Focus: The Catalyst to Advancement

After having a conversation with a good friend recently, it dawned on me just how different I am from so many other people. I guess I am probably a bit weird and somewhat of an anomaly. However, I guard my focus like my life depends on it. I believe that this has been a major key to my growth and a major contributor to my success. When I look around the world today, I do not see a lot of emphasis being put on focus. Everyone is claiming mastery, and we have an abundance of gurus. No amount of motivation or inspiration will ever be a substitute for focus. I want to explore focus and how you can harness it to advance and achieve your goals.

1. Understand that we live in a world dominated by distractions. As a highly respected thought leader with global influence, I want you to know that no one is exempt from distractions. Every day, I am inundated with thousands of emails. New projects are constantly being presented to me. In addition, I am asked all the time to partner and collaborate on new initiatives. There are so many demands that are placed on me that if I am not careful, it would be easy to get distracted. In the early years, I would say yes to just about everything. However, after years of experience and burnout, I learned that I cannot say yes to everything. Many of the things that we say yes to are nothing more than distractions keeping us away from our dreams. In order to guard against being dominated by distractions, you must be able to perceive distractions and you must be able to say no to them. Distractions often disguise themselves as opportunities and possibilities. With experience, you learn that if you live in pursuit of everything, you forfeit the pursuit of excellence.
2. You need to eliminate the things that are not working from your life. I know I just spent a lot of time talking about distractions and how you cannot afford to entertain them. However, I feel like I have to make another point to drive this home. As a life strategist, many people have come to me over the years, frustrated because their lives were not working. When I pulled back the layers of their lives, it became clear that they lacked purpose and clear priorities in their lives. Ultimately, most people fill their lives with busy work because they never find the thing that they were born for. If you were to ask my closest friends and family about how I spend my time, they would tell you that I am very intentional and strategic about how I use my time. Years ago, I discovered that our lives are crippled by toxic cycles when we refuse to address the things that are not working in our lives. What do I mean by that? How much time do you waste ruminating on the past? Or how much time do you spend repeating actions that are not yielding results in your life? Most of all, how much time do you spend saying yes to things that ultimately result in you saying no to the life of your dreams? As long as you cling to the things that are not working, change is withheld and denied access to your life.
3. You must define what focus looks like for you. One of the problems I have with all of the experts and gurus today is that many of them are egotistical. In other words, they subscribe to this theory that it is only one way to do something and every other way is wrong. On the other hand, my approach is very different from many of the experts and gurus that you follow. Instead of me giving you a general definition of focus, I want to challenge you to create a unique definition of what focus means to you. Why is this important? Honestly, we all live busy lives, and we all live different lives. What works for me may be insufficient for you. Furthermore, what is effective for me may be unrealistic for you. Therefore, when you take the time to craft your own definition of focus, you are empowered to put it into practice. What is focus to one person may be total chaos to another. From decades of experience, I can tell you that the disciplines that make me uncommon are unconventional to most people. Take some time to sit down, reflect, and start crafting your definition of focus. Just remember that focus should always promote your growth and development. Also, I think it is important to note that focus fuels the progress and productivity of your life. By taking the time to define your focus, you declutter your life of the things that would attempt to get in the way of your dreams.
4. You must have clarity about what to focus on. After you have crafted your personal definition of focus, you must take it a step further if you want to achieve your goals and realize your dreams. Many years ago, when I was first learning this principle, I discovered that it is not enough to just have focus. Real and lasting success comes from having clarity about exactly what you should be focusing on. This is one of the reasons that I say you must learn the power of thinking for yourself. Never allow anyone else to do your thinking for you. Why is this so important? You are best positioned to determine what the best course of action is for you. Of course, you should seek out diverse perspectives before you make a decision. However, I am also saying that too much input can lead to analysis paralysis and the abortion of your potential. Only you can determine what you should be focusing on. The reason this is so important is that whatever you focus on, you feed. Whatever you feed is what will grow in your life. Most people are focusing on things that will not make a difference in their lives or bring them into the next dimension. When you focus on insignificant things, you engineer an ineffective life. The thing that has contributed so greatly to my success is that I have mastered knowing what to focus on. With that clarity, I have developed tunnel vision, and I have forged ahead while others have remained stuck. You cannot commit to a vision that you have not developed full concentration for.