Why Focus is Vital

Star Wars creator George Lucas once said “Always remember, your focus determines your reality”. While this perspective proved to be an effective“force” for George, experience tells us that it is true for the rest of us as well. What we focus on tends to persist and grow, while what we ignore tends to fade away. For example, if you stare at the ditch while driving, you’ll end up in the ditch, but if you focus way down the road to the convergence point, you will keep driving straight and true.

This wisdom is particularly true for any organizational leader. Why? Because they are leading other people, so a lot of people and processes are affected by how and where leaders aim. More specifically, a people-leader’s focus is important in two critical ways: (a) Having the Right Focus, and (b) Sustaining Focus. Let’s drill down on each of these.

Right Focus

Having the Right Focus is a matter of setting your bearing, or direction, with high precision and quality. This requires exercising that unique human ability to imagine potential future outcomes, timelines and brainstorm possible courses of action. To do this effectively means anticipating risks and challenges that may be encountered along the way. It also requires flexibility to pivot and alter course as obstacles and the inevitable shifting path of change meets action. These are advanced mental processes that requires time, lateral thinking and a sound methodology. 

The method used to create a great forward vision is called “Conative Intelligence”. Not “Cognitive”, but “Conative”. Conation is the mental faculty of setting purpose and volition. This is one of the most vital, yet under-appreciated competencies that organizational leaders can develop. Ineffective conation usually results in mediocrity for the leader and their team, whereas intelligent conation has a high quality of discernment and achievement orientation that has the potentially to build strong engagement, motivation, high performance and profoundly beneficial achievement. 

Want an example of an organization that takes Conative Intelligence seriously? Look at Apple Inc., a company that came from the verge of bankruptcy in 1997 to the world’s most valuable company in just 15 years. That is a perfect example of how important conation is.

Sustaining Focus

Great focus is more than just aiming well. It’s also about endurance of attention and sustaining awareness of purpose and action, despite dozens of competing agendas and thousands of derailing distractions. It’s about bearing your goals in mind.

How does a sheep get lost from their flock when so many of their fluffy friends are making a racket? The answer is, one blade of grass at a time. The same is true for us. As human attention spans shrink, it is our ability to bear in mind our well crafted intentions and goals clearly and consistently, that will see us through while others get diluted or sidetracked and veer off course. We need to focus, or as motivational speaker Chris Sharma put it so succinctly, “If it’s not a Hell-Yes, it’s a No.”

The Father of Modern Psychology, William James, recognized this power in the late 1800’s when he observed that the ability to sustain focus is one of the keys to success for academics, business people and politicians. However, James assumed that Focus was fixed and static, like height. More than a hundred years later, advanced research shows the mind to have “neuroplasticity”, the ability to be molded, shaped and strengthened, just like a bicep muscle. The more we exercise it in specific ways, the more we are able to build the capacity to achieve the results we want.

It turns out that modern researchers have actually discovered what eastern cultures have known for millennia: Focus can be cultivated. Ancient contemplative practices that pre-date organized religions believed that if one were to improve their ability to focus, they could reach deeper states of consciousness known as Samadhi. So, it seems, modern researchers have actually RE-discovered what eastern cultures have known for thousands of years.

The most effective exercise that has been used to build and strengthen one’s ability to sustain focus is referred to as “Samatha” (pronounced Sha-MA-ta), which is also referred to as “Calm Abiding” or "Mind-Calmness". This practice aims to increase one’s stability of attention while deepening one’s state of relaxation. It is this combination of relaxed stability that is key. While most untrained people can only keep their focus on something for a few seconds, people who regularly practice Samatha are able to calm their nervous system and still their minds, resulting in the ability to remain focused on one object or task for a half-hour, an hour, or even longer. 

In his best selling book The Inner Game of Work, Former Harvard Tennis Coach Tim Gallwey describes this Mind-Calmness state as “balance and clarity” and he points out that every world-class athlete or performing artist knows about this and leverages it to achieve their own optimal high performance. Furthermore, when someone is engaged in the activities of this focus, the result is what Positive Psychologists call “Flow”, a mental state in which the person performing an activity is immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. This is the intersection of achievement and satisfaction that we are all searching for.

...Never Stop Growing...

If you want to set goals that are more ambitious and beneficial for you and others, or if distractions or diluted priorities are frustrating your ability to maximize the potential that you know you are capable of, take a fresh, open-minded look at Conative Intelligence and Samatha practices. They could do more for you, your team and your organization than you ever imagined.

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Terry Lipovski is the Founder of Ubiquity, a global Executive Coaching firm based in Canada's National Capital Region. For more details or to connect visit www.ubiquity.coach