“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” ~ Tony Robbins 

When I was a young boy, my brother  I used to play with a magnifying glass – we spent hours directing, focussing the suns rays through the magnifying glass, burning leaves, twigs, stones…whatever we could find. I was fascinated by what we could achieve with this little game. Little did I know what a life-lesson was hidden in this innocent child’s game. 

At a point during my high school years, I found it incredibly difficult to focus on my text books, when studying for an exam. My mom took me to a psychologist friend of hers, who helped me concentrate all my attention for short periods at a time on the work at hand. He taught me a few techniques that helped me become aware of when my attention drifted and helped me to refocus. 

Through my life I have come to realise that the ability to completely concentrate and focus all of my attention on a specific task at hand, is probably one of the main reasons I’ve achieved successes in those tasks. There is almost nothing more destructive towards achieving a goal, than having a diverted attention. 

Now, I know that in these times, more and more emphasis is being placed on achieving more with less. (The so-called multitasking trend.) People admire others with the ability to “multitask” – Now for me, this is only possible when we’re talking about simple tasks like listening to the radio, while drinking a cup of coffee, while watching your 3-year old play with his toys on the carpet.  Sure, no problem. But I have found that multi tasking is not really possible with more complex tasks, if you really want the outcome to be of high quality. I have learnt this the hard way…when trying to type on the computer while my wife is attempting to talk to me over the phone. It is simply impossible to truly give your full, undivided attention to more than one important, complex task at a time. 

So, if this theory holds true, it means that you have to place more of an emphasis on prioritising tasks and allocating dedicated, focussed time for those specific tasks – one at a time. Do not allow ANY disruptions during that specified time period (unless the house is burning down :-) ) 

This is all on the practical side, in terms of the philosophical side, my question would be the following: Are you focussing on the right things? For instance, are you constantly  focussing on certain negative things in your life, environment, country… Do you not think that constantly focussing on things over which you have limited or no control, leads to creating fear in your life? Would you not rather focus on things, that invigorate you? Focus on things that will let grow inside of you emotions and thoughts of inspiration, hope, passion, love, productivity, achievement and success? 

I have learnt that what I focus on, tends to become bigger in my life.

Therefore I decide what would be good for me and what I want more of and then simply focus as much of my attention as possible on those things. Similarly I try to avoid focussing as much as possible on those things that have a negative impact on my mood, emotions and actions. 

Look at what Peter McWilliams says:   “Our thoughts create our reality — where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.” 

Understanding this principle has really helped me a lot in my life – know…when I start feeling really down about life, I start taking note of where a lot of my focus has been in the last while and time and time again, I find that I have subtly started moving my focus onto negative things that do not serve my purpose of possibility and abundance.

Then I immediately grab my “magnifying glass” and rush to my goals list, looking for the next “leave to burn” 

“Goals provide the energy source that powers our lives. One of the best ways we can get the most from the energy we have is to focus it. That is what goals can do for us; concentrate our energy. “~ Denis Waitley 

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus. “ ~ Alexander Graham Bell

“When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.” ~ Michael Leboeuf

“Don’t dwell on what went wrong. Instead, focus on what to do next. Spend your energies on moving forward toward finding the answer.” ~ Denis Waitley

“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” ~ Proverbs 4:23