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Saturday, November 18, 2006

POWER OF FOCUS

THE POWER OF FOCUS

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve – Napoleon Hill

We are living in a material world. We know we are not in control of most of the things. It is true that we are not in control of everything that happens.

In fact, the only thing you have total and complete control over is “YOUR OWN MIND”. That too only when you learn how to exercise it. When you do have control over your mind, it gives you tremendous power. By exercising control over your mind, you can get a lot.

Our mind is a strange structure. All those things you want to remember, it forgets. All those things you want to forget, it remembers. Our mind is just like a software. This software can be programmed consciously. If not done consciously, then unsconciously it get programmed, due to childhood influences from parents, neighbours, relatives, friends, teachers and others. The unconsious programme is just like automatic pilot. The key is to become more conscious, more aware… to get yourself off automatic pilot. Once you do this, you stop creating all the dramas and other garbage you don’t want in your life.

How do you do this?

One way is to use meditation which increases your ability to be consciously aware.Successful people never wait for things to happen to them, instead they make things happen accrding to their goal-plan. They succeed because they FOCUS!

It will take some time to learn how to consciously focus your mind. It will require some effort. You will fail many times, and it will seem difficult.

Learning to focus on ONE THING is quite possibly one of the best things you can do to invest in yourself. This is probably one of THE MOST overlooked areas of personal development. You would think focusing on one thing is easy to do, but it’s actually pretty hard. All the successful people had a pattern. They had chosen to focus on one subject and to keep at it.

Choose the right subject :

You will find that if you focus on one single subject and excel at it, many other doors will begin to open for you. Focusing on one subject is analogous to building your own staircase. The longer you keep focus on a subject, the more stairs you can build. Let’s say you keep focusing on a subject by reading about it, asking people about it, practising it, whatever it is, so long as you’re focused on that one subject. You will soon have focused enough on learning that subject that you effectively built your first stair.
By focusing on one subject, you will start to capitalize on all the experience and knowledge you gain from it. And once you master that subject, you will have built stairs that will take you to heights that you’ve never been before and opportunities that would have never been available to you at ground level.
However, in order to fully utilize the power of focus you must choose a subject that you love to immerse yourself in. If you don’t like a subject, no matter how hard you try to focus, you’re not going to focus and master it.
For most people, choosing that subject is the hardest part. Once the right subject is chosen, mastering it follows easily. If you don’t choose the right subject, mastering it will prove to be difficult. That’s why it’s so important to find what you love to do.
It’s easy to stray with all the distractions we have today. Internet, TV, magazines, cell phones, chatting with friends, etc. What we don’t realize is that these distractions will steal our focusing power.

Stay focused on the subject at hand:

Prepare a label quoting STAY FOCUSED ON THE SUBJECT ON HAND and paste in your study table or working table.

One example can be found right under the sun. If you put a piece of paper in the sunlight, it will just get hot. But if you take a magnifying glass and concentrate all that sunlight into one spot, you will succeed in burning a hole in the paper and even creating fire - and all from the same amount of sunlight. The critical difference is FOCUS - concentration of power.

You can apply this concept to your goal achievements. Don’t spread your resources so thinly that you don’t get anything done. By focusing your forces, a swift and powerful attack can be executed, resulting in more rapid and effective objective achievement .

Can you shoot different targets with one gun shot ? Not possible at all ! Even to shoot the only target with a gun needs a lot of practice and focus.

People who focus on what they want, prosper. Those who don't, struggle

Steps to increase your focus:

1. Positive affirmations are a traditional approach. Whatever you hope to achieve or gain in life, turn it into a single simple statement. For instance, if you want to improve your memory power, tell yourself that “My memory power is increasing day by day ! I can remember and write whatever I studied !”. If you want to lose weight, you can tell yourself something like, "I am enjoying lighter meals and am satisfied with smaller portions." Try telling yourself your affirmations every morning several times when you first rise, and again in the evening before going to sleep.
Many people like to post their positive focus statements on the bathroom mirror where they will see them while they brush their teeth in the morning. You might like to write them inside your daily planner as well.
2. Write encouraging notes to yourself on each page of your planner or calendar. Keep those positive ideas before your eyes if you wish to improve the strength of your focus.
3. Write down the resolution. Do you write New Year's resolutions? The beginning of the year is a natural time to evaluate your life and set goals. If a goal is worth pursuing, don't give up on it. Write your resolutions down and look at them from time to time as the year progresses. They might be challenging, but by keeping them in your focus, you might reach some of them.
4. Believe you can achieve it. Believe you will achieve it.
5. Congratulate yourself for every small victory on your road to success.
6. Never fear for setbacks. Remember, Rome is not built on a single night.

