Importance of focus..

A few days back, I was chatting with my friends about the problems they are facing in their professional life. I realized that the problems are moreover the same and while thinking about the root causes I stumbled upon the much coveted word “Focus”. From my perspective, lack of focus is one of the major causes for being unsuccessful in achieving your goals.

The irony is, focus is one of the most fundamental things that we have learnt in our childhood. The experiment of the magnifying glass and the piece of paper came afresh in my mind. (I guess, almost everyone is familiar with this experiment) And more often than not, we forget this fundamental thing.

In the truest sense, focus means concentrating some kind of energy on a particular thing, like the paper in the magnifying glass example. So to achieve your goals, you have to start with one and focus all your energy on it unless it is achieved.  I have realized that, many of us either do not focus on anything (no clear goals) or tend to focus on so many things. We usually see others doing some stuff, which they are great at and mastered that art over time. We wish to master that thing and start our efforts. But, then we see another guy doing something else and he is simply fabulos as he had also mastered the art over the time. So we again start learning that thing as well. The end result… (well you can guess now) This quote from anonymous says it all..

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”

I am not saying that one should not learn other things or should not be open for other stuff. The point here is to focus on one thing at a time and having once achieved that moving on to the next.

Having said this, other things are equally important as well. Lets consider, if someone tries the magnifying glass experiment in moon light or if the piece of paper is replaced by something thicker. Can you imagine the outcome? Following Anthony Robbins quote helps a bit in that..

“It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.”

I usually advise my friends to change their perspective and start afresh. But our mind does not allow us to. The memories of past clog our mind so much that most of us simply prefer maintaining the status-quo. Therefore it is very important to understand that its better to be late than never. And amongst those who dare to start afresh, again are clueless about what to focus on. They either focus on each and every trivial thing or focus on something that is very abstract or very difficult to achieve or something they do not have skills for. The point here i want to emphasize is, you should be well aware of your capabilities, the importance of the things you are focussing on and the (intensity of) desire you have for achieving that thing. So before starting out afresh, you must conduct a self awareness test which can help you understand what you really want, do you have the required skills and desire?

We also tend to expect the results very fast. So we sometimes again start loosing our focus. I think following few things might help one in staying focussed:

1. Share your goals with someone or at the least write them down on the paper and promise yourself to keep on looking at that paper time and again.

2. Choose a mentor and discuss the things you want to achieve. Decide to have frequent reviews with him to ensure that you are on the right track.

3. Keep in the company of passionate or highly motivated people. All these people are very focused on something they want to achieve.

4. And last but the most important thing is to put in your sincere efforts. Merely saying things or planning them does not do any wonders. One has to act on them.