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The Importance of Focus

Written by: Raymond Perras

Article Overview: Usually, it is difficult to reach a goal unless we aim for it. The importance of focus is mission critical in first, finding the target, second, adjusting the aim, and third going for it. All this usually happens in a mental mechanism that is outside our consciousness. To raise the potential for success in life, learning to focus helps to reduce clumsy tries and near misses. Effectiveness becomes predominant with the application of focus.

The Importance of Focus

Continuing on our journey into the world of peak performance, I want to call your attention to the fact that, if you want to hit a homerun, score a hole in one, or realize your best result ever in business, you need to be focused. I alluded to a systematic and structured approach in the first article. In your quest for excellence, the starting point must be an understanding of what will bring you to a state of performance. Sports psychologists talk about being in flow, in the zone. Athletes call it being minded. For you and I, let's just say you want to be focused. Focus just does not happen. It must be created. And it is easiest to create when there is a clear and precise goal. Let's imagine a target board with a big bull’s-eye in the centre and no other lines on it. It may look like a smaller circle inside a larger one (diagram made famous by Stephen Covey). The inner circle contains what you can control - circle of influence. The outer circle contains what you cannot control - circle of concerns. Your challenge is to stay focused on the Circle of Control, what you can do something about, and stay away from the Circle of Concerns (what you can't do anything about). After all, it makes more sense to direct your energy (physical, mental, emotional, psychological, spiritual) onto something you can affect, as opposed to something you can't change. The reason focus is so important is that it is the root of motivation, the drive that a person generates in moving from the present state to a new state of accomplishment. Let's illustrate that fact with a simple example. Suppose you feel like a special dinner this evening. If you don't stop and define the kind of menu you would like on this day, you will likely have a lukewarm desire to go out. Anything happens that tickles your fancy, the dinner will be forgotten. However, suppose you have a craving for a tender and juicy steak, you will imagine savouring it. You will salivate at the thought that your favourite restaurant is just a few hours away. You will develop a strong desire for that steak. Nothing much will distract you from seeking the pleasure of that experience. Our awareness of that internal process is key in understanding focus and its importance. With the knowledge of how we develop an ability to lock in on a specific target (bull’s-eye), it becomes much more possible to willingly create a particular focus in any facet of life. The trick is to develop desire for the bull’s-eye. That's where the challenge arises. Most of us have a problem defining the bull’s-eye, describing it, making it attractive, because we tend to let our eye move to the Circle of Concerns (what is outside our control, what can go wrong). If you are to hone your focus, strengthen your desire (motivation) and create peak performance, you will want to learn to direct your mind's eye on the bull's-eye. You will want to learn to make the bull's- eye big, clear, well-defined, so that it becomes the total picture of the target. It then takes up all the space in your mind and you don't see the outer circle (Circle of Concerns) anymore. You become motivated to seek the target. You will say this is a mind game. That is exactly what it is. You get what you set. Your subconscious brain does not know the difference between what is imagined and what is real. I submit that it is much better to create your reality than to let someone else create it for you. I encourage you to reflect on the concept of focus and how it can boost your motivation concerning anything you want in life. You will then join the ranks of those winners Denis Waitley labels as people who "make things happen". The recipe is simple. The task is daunting. Until next time, I encourage you to practice creating focus in your life. Start small. Use something simple to practice, like something you would like to eat. Entertain the thought, amplify it, hold it straight in front of your mind's eyes. Make it real. And start reaping the fruits of focus in your life. Next time, we will enter the labyrinth of the mind and explore how we can prepare ourselves to transform our focus in order to create peak performance at will. Till then, practice, practice, practice.

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Article Tags: accomplishment, circle of influence, desire, hole in one, homerun, inner circle, journey, juicy steak, motivation, peak performance, performance sports, precise goal, quest for excellence, score, sports psychologists, stephen covey, target board



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Entrepreneurs to profile - Here are my suggestions: Howard Schultz, Founder of Starbucks Jason Jiang, Founder of Focus Media
Re: Focus Brings Long Term Results - Hi Tyrone This is great advice that you give here. Focus is all important and one of the most difficult things to do especially on the internet, as we are bombarded with so many great opportunities. Do you have a link to get those books you discuss here? MichelleJ
Success Strategies - How to get the results you want now? Success Strategies and Action Steps I have used are: The Power of Choice Where you are at this present moment, is exactly perfect from the choices you have made. If you want to be somewhere else, you have to decide clearly what that is (your goal/outcome) and create action steps to achieve this. The Power of Focus The book "The Power of Focus" by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt, is one of my treasures in my Entrepreneur Library. If you focus on what you want versus what you do not want, your conscious and sub-conscious mind will direct attention to this. The movie, What the Bleep, Down the Rabbit Hole, explains this in detail about quantum physics and what we create in our lives. The Power of Commitment This is not about commitment to others. The first step is the commitment, your word, you make to yourself. Accountability and responsibility are additional success strategies and ingredients to creating the success, defined by you, that you want. The commitment to others reflects your integrity, your word and the team you work with. Co-workers, clients, yoru family, friends and community. My Success Acronyn in Success Breakthroughs(c) is: S pecific & self-directed U nlimited opportunities & possibilities C reate powerful outcomes C onsistent measureable results E xperience pwoerful transformation S olution and action-oriented S uccessful habits and outcomes Break Through to Powerful LIfestyle & Performance Choices Moira


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