As a young boy growing up in
Chappaqua, New York I learned about the power of focus. Unfortunately,
I was learning how to use the power of focus
this bright fall day but I didn’t have the wisdom to use it properly.
I was always intrigued by my Dad’s magnifying glass. My Dad wasn’t home this
day and I decided to have some fun. For those of you from upstate New York you
know that with the fall comes a great deal of leaf raking. I was supposed
to rake the leaves. I detested leaf raking. Why?
Focus—Know What You Want To
Accomplish
As soon as you cleared up the area
you raked there were leaves all over it the next day. I had read in one of
my science books in intermediate school that if you held a magnifying glass
over a piece of paper or something that would burn that it would focus the
power of the sun’s rays to be strong enough to start a fire and burn the
object.
My focus was on getting rid of the
leaves. And, in a stroke of brilliance I decided to see if I could use my
magnifying glass to burn the leaves after I had raked them into a pile. Raking
was bad enough. But then having to cart them out into the woods was more
than I wanted to handle.
Focus—Know
The Consequences
I took the magnifying glass and
placed it over a leaf on the pile and let the sun’s rays do their work. But
for some reason nothing was happening. Then I remembered that I had to
hold the magnifying glass still in order for the sun’s rays to focus.
Once I did that the magic
began. One leaf started to burn and as it was burning I grabbed the part
that was not burned and stuck it next to a new leaf. After a few minutes I
had a fire going.
Then it dawned on me that once the
pile burned down that I would be burning the lawn beneath it. That was not
good. As I was contemplating that problem the wind which I had not even
thought about gave my fire new energy and started spreading it across the yard.
Frantically, I tried to control the
leaves by stomping on them and after about 10 minutes the fire was out. Fortunately,
the ground and lawn were wet and did not burn.
I sat down and breathed a huge sigh
of relief. I had averted disaster. I looked up at the sun and then at
the magnifying glass. Yes, the power of focus is an awesome power.
Focus-It
Works
In my personal business coaching practice I have to bring the
power of focus as do my clients to create pathways to accelerate the process of
their successful performance.
Whether you are a self-employed
business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or corporate executive the power of focus is
necessary for exceptional performance. No amount of online training,
corporate training, business training, business courses or business skills training will work without
utilizing the power of focus.
To use the power of focus wisely,
unlike my childhood experience, keep the following in mind:
- Know your priorities. Make sure you are putting your focus on the right thing.
- Be committed to achieving your goal. Focus without continuous commitment is like holding the magnifying glass for a few seconds over a leaf and expecting it to burn.
- Pay attention to the details. As in the leaf story where I didn’t pay attention to the details, you must look ahead and see where your focus is taking you.
- Follow up. Always assess the results of your focus and where it is taking you. Success in business and life is about resetting your focus.
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