Immerse Yourself In What You're Interested In
Richard Branson talked one time on how he operated to get a competitive edge. He said that when the company became interested in something, before they ever tipped their hand, they took one big step. That step was to totally immerse themselves in the thing that interested them.
Here's how Branson said it concerning clean fuels:
" ... we went out and talked to every scientist developing clean fuels. And when there were breakthroughs, we were the first on the scene. So we immerse ourselves in things we are interested in and make sure that nobody gets there 
before us."
A number of people that study these types of things say that it takes about a 1,000 hours to become a master at something. This is the type of immersion that Branson is talking about.
In other words, even before the company tries to get operations going, they find out what the field entails and become very good at understanding its purpose and direction, while figuring out how to tackle it and launch operations.
What's important is that it positions them to be in place for when breakthroughs come out so that the can jump quickly on them.
The discipline in this is that it requires a faith that you're going to get into the field, and the commitment of time and effort for months, and in some cases even years before they enter into it. He said this is one of the keys that have made the Virgin brand such as success. They make themselves ready for when things are going to take off and end up in the front of the pack in many cases.
Another way of putting it was that the key was preparation. They prepared by immersing themselves fully into the sector they were looking to enter. It also kept competitors from knowing they were interested in that area.
Richard Branson conquered the world. Now he wants to fly you to space.
OPEN LETTER TO GEOFF DIXON FROM RICHARD BRANSON
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