Focus And Meditation

Copyright (c) 2011 Willie Horton

It's interesting ' and educational ' that my most read article on the internet is about how to focus your mind. Focus, of course, is the single most important key to your success and, indeed, your happiness. But there are as many definitions of focus as there are 'experts'. Many, like Ekhart Tolle in his bestseller 'The Power of Now' will tell you that focus is about being fully present in the here and now ' free from distraction, free from useless thought. And, if you watch top sports people prepare themselves for that crucial kick, tee-short, serve or sprint, you could well be forgiven for thinking that that is all that focus is. You'd be wrong though because all these guys haven't got to where they are by simply fully focusing on whatever they happen to be doing now ' even if that is taking a match-winning kick or penalty. Exceptionally successful people are focused in the here and now because their focus is directed and driven by what might be described as their strategic focus.

Like onions, focus has layers! Through my work with my clients on my personal development workshops, I have come to the conclusion that there are three levels or layers to becoming truly focused - and three steps that you must take to enable you learn how to focus and direct that focus in a productive way.

Strategic Focus

Simply focusing on the present moment is highly rewarding - research confirms that those who know how to do it are effective and productive and, as a result, happy and content. But, whilst only focusing on the present moment produces those kinds of results, a life of focusing on now can lead to an existence of aimless bliss. I've no problem with bliss - it needs to become and integral part of everybody's daily life. However, I do see a major problem with wandering around aimlessly. If you're like me, you've got to put bread on the table each and every evening - in short, your focus has got to be everyday practical. If you're like me, you've other people depending on you to be practical - so some altered state of mind bliss is simply not on.

The point I'm making is that here and now focus - which I'm going to cover further down the page - needs direction. You'll find that this direction is often refered to as goal-setting. However, the problem with goals is that they might just result in your living a life of perpetual dissatisfied expectation. Of course, that presupposes that you've actually established the correct goals! As so-called normal people, we really don't have a clue as to what might be best for us, so you should never ever decide on immovable goals. Give some expectation the power to make you happy and, by definition, if you don't get it you'll be unhappy! In other words, you've got to focus your mind on how you'd feel when you've 'got it all' - whatever 'it all' might be - how it would look, how it would feel and how it would sound when you discover that you're on that right path in life - whatever your very own personal 'right path' might be.

To put it another way, you should make sure that your focus at a strategic level is touchy-feely - captivating your subconscious mind with an excitement that drives you to be more and more focused on a daily basis or, ultimately, on a moment to moment basis. Regularly paint these touchy-feely mental pictures for yourself by handwriting them often. They should be handwritten - because, when you write by hand, you engross and, as a result, motivate your subconscious mind. That's the way you should visualize strategic focus.

Operational Focus

Once your subconscious mind knows the direction you're headed, you need to get your head around the important things that you need to do today. There's a world of difference between important and urgent - and, all too often, we find ourselves being overwhelmed by the urgent to the extent that we're left with no time to do the important. Or, worse again, we waste our energy - looking at emails that were circulated to dozens of people to cover someone's backside, wasting time chatting about the latest bad news, sitting like a zombie in front of the TV at night, wasting your time on Twitter - just think about it, we are all experts at finding stuff to do that gets in the way of us getting the life that we want.

Operational focus means that you know the difference between doing the right thing and wasting your time and energy. You'll only realize whether or not you're doing the right thing if you stop yourself at various points during the day and ask yourself the question: "Am I doing the right thing?" If you are cool! If you're not, stop it and start doing the right thing!

Task-Based Focus

Once you're doing the right thing, you need to do it right! All too often, when we set about doing the right thing, we get easily knocked off course - by distraction, by others wanting to waste our time, by taking on other people's problems, by not saying 'no'. Task-based focus is all about fully immersing yourself in whatever it is you're doing. Unfortunately, for the normal mind, this is not something that comes naturally. In fact, it seems to only happen by accident on the very odd occasion that you find time flying because you're actually having fun. You must discover how to focus your mind from one moment to the very next.

Meditation is the very best was to learn how to invest all of your attention in the here and now. Your undisciplined mind needs discipline - when you meditate you give it what it needs. In meditation, you immerse all of your attention in the feedback that you're being given constantly by your five senses - in effect, you discover how easy it is to simply turn off distraction and become exceptionally focused. In other words, the right thing to be doing every morning - the very best way to start the day and ensure that you're pointed in the right direction - is to meditate.


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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.