How To Focus And How To Use It To Succeed
The human mind is a beautiful thing. I often wonder how much we really know about it and how much we are entirely oblivious to. There are people out there who claim that the mind is capable of feats such as moving physical objects, seeing their own future or connecting with the world on a spiritual level.
Whether or not any of this has any validity I have yet to discover, but I am familiar with the mind enough to have a deep appreciation for it. Just consider all that the human race has accomplished in the last century alone. All the thoughts and ideas that made the world what it is today, someone had to have thought of — the human mind is responsible for it all.
Creating all that has been created by man requires more than thought alone — it requires focus. Focus is instrumental in successfully achieving any goal, in creating any creation. Though seemingly a simple concept, being able to focus is not always as easy as one may think.
Think of focus as being a weapon rather than a process. Focus can be a powerful weapon if you increase its intensity; the stronger you focus, the longer you can hold that focus, the better the result you will see. The problem arises when you find yourself not wanting to focus. Anyone can focus as intensely as they wish — the only problem is that we would usually rather be distracted.
Generation-Y is Generation-ADD. We prefer to multitask as much as we possibly can and avoid peace and calmness. We are not able to focus strongly because we split our focus amongst several points. In order to truly focus, we must remove all else from our minds and zone in on that which we wish to focus on. Being able to do so takes practice, but it becomes much easier when that which we choose to focus on is something that we deeply want to attain.
When we want something enough, we become obsessed with it, we become excited by the thought of it and we focus on it naturally. That is the way to achieve your greatest focus and inevitably achieve your greatest results: by getting excited. That which makes us excited makes us happy, makes us more likely to focus on it for longer periods of time. Human beings are prone to shy away from that which gives us pain and makes us uncomfortable. In the same sense, we are drawn to that which excites us and makes us happy.
What is it that is most important to you today? What do you want to achieve more, right now, than anything else? Find whatever it is that you want right now and focus on it. Think about it constantly and keep it on your mind constantly. Let your thoughts hover over it until it becomes ingrained in your psyche to always be moving towards it, always be doing something to progress towards that prize that you are focusing on.
“If you’re running east and looking for a sunset, then you’ve got a problem.” –Tony Robbins
Having found what excites you and what begs your attention is great, but make sure that the actions that you are taking are headed in the right direction. Focus requires constant acknowledgement of progress, of mobility. If you are focusing on the gold alone, then you are likely to no longer bother with the road that needs to be taken to get you there.
The road, however, is the most important part because it will give worth to the goal at the end of it — not to mention that if you fail to guide yourself along it, you will be led astray and progress will cease. Getting lost is a very quick way to get distracted and to lose track of yourself and the task you set for yourself.
In order to succeed you have to find the right balance between focusing on the goal itself and on everything that you may come up against along the way to achieving it. Focus on one completely and you are likely to lose sight of the other. Make the process of focusing compelling. You need to enjoy focusing and enjoy your journey in order to achieve what it is you want to achieve in the shortest period of time.
Paul Hudson | Elite.
