact seem to understand this instinctively. They have learned that effectiveness is not determined by how many things they can hold onto. It is determined by what they are willing to let go of.
The Principle of Convergence
Most people assume growth means expansion.
More opportunities. More projects. More commitments. More responsibilities.
Yet I have become convinced that growth often works in the opposite direction.
As we mature, our energy should not merely increase. It should converge.
Think about a campsite. Imagine someone building six small fires around the perimeter. Each fire produces a little warmth. Each consumes wood. Yet the camper never becomes truly warm.
Now imagine gathering every log into a single fire pit.
The amount of wood has not changed. The energy has.
“Concentrated energy produces a different result than scattered energy.”
The same principle applies to people. Many of us spend years dividing our attention among dozens of worthwhile pursuits. We become involved in everything but exceptional at very little.
The people who create unusual impact gather the logs. They identify what matters most and continually return their energy there.
I have never seen this more clearly than in a labor and delivery room. For much of the process, activity appears relatively ordinary. A nurse moves in and out. A physician checks in periodically. Family members wait. Time passes.
Then delivery becomes imminent.
Suddenly people begin appearing from everywhere. Nurses, doctors, technicians, and specialists converge on a single objective. Every person has a role. Every action serves the same outcome.
For a brief moment, dozens of individual efforts become one coordinated effort.
That is convergence.
Why Organizations Drift
The same principle applies to organizations.
Every organization begins with a mission. Over time, however, new opportunities emerge. New departments form. New priorities compete for attention. What began as a focused effort can slowly become fragmented.
In the church world there are countless legitimate areas that require attention. Worship. Children’s ministry. Student ministry. Production. Facilities. Administration. Every one of them matters.
The danger appears when individual teams begin to see themselves as the destination rather than contributors to the destination.
When that happens, convergence disappears.
What replaces it is fragmentation.
Healthy organizations continually return to the same question:
What are we actually trying to accomplish?
When that question remains clear, every team understands its role. The worship team serves the mission. The children’s ministry serves the mission. The production team serves the mission.
“The mission becomes the point of convergence.”
When that happens, something powerful emerges. The efforts of many people begin moving in the same direction. What we often call momentum is frequently nothing more than focused energy moving toward a common goal.
Move To, Through, and Away
Years ago, while working in industry, I learned a surprisingly useful principle from OSHA.
The standard dealt with something as mundane as doorways. People should be able to move to, through, and away from them safely.
Simple enough.
Yet I have found the same framework useful when thinking about leadership and organizational effectiveness.
Can people easily move to us?
What happens when they move through us?
What do they walk away with afterward?
Every organization answers those questions whether it intends to or not.
In church life, for example, many congregations spend tremendous energy trying to get people through the front door. They invest in marketing, events, social media, signage, and invitations.
Those things matter.
But what happens once someone arrives?
What if our efforts converged on helping people move to, through, and away from the church in a meaningful way? What if every interaction was designed to help someone feel seen, valued, and connected?
Imagine a first-time guest leaving with a clear sense that they mattered.
Imagine a family driving home thinking:
“When do we get to come back?”
That kind of experience is rarely accidental.
It is the product of focused effort.
Gather the Logs
At some point every person and every organization must decide what effect they want to have on the world.
Not everything deserves a yes. Not every opportunity deserves your best energy. Not every good thing is the best thing.
The most effective people and organizations are rarely those attempting to do the most things. They are the ones who have decided what matters most and have the discipline to keep returning to it.
“Growth should increase depth of impact, not merely breadth of activity.”
Focus is the discipline that gathers scattered energy and directs it toward meaningful work. Without it, effort disperses. With it, momentum begins to build.
So gather the logs.
The warmth will take care of itself.
