In recent months it has become increasingly obvious that the world offers many challenges. Physical, emotional, financial challenges that we are facing daily. Keeping our minds focused on our personal goals and dreams seems impossible. Each news story, each social media post, each derogatory online review, causes us to question our path and even sometimes our existence. How can we become a positive light in this negative world?
Two words, focused attention!
Have you heard it said that where your attention goes, the energy flows -- where your energy goes that focus grows?
Your life becomes what you focus your attention on. If I read my negative online reviews and focus on them, I will feel badly about my career. If I read the negative, learn from them, and let them go focusing on only the positive reviews, I am more likely to feel better about my work and career. That is why you need to focus your attention on where you want to go.
Do you focus on your mistakes, your weight, your past, and your failures? No wonder you are struggling to feel better. Those things will grow in your mind and keep you from moving past them and forward. If you are focused on those things, they will become larger and sap your energy. Don’t focus on what you fear or want to avoid.
You have the ability to change your life by simply changing your attention and focus. How?
Start with a big picture. You have to have a target to move towards in order to have focus. Starting with your why, choose something that you want to do and create a mental picture of yourself when you get there. Do you want to lose 10 pounds, run a marathon, start a business, or create a boundary? Visualize yourself with that goal completed. Once you have focused attention on the end, you can start to create the steps needed to get you there. Make yourself a vision board, write an outline, or anything that helps you see the goal. Practice thinking of yourself as the person that has already created that result for yourself.
Once you have your goal in mind, plan out the steps that you think it will take to get there. This is where some of us get hung up, because we indulge in confusion and self-doubt. We are uncertain of the exact steps. It is OK if you don’t know all the steps, but you need to get a list of things to get you started in the direction of the goal. Make sure to rank them starting with those that are most important and most difficult, so you can tackle those first. Your brain will want to avoid the difficult steps. (remember your brain wants everything easy). Once you have the steps listed out and prioritized, you can begin the process of focused work. Remind yourself that even when things feel difficult, keeping yourself focused will ultimately fuel your fire.
Create a daily routine. When attempting to focus your mind, you really have to look at your daily routine. Habits are difficult to make and just as difficult to break. If you are focusing on social media and negative news stories, your brain will stay negative. If you want to reach a goal you need to change your negative habits. Focused meditation exercises, reading empowering material, and following thought leaders’ blogs and podcasts will help you replace your negative daily routine with a more positive focus on your goal.
Remember that it will take some time to change your attention to thinking about the future. Anything worth having is worth the work to get there.
Stay focused, stay positive, and change one day at a time.
Dr. Julie Cappel
“Where focus goes, energy flows. And where energy flows, whatever you're focusing on grows. Shift your focus toward where you want to go, and your actions will take you in that direction.” – Tony Robbins
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