The Power of Attention
The Power of Attention
The more you do and the busier you become, the less able you are to focus on the moment and what is right in front of you. The conscious mind can only hold one thought or feeling at a time. Therefore, because of how the mind works, multitasking is really the process of shifting your attention between two or more things. In this way, you become a human doing. Society perpetuates the myth that the more you get done, the more coveted you are. This is an illusion and only serves to move you away from your essence as you do more and be less. Many people don’t even take vacations and when they are off from work, they jam pack the time with other things to do. Having never been taught how to be a human being, they don’t know how to do nothing and simply be.
Our society has perpetuated this lifestyle as worthy and noble, and praise is given to those who can “do it all.” You can do a lot over the course of your lifetime; you just cannot do it all in one moment. Living your life cluttered with doing is not living; it’s a life of getting things done. Missing is the meaning. Missing is the experience of the doing, the enjoyment of doing whatever it is you’re doing in the moment. Seems strange to say that and yet gratitude and presence helps to put things in perspective.
When you are busy with lots of things going on all at once, your body taps its own energy resource and releases adrenaline into the bloodstream. This natural drug helps you to think clearly and act quickly. This is the reason people can say they work better under pressure. It’s true to an extent; we all work well under pressure due to Nature’s little helper. Because of this, you want more. You access this resource to help you get through every day and over time, you become addicted. You may wonder why you crash at the end of the day but because you’re getting so much accomplished, you don’t think much of it. It becomes a way of life but not without a cost. It becomes difficult for you to relax. You become irritable and stressed. You might develop insomnia, anxiety, or depression. The adrenaline lifestyle does not make it easy for relationships to flourish. It also damages your blood vessels and is the main cause for heart disease and stroke.
Coaching Tip: Slow down and be present to what you are doing in this very moment. Breathe when you feel yourself revving up. If you find yourself trying to do several things at once, ask yourself what the priority is and choose that one thing to focus your attention on. Once complete, you can choose the next priority. The goal is to focus your doing on those things that are aligned with your vision for success and you must say no to everything else. You’ll know you’re doing it right when you find yourself saying no to lots of things and creating space which brings you to a place close to boredom. This is a good place to be. It means you are ready to learn how to “be”. After all, life is not just a to-do list. And you are not a human doing.
Being present is often called mindfulness. Others call it being awake or meditating. It means that you are completely attentive to what you are doing in the moment. Why is this important? Because when you are not present you miss the moment. When you are attempting to do more in the moment than is possible-and because we know that the conscious mind only handles one thing at a time-you miss one of those things. For example, your child is speaking to you while you are doing the dishes. Are you listening? Or is your attention focused on making sure the dishes are clean? Or are you thinking about something else entirely, like “who left the dishes in the sink?” and “What’s for dinner?”
The mind has a way of running amok. It likes to keep moving. It has difficulty staying focused in the moment. It wanders. The good news is that your mind does not control you unless you let it. You are not your mind. Your mind is a tool you’ve been given to help you navigate this world. It may have learned to take charge; now you need to learn to take charge of your mind.
Coaching Tip: In order to stay present and be with what is requires attention and practice. Practice being attentive and fully present for each conversation. Focus your attention when people are speaking; this means no longer doing anything other than simply listening. When your mind wanders, pull it back to the moment. Over time as you learn how to immerse yourself in the present, you will create a richer life experience. And as you enjoy the moments of your life simply because you are more awake for them, you become less stressed, less overwhelmed, and more peaceful, more content. Your life becomes more meaningful and enjoyable as you capture the power of your attention.
The Power of Attention - To learn more about this author, visit Julie Fuimano's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
“Busy” is a societal game. The busier you are the more successful you must be. Right? So you spend your days doing rather than being and lose yourself in the abyss of ‘getting things done’. At the end of the day, you might feel good about the things you’ve accomplished–although oftentimes, whatever you do seems not enough. You still feel like there is so much on your plate that you’ve hardly made a dent.
The more you do and the busier you become, the less able you are to focus on the moment and what is right in front of you. The conscious mind can only hold one thought or feeling at a time. Therefore, because of how the mind works, multitasking is really the process of shifting your attention between two or more things. In this way, you become a human doing. Society perpetuates the myth that the more you get done, the more coveted you are. This is an illusion and only serves to move you away from your essence as you do more and be less. Many people don’t even take vacations and when they are off from work, they jam pack the time with other things to do. Having never been taught how to be a human being, they don’t know how to do nothing and simply be.
Our society has perpetuated this lifestyle as worthy and noble, and praise is given to those who can “do it all.” You can do a lot over the course of your lifetime; you just cannot do it all in one moment. Living your life cluttered with doing is not living; it’s a life of getting things done. Missing is the meaning. Missing is the experience of the doing, the enjoyment of doing whatever it is you’re doing in the moment. Seems strange to say that and yet gratitude and presence helps to put things in perspective.
When you are busy with lots of things going on all at once, your body taps its own energy resource and releases adrenaline into the bloodstream. This natural drug helps you to think clearly and act quickly. This is the reason people can say they work better under pressure. It’s true to an extent; we all work well under pressure due to Nature’s little helper. Because of this, you want more. You access this resource to help you get through every day and over time, you become addicted. You may wonder why you crash at the end of the day but because you’re getting so much accomplished, you don’t think much of it. It becomes a way of life but not without a cost. It becomes difficult for you to relax. You become irritable and stressed. You might develop insomnia, anxiety, or depression. The adrenaline lifestyle does not make it easy for relationships to flourish. It also damages your blood vessels and is the main cause for heart disease and stroke.
Coaching Tip: Slow down and be present to what you are doing in this very moment. Breathe when you feel yourself revving up. If you find yourself trying to do several things at once, ask yourself what the priority is and choose that one thing to focus your attention on. Once complete, you can choose the next priority. The goal is to focus your doing on those things that are aligned with your vision for success and you must say no to everything else. You’ll know you’re doing it right when you find yourself saying no to lots of things and creating space which brings you to a place close to boredom. This is a good place to be. It means you are ready to learn how to “be”. After all, life is not just a to-do list. And you are not a human doing.
Being present is often called mindfulness. Others call it being awake or meditating. It means that you are completely attentive to what you are doing in the moment. Why is this important? Because when you are not present you miss the moment. When you are attempting to do more in the moment than is possible-and because we know that the conscious mind only handles one thing at a time-you miss one of those things. For example, your child is speaking to you while you are doing the dishes. Are you listening? Or is your attention focused on making sure the dishes are clean? Or are you thinking about something else entirely, like “who left the dishes in the sink?” and “What’s for dinner?”
The mind has a way of running amok. It likes to keep moving. It has difficulty staying focused in the moment. It wanders. The good news is that your mind does not control you unless you let it. You are not your mind. Your mind is a tool you’ve been given to help you navigate this world. It may have learned to take charge; now you need to learn to take charge of your mind.
Coaching Tip: In order to stay present and be with what is requires attention and practice. Practice being attentive and fully present for each conversation. Focus your attention when people are speaking; this means no longer doing anything other than simply listening. When your mind wanders, pull it back to the moment. Over time as you learn how to immerse yourself in the present, you will create a richer life experience. And as you enjoy the moments of your life simply because you are more awake for them, you become less stressed, less overwhelmed, and more peaceful, more content. Your life becomes more meaningful and enjoyable as you capture the power of your attention.
The Power of Attention - To learn more about this author, visit Julie Fuimano's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|||
George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Julie's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
|
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Working From Home Recession Proof Sample Press Release Entrepreneur Flight Manual Business Plan Sample |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Productivity Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009 | |
 |
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||