Focus. Without It You'll Never Be Anything

Copyright (c) 2011 Willie Horton

Ever wondered about focus ' how important it might be and how you normally find yourself easily distracted and unfocused? If you haven't wondered about it you may be even less focused than the normal poor unfortunate!! Focus ' or, at its simplest, paying attention to the here and now ' is something that doesn't come naturally to the normal adult mind. That's because 21st century man or woman's mind was fine-tuned over a protracted period that ended some ten thousand years ago. In other words, are minds are perfect for the hunter-gatherer environment and way out of their depth in the world in which we now live. This is explained by evolutionary psychology which suggests that we developed all manner of psychological capabilities which enabled us only pay attention to the really big life-threatening events in life ' things like wild beasts drooling at the thought of their next meal! You won't find many of them around these days! The result of this state of mind is that we're not focused at all ' psychology suspects that we're only about 1% mentally present. Not much of a way to live life to the full! Even more worrying (because we lack even the basic ability to focus on the here and now) is the recent research that has found a direct correlation between focus and happiness and success. This research suggests that we have to be excited or inspired to be focused ' and that doesn't happen every day, does it!

Basically, exciting yourself is a prerequisite to getting exciting about anything - it's a chicken and egg situation! Let me explain. Neuro-psychology has discovered normally dormant parts of our brain become highly activated when we hit a natural high. This comes about as a result of us paying an unusual or abnormal amount of focus to what is going on. In other words, when something powerful, exciting, awe-inspiring or simply out of the ordinary grabs our attention, we use more of our mind. The result is that we become fully engrossed in what we are doing and our mind is unable to pay attention to the normal subconscious programming and 'stored knowledge' that is responsible for our ordinary everyday lacklustre state of mind. It has also been found that meditation has a similar effect on our mind. You shouldn't be surprised at this assertion. You see, meditation is nothing more than a structured methodolgy that enables you pay an abnormal amount of attention to what it feels like and sounds like to be fully present in the here and now.

Meditation - often misunderstood by people or even feared by those who lack an understanding of the process - is, basically, a workout for the mind. The practice of meditation develops focus and discipline in an otherwise unfocused and undisciplined mined. Remember, our default state of mind is one that is almost entirely unfocused on the reality of the moment and one that is immersed in the 'stored knowledge' that we learned during our formative years, most importantly, our self-limiting beliefs. In other words, the practice of meditation drags your subconscious away from its obsessions with the long-gone past and brings it more fully into the here and now.

And the present is where life is lived. Only in the present can you be at your very best. Only in the here and now can you actually do what needs to be done. However, as we've already seen, the ordinary mind is pretty much everywhere other than here - it is all over the place. Quite obviously, a key characteristic of the natural high that I mentioned earlier on is that, when we have such an experience, we are more fully present. Unusually successful and unusually happy people are more present than the norm - that is why we notice such people and say that they have presence. You need to presence for it is the key to effortless happiness and success.

Five to ten minutes meditation - or, as many of my personal development clients like to call it 'mental exercising' - first thing every morning is like going to the gym to work out your mind. It is training - training that, if you do it meticulously each morning, will develop your ability to be present and focused as the day progresses. If you are more present - or more focused, as many successful people like to call it - you will be more efficient at what you're doing, more effective in the process, more productive as a result and, as sure as night follows day, life will become easier. In the end, regardless of what you're doing, life will become a joy.

However, presence of mind provides you with an even more important benefit. When you become more focused, it is effortlessly simple to spot what's important, as distinct from what's urgent. You will have a natural ability to stop yourself when you notice that you're not doing what you should be doing - wasting your time, letting other people drag you down or distract you, thinking useless thoughts or listening to those little inner voices that are activated by your self-limiting beliefs. This focus will give you a clear and present advantage during the course of the day. Not only will you be more productive in what you're doing - you'll be doing the right thing. Not only will you become more alert to your own behaviour and you will become more alert to the behaviour - good, bad and indifferent of others. Most importantly, you will become alert to all the possibilities and opportunities that are forever presenting themselves in your life. You may say to yourself that opportunities never come your way. They do - it's just that in your normal unfocused state of mind you've never noticed them.


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Willie Horton launched his now acclaimed Personal Development Seminars in 1996. His clients include Pfizer, Deloitte, Nestle, KPMG, G4S & Allergan. His Personal Development Workshops are now online, together with hundreds or 'quick tip' articles and videos, at Gurdy.Net, Willie's Personal Development Website.