Whatever you focus on improves
Lots of people feel that they are not fulfilling their potential or that their lives are unrewarding. This can arise when they have simply not carried out any life planning or when their focus is dissipated and their energy spent in too many areas.
The simple answer would therefore be to plan more and focus on the plan. Life is never that easy, however; if it was, the majority of people would be super-achieving and an inspiration (or irritation) to everyone else.
First of all, 100% focus is not possible. No one can spend all their time on a narrow objective to the exclusion of everything else. Even those people who try only spend a percentage of their effort on it and then punish themselves with guilt for not doing more. In addition to the object of their focus, people also need to spend time and effort on sleeping, eating, relationships and ensuring that their body continues to function. Focus, at best, can only relate to the time that remains.
Too much focus is called obsession
What happens with most people is that they make a decision and focus on it, only to be distracted time and time again. This means that their plan is in the conscious mind but the unconscious mind has not bought into it.
As the day progresses, the unconscious mind offers nice, sweet and seductive others things and the person is so very easily distracted. The secret is then to get the unconscious mind committed. Easy!
If people are not satisfied with their present situation, it may mean:
1 Their unconscious mind is not sufficiently interested in delivering what the conscious mind wants.
2 The person does not have the skill or training to succeed in what they want.
3 They are too easily distracted; maybe they are not really convinced about what they want.
4 They get some success but not enough; maybe a planning problem.
There are lots of reasons why people fall short of their desires. The most common reason is inertia. Inertia is the force that the unconscious mind applies to continue doing what it has always done. It may do this out of fear of change and potential failure; it may do so because it cannot work out where to start; it may do so because it is always easier to carry on doing what it always does. Old habits die hard.
Some people want everything except the work to get it
One of the important things to recognise is that to achieve more success, it is necessary to have more focus and then apply more effort (actually working smarter is even better). Those who wait for the universe to provide usually wait a long time.
There are those who believe that success in life is largely a matter of luck. Gary Player made a great quote, “The harder you practice, the luckier you get”. He attributed the quote to to fellow golfer, Jerry Barber. Sportspeople accept that to be at the top of their game they have to train their unconscious mind to do the work while the conscious mind focus on the objective. If the unconscious mind is well trained, the conscious mind should leave it alone so that it can get on the with task.
Focus alone is not going to win the day. The plan is what is important, which gives the mind something to focus on. There are several stages to planning:
1 Decide what is wanted; this must be realistic within the timescale of the plan.
2 Prepare, this may mean obtaining the right support and advice (don’t ask the dishwasher to prepare the meal).
3 Train, train and train. The unconscious mind must be able to do the task every time and in exactly the way the conscious mind wants it. Any deviation from the requirement and the training must start again.
4 Test to see that the plan is working. If not, do not waste time, go back to the drawing board.
5 Go into action and focus on the plan; this is not the time to second guess what has been planned.
6 Monitor the results and ensure it is what the conscious mind intended.
7 If necessary, revise the plan, by starting again.
A focus may mean that for some time the person’s life may be out of balance. Of course, it may mean that the person’s life was out of balance thereby requiring more focus. A plan is not something that applies just this week; it should be much longer than that and may be for a decade or even life.
A plan is a strategy, focus is the tactic that makes it happen
The initial step is to decide what the person wants and why. Wanting to be the best marathon runner in the world “because it would be fun” is not going to work. People need to know what they want, why they want it and when they want it. Of course they must be reasonable.
Some people have a multilayered plan with many objectives. This is good provided there are priorities; they should be in order of importance and not fun. When planning, there are no right or wrong aims, they are personal to the planner. However, it is vitally important to take partners and other participating people along the journey.
Provided a plan is realistic in both extent and timetable, it can deliver almost anything. It would be reasonable for almost anyone to have a plan to include: being a public speaker, demonstrating excellent social skills, being a superior golfer, professional singing or dancing, being a published author, running a marathon, playing a musical instrument and so on. The only limit is the imagination.
Lots of people feel that they are not fulfilling their potential or that their lives are unrewarding. To change their lives, they need a plan and be prepared to focus on it to make it come about.