The Power Of Focus

Our days are filled with low-priority distractions like facebook, answering emails, chores and other tasks which sap our energy and keep us busy without really getting our long-term goals accomplished.

This steals our creativity, our focus, our ability to think about the problems in our life and ultimately these distractions are actually taking away from our long-lasting, not-in-the-moment happiness. True happiness comes from a healthy self-esteem built by contributing value to the world by living your life purposefully. When we are truly working towards our purpose time does not exist. As humans, we have the ability to focus and work for hours on end to complete objectives we deem important in our lives.

What’s important to you? What you fill your day with can be the first tool used to distinguish your values. If your actions do not reflect the things you most value, you have the ability to CHOOSE something different. The choice is truly yours to make, the hardest part is determining what you ACTUALLY want, then making the DECISION to implement this into your life.

Let us look at an example. If you want to create more wealth (aside from the salary your earn at your current job), what do you do in your daily life which could make this happen? Do you truly value more money or do you merely think you should have more? Do you spend your days at work and nights chasing the kids at the park, cooking meals and enhancing the relationship with your family? Maybe you value family more than money and value spending your time this way. It is not until you identify this that the lust for extra money would require you to compromise your higher value of family in order to do so.

Now you have identified you value family more than money and can truly enjoy your decision to take care of your family rather than stressing about the want for increased money in your bank account.

This example can be applied to any set of values in your life. Identifying what you truly value leads to increased focus in your life because you focus on what’s truly important to you.

Now let us look at some more pragmatic steps so you can make a change in your life.

When do we focus best?

• Between the hours of 5 am and 8 am while the rest of the world sleeps. Use this time to focus on yourself, build your vision and mission, take time to listen to podcasts, read, research, build your character in ways which are important to you.
• Schedule high priority tasks to be completed before 11am. Use the rest of the day to do what you have to do, building your health, your business or relationships. Watch your productivity sore through the roof with this habit implemented on a regular basis.

How do we have better focus?

• Getting clear on our purpose, vision and mission in life. This was covered earlier but the first step to increased focus is to identify what you value so you have something to focus on.
• Next, clear out the clutter in your life. Whether the clutter is in your house, your closest, your email inbox, your personal or business relationships, clear it out! Anywhere you can trim the fat in your life, take steps to minimize the clutter in your life to help you focus on what’s really important. Again identifying your values makes this happen so the clearer your values are defined and expanded upon, the easier it is to decide what is clutter and what is important in your life.
• Don’t be afraid to clear out people who do not support your vision. Once you identify what you truly want, you will experience praise from some and push back from others. This is a natural by product of taking a stand. Don’t let the detractors minimize your values, simply trim the fat. You do not have to cut them out of your life completely but you can take steps to defining your relationships with those people so you can focus on the important aspects of your relationship with that individual and avoid unnecessary confrontation by defining with that person certain issues will not be discussed. Unless it is truly important to “convert” this person to your side of some situation, then having confrontational discusses is another low-priority distraction. Instead show that person how your decisions enhance your life by living congruently with your purpose and mission.

What sort of a difference can we make when we enhance our focus?

Watch the video linked below and see what some focus can do to solve problems in your life and enhance the lives for those in your community.

Click here for Kevin Doe’s story.

Not everyone has to be an MIT inventor. Once you identify your mission and purpose in life you will begin having a bigger impact on the lives of those around you, your family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, community, city, province, maybe even throughout the world if it is congruent with your values. Whatever contribution, no matter how big or small will affect the lives of those around you. Start small but make a start.

When?

Now! Do something today to start focusing a bit more on your purpose and mission in life and continually create daily improvements for yourself.

Go forth, create, have fun!