This month, it’s all about focus, Self-leadership and true success as I promote my book after its launch last month.
The word ‘focus’ has two main meanings. It can refer either to the ability to sort through many issues and recognise which are most important to you: so, being able to focus deeply means being able to process things thoroughly. ‘Focus’ can also mean the ability to bring constant weight to bear on the issues needing attention once they have been identified. This is the decisive-like quality of focus. So, when I use the word ‘focus’, here I’m incorporating both of these meanings.
People often need to sharpen both aspects of their focus. They have to process things thoroughly, allowing them to be decisive and thereby enabling them to manage, lead and perform with extreme accuracy and impact.
Staying focused is really about making sure you don’t get pulled in every direction, only in the direction that matters most to you. This very much comes down to what you focus on. If you focus on what’s good about your day, you will have a good day; when you focus on what’s bad, there’s a greater chance you will have a bad day. Similarly, if you focus on a problem, the problem increases; if you are prepared to focus on a solution, the solution becomes more important.
The focus is not right if we always react to and attend to what is urgent and ignore the most important things. Like I write about in the book, it is important to have a pension plan but often not urgent. You might not need it now but if you keep putting it off, then one day it will become urgent or it will be too late. When we are reacting to and getting done what is urgent, it is often in response to what others have identified as urgent. Staying focused will allow you to see what is important and must be responded to in order to get that done in a timely fashion. Meanwhile, allegedly urgent matters, if always reacted to immediately, have a greater chance of stopping you getting more important things done.
One of the simple truths of life is that people who try to do everything often achieve nothing. They often achieve nothing because they are so busy trying to do too much. By staying focused, you will put in motion a course of action that will allow you to create your unique vision and the life you truly want to be living. Having done this, focus will allow you to work out the best way to see this life become a reality. When you do this, you have a far greater chance of achieving what is most important to you.
So, again for me it’s all about focusing on getting my book out there this month and letting individuals, groups and organisations know about the work I do. Knowing that with this focus, I will have greater clarity and direction, allowing me to be completely positive, resourceful and resilient. All the qualities that will be needed to be called upon if I want to live a life of Self-leadership. Knowing that this focus, this willingness to apply disproportionate pressure in pursuit of a few selected goals in my life and work at this time, won’t leave me weak and limited, or even shallow, as some might claim. Counter-intuitively, this kind of unequal focus will actually increase my capacity and fuel my strength at this time.
So, remember,
The man who chases two rabbits catches neither.
~ Confucius ~