We all have setbacks in our life. True. Moments when our progress comes to a screeching halt it may make some loss. It could be loss of motivation, loss of a job, loss of income, loss of a loved one, loss of clarity and focus. Whatever the setback, you must not get discouraged. Setbacks are a fact of life and they are necessary and work for your good ultimately. Setbacks can be stepping stones for improving your character, strengthening your will and qualifying you for greater achievement. Life is never perfect and there are times when things get a bit messy. One of the greatest outcomes of setbacks and that they can help you live better from the inside outward instead of from the outside inward. In other words, setbacks challenge you to react towards what happens to you and to react in ways that affect change in your circumstances to get the results that you want. It is far to easy to allow setbacks in your situations to determine how you think, feel and act

Maintain the Focus:

Being focused is powerful and attracts success. For many people their focus only lasts a short while before slipping away. When you're clear about what you want to focus on, the next step is to keep that focus.

Discovering what you're going to focus on may or may not have been the easy part, depending on you as an individual. Now comes the really challenging part, maintaining that focus. Being focused for a day or two is easy; what is difficult for most people is to continue day after day. This commitment is required so that momentum builds, progress is made and you see the results. If you don't maintain the necessary focus, your effort will be half-hearted and your use of all resources will be ineffective, including your time. You made a decision about what to focus on and now you can choose to maintain that focus.

Ask yourself often:

Am I in the right track ? There are likely to be many things which side-track you. You may have doubts: "Are these the right things to be focusing on?" Or distractions, interruptions and things that seems to get in the way. Loss of enthusiasm, lack of confidence or information overload can all cause you to question your focus. At least every day and when any of these things take you off track, re-connect with your focus in order to maintain it.

What does it take to keep focused?

Write down your specific areas of focus as a clear reminder and keep them prominent. Spend time regularly visualizing and journaling about you being focused and the things you're focusing on. Bring this alive for yourself. You need to see yourself as someone who is focused and continually practice it. Believing yourself to be a focused person is a crucial step and this belief will encourage you to take the action necessary to support this. Be aware of any negative self-talk and beliefs that hold you back from being focused and move beyond them. Remind yourself of the big picture, your vision and take steps each day that are aligned with it. It's one thing to say that you're focused and another to do it. As they say, actions speak louder than words, so take action every day, however small. Remind yourself regularly of your compelling reason. If at any time it's not compelling enough to inspire you naturally, go back and reinforce it.

Focus can often be seen as hard work but it doesn't have to be that way. Plan your time to do something totally different, to revitalize you and to leave you free to hear the clues your intuition is giving you. Listen to your intuition for feedback about being focused and appreciate the need for feedback from others. Be open to receive feedback as encouragement and clarification. Accept that being focused is a journey and keep learning and practicing along the way.

Maintaining your focus comes from seeing progress. Measure this progress by the steps you take each day. Make each action step a workable task and be consistent. A little done every day soon adds up to lot. Set performance goals each day for the things you're focusing on. Celebrate these steps and celebrate yourself when you are focused. Build on the successes of being focused and they will increase. At times, go back and discover what you need to focus on again and use this as an opportunity to re-assess and gain clarity.

Staying focused is easier with a partner, someone who will encourage and challenge you to be focused. Find a focus partner you feel accountable to, who is willing to have fun yet still challenge you. Be willing to do whatever it takes to be focused and find ways to keep it fun, outrageous and treat it as a game. The game may be to record how long you're able to stay focused and to challenge yourself to increase it each time.

Focus on your major goal in life and pursuit it fervently! The sky is your limit when you develop your power of focus. Go for it and never ,never,never never give up ! Success is yours. Cheers!

-A. Shanmugasundaram

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