I can remember the times when I succeeded big and other times when I failed. While it’s okay to fail and learn from it, continuing to fail at the same thing is not good. In my case, some of my failure was to the lack of focus. That’s the reason having a clear goal helps one to stay focused.
It was the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA and the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team was vying to win the team title. Up was Kerri Strug for the 2nd of her vaults. In her first vault she had sprained her ankle. Realizing that her team depended on her to go for a 2nd vault in order to win the gold medal, she didn’t hesitate. She gave it her all and landed on both feet, then hopping to one foot. She saluted to the judges and then collapsed. Her score was 9.712 and guaranteed a gold medal for the team. Her ankle had a 3rd degree lateral sprain and damaged tendon. Even though she qualified for the individual all-around and event finals, she could not continue. Her courage and focus earned such rave reviews from people the world over and she became a national hero.
Kerri Strug had an amazing ability to focus despite her pain. She focused on her goal of winning the team gold medal. Elite athletes possess qualities that mere mortals only wish they had. The elite of any given arena of life also have the same qualities.
We live in a heavily multitasking world. Distractions are the norm nowadays. It’s still crazy that many job descriptions list that applicants must be able to multitask. You can’t focus and multitask at the same time. I think that it’s simply stupid thinking on the part of HR professionals to think that multitasking is important. It’s not. On the contrary, the ability to stay focused on tasks is much more important.
Being able to focus helps increase productivity. Being able to stay focused helps to avoid stupid mistakes. I’m not referring to the mistakes that come from taking calculated risks. When I write and am distracted, it takes me much longer to finish what I was working on versus staying focused on it. In fact, I’ve been able to do a 500 word article in 15-20 minutes by staying focused. On the other hand, it’s taken me as much as 2 hours to do the same work when I’m distracted.
Let me give you some tips that will help you to increase your focus and get things done…
- Do your hardest work that require concentration and/or creativity first. Whenever I do busy work I get mentally drained and can’t get back on track to doing the creative stuff. When I need to write, I do that early on now.
- The majority of people tend to focus best early or late in the day. This is more apparent when they are away from work. For me, it’s simply staying away from TV or social media (since I work at home).
- Practice concentration and focus. Mindfulness training helps quite a bit. It’s hard for most people at first. The reason why is that most people are stuck in a distracted, multitasking mode. It’s time for a rewire of their brain. Meditation, Tai Chi and even self-hypnosis helps. My friend, world famous hypnotist Tom Silver, calls hypnosis simply focused concentration.
- Get quality sleep. A lack of sleep leads to decreased focus and concentration.
- Drink water. Mild dehydration decreases the ability to concentrate.
- Get plenty of physical exercise. Exercise helps to increase brain power as well as body power.
- Engage in memory exercises. This takes concentration and will eventually lead to focused neuroconnections.
I am sure these tips will help you focus and concentrate better. It’s time to enter the world of excellence. This will enable you to do so. Have fun with it too.
Cheers,
Bob Choat, “Transformational Master Black Belt” 
America’s #1 Mind-Body Transformation Expert and author of Mind Your Own Fitness
