The Art of Focus

The No 1 reason that stops people from getting what they want is lack of focus or just not focusing on what they want.

Focus means to pay attention. So if you want to develop focus, you need to develop the skill of paying attention to a particular thought, task, or goal for a specified amount of time – without allowing distractions to break your concentration.

People who focus on what they want, prosper. Those who don't, struggle. In the following article you'll discover the specific focusing strategies used by the world's most successful men and women and it’s simplistic in nature.

It’s the power and importance of setting goals, not just fluffy goals but real goals, for real people with real results.

Ok, so this isn’t the first time you’ve heard someone talk about the importance of goals, and it’s definitely not going to be the last.

But clichés aside, understanding the importance of goal setting and knowing how to set goals for yourself is crucial to accomplishing great things in your life.

Goals are what take us forward in life; they are the oxygen to our dreams. They are the first steps to every journey we take and are also our last. It’s very important that you realize the significance and importance of goal-setting and defining your goals and then apply this knowledge in your life.

As Stephen Covey said in the Habits of Highly Successful People: “Begin with the end in mind”.

What Is A Goal?

The exact definition of a goal is: A desired result a person or a system envisions, plans and commits to achieve a personal or organisational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development.

Many people endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. In other words, any planning you do for the future regardless of what it is, is a goal.

So the next time you are planning on doing the weekly chores or decide on watching that really cool action movie after work, always keep in mind that these small tasks account as goals and while seemingly insignificant you are goal setting.

Once you master goals setting, planning & defining it becomes a habit, a habit of creating success in your life.

Here are some goals setting rules that can help your refocus and create a habits of highly successful people.

• Goals Give You Focus

Imagine having to shoot an arrow without being given a target. Where would you aim? And say you did aim at some random thing (out of sheer perplexity). Why would you aim there? And what would the purpose be? Get the ideal. This is a literal example of what life is like without a goal or target in mind. It’s pointless and a waste of energy and effort. You can have all the potential in the world but without focus your abilities and talent are useless. Just like how sunlight can't burn through anything without a magnifying glass focusing it, you can't achieve anything unless a goal is focusing your effort. Because at the end of the day goals are what give you direction in life. By setting goals for yourself you give yourself a target to shoot for. This sense of direction is what allows your mind to focus on a target and rather than waste energy shooting aimlessly, allows you to hit your target and reach your goal.

• Goals Allow You To Measure Progress

By setting goals for yourself you are able to measure your progress because you always have a fixed endpoint or benchmark to compare with. Take this scenario for example: David makes a goal to write a book with a minimum of 300 pages. He starts writing every day and works really hard but along the way, he loses track of how many more pages he has written and how much more he needs to write. So rather than panicking David simply counts the number of pages he has already written and he instantly determines his progress and knows how much further he needs to go.

• Goals Keep You Locked In And Undistracted

By setting goals you give yourself mental boundaries. When you have a certain end point in mind you automatically stay away from certain distractions and stay focused towards the goal. Your subconsciously keep you away from distractions and your focus remains only on the goal. And by the way if you didn't know yet this is how you become successful, you set a goal, you lock it in and then give it your 100%.

• Goals Help You Overcome Procrastination

When you set a goal for yourself you make yourself accountable to finish the task. This is in complete contrast with when you do things based off a whim and it doesn't matter whether you complete them or not. Goals tend to stick in your mind and if not completed they tend to give you a kick up the arse, shit I never got that done reminder. These reminders in the back of your head help you to overcome procrastination and laziness. Learn to break your big goal in to smaller bit sized chunks. I break all my goals in to quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily goals, that way I am only ever focused on today, right now and use all my energy achieving those daily goals.

• Goals Give You Motivation

The root of all the motivation or inspiration you have ever felt in your entire life are goals. Goal setting provides you the foundation for your drive. By making a goal you give yourself a concrete endpoint to aim for and get excited about. It gives you something to focus on and put 100% of your effort into and this focus is what develops motivation. Goals are simply tools to focus your energy in positive directions, these can be changed as your priorities change, new ones added, and others dropped.

Once your learn the importance and power of setting and defining your goals, writing a detailed plan on how to achieve your goals and then taking the appropriate action you have a foundation for success.

Goal setting and defining help you focus on what you want, not what you don’t want.

The Power Within has helped individuals and organisations develop the unlimited mindset necessary to achieve success.

We inspire, guide and develop success habits for the new business of the future.

During my own career & personal & professional development and learnings I have developed a transformative approach to gaining peak performance in people & in businesses, people who are ready to change the way they look at life forever and the way we do business.

I feel that I have perfected a method & system of closing the underlying gaps in our belief system the gaps that are the root cause of virtually every fear, lack of self-confidence or performance issue we face today.

The Power Within’s Self-Leadership Development programs and workshops can be design and delivered over 2, 3 or 4 days and be modified & adjusted specifically for each individual business or level of participants.

“Too soon and too often is better than too late and not enough”

SOLD: Advanced Sales & Operational Leadership Development (Mindset Accelerator Program) focusing on the Mindset & Peak Performance of success. 

James Fleming

The Power Within Training & Development

[email protected]