Fresh Vision

...insightful submissions on contemporary issues of life.

We must be big enough to admit our mistakes, smart enough to learn from them and strong enough to correct them

~ John C. Maxwell

THE POWER OF FOCUS (Part B)

IllustrationSelf-reliance / confidence, being very important is often referred to as the first requisites to great undertakings. For a student prepared for an examination, you should firmly believe that you will succeed, as examination is often victory to those who keep themselves self-motivated, asserts Joy Eyisi. To be an achiever, one must first be a believer.

While there is need for consistent hard work, we must get a set of indices to judge for progress. To strengthen your focus find someone you trust who will challenge you to maintain your focus and develop accountability. Daily review steps, taking actions in principle, based on your convictions and their affiliation with your goals rather than your comfort or pleasure.

Ensuring self discipline is equally central, as the ability to ignite sensitivity and concentrate your energy in realizing set targets, will require that you  don’t eat, talk or sleep too much. Every activity should be on schedule, with strict time consciousness and management. Decisions to participate in any event will not particularly be because they are right, but because it is part of the schedule and relevant to your goal. Turn blind eye to extraneous activities. Downsize traditional friends, making room for new progressive contacts, and character building, just as morality and ethics must also be part of the scene. Commenting on conduct, Koffi Annan a former UN Secretary –General remarked  that “the challenges of the world are many, so also the opportunities, how to seize these opportunities have little to do with our origins, but volumes of our character”.

As biting as these adjustments may be, the pain of discipline is preferred to that of regret, and being weighed down by what Wendy Hearn calls  “the oppressive burden of unrealised potential”. It was Theodore Roosevelt who said “there has never been a person who loved a life of ease whose name is worth remembering”. Thus, we must deny ourselves certain pleasures to optimize performance, and force ourselves out of our comfort zone to grow.

As we concentrate on achieving any worthy cause, with an abiding consciousness of our innate capacity for greatness, and right to be different when we can, our verbal confessions must be positive, while carefully implementing practical techniques of setting and reaching goals, successfully persevering through obstacles, set-backs and discouragements. We must tap into our passions, unleash our dreams, become solution providers and live the life we were always meant to live.

While focus actually builds momentum for faster results, one should be conscious of the fact that you cannot delay the clock or hasted it. It is what we do with it that matters most. We must shun procrastination, develop a balanced complex that makes you bold and confident as well as humble enough to be willing to observe, learn and make corrections where necessary. Getting current information and applying new skills keep you ahead. The world will certainly give way for the man/woman who is focused.

Abundant cases of people who have harnessed the power of focus include Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Barrack Obama, etc. Indeed, it is never too late to start a worthwhile venture. Someone once said “even if I know the world will end tomorrow, I will still plant a tree today”.

Focus undoubtedly is needed to break a limiting jinx, pioneer a challenging endeavour, and stay ahead. Such is the power of focus.

Kwelle S. H.

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