Curious about Focus: How Important Is It to You? What do You Focus On?

“Goals provide the energy source that powers our lives. One of the best ways we can get the most from the energy we have is to focus it. That is what goals can do for us; concentrate our energy.” - Denis Waitley, American writer

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives.” - Tony Robbins, American author

Because I maintain a “Portfolio Career” consisting of a variety of careers, I am consistently advised to focus on just one career (and keep the others as hobbies). When I hear and/or read tips for success, I discover that one of the top tips is to “focus.” Recently, I took part in a great program called the Happy, Healthy and Wealthy Game. A whole class was devoted to the importance of focus.

Yes, I know that focus is important. And, if you have as many interests as I do - and a whole group of people do - it is easy to become scattered and moving in several directions with a total lack of focus. I have found, however, that to be successful I focus full attention on the task or career at hand. Using this technique keeps my days and nights interesting and exciting. I don’t even know the meaning of boredom.

It is time to share a few of the huge number of quotations I found concerning focus:

• “The focus must always be on the task that the person wants to accomplish, to communicate, to learn, to create, to be entertained.” - Jamie Zawinski, American scientist
• “Focus on remedies, not faults.” - Jack Nicklaus, American athlete
• “Instead of focusing on the circumstances that you cannot change - focus strongly and powerfully on the circumstances that you can.” - Joy Page, American actress
• “When exercising, be sure to focus your attention on what you are doing.” - Lee Haney, American athlete
• “It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” - Aristotle Onassis, Greek businessman

Some that are specific to the career or endeavor:

• “I worked with such concentration and focus and I had hundreds of obscure engineering or programming things in my head. I was just real exceptional in that way.” - Steve Wozniak, American businessman
• “I focus on the writing and let the rest of the process take care of itself. I've learned to trust my own instincts and I've also learned to take risks.” - Sue Grafton, American novelist
• “Focus on your problem zones, your strength, your energy, your flexibility and all the rest. Maybe your chest is flabby or your hips or waist need toning. Also, you should change your program every thirty days. That's the key.” - Jack LaLanne, American athlete
• “Be curious, learn and read as much as you can about food. Don't worry about making money. Focus on learning at various venues before you settle down for a steady position.” - Rocco DiSpirito, American celebrity
• “It is really hard to do comedy; it takes a lot of energy and focus. It's rather like music: It's a lot of hitting notes precisely.” - Christine Baranski, American actress
• “We don't focus as much in schools on educational knowledge which requires thinking and application, as we do on acquiring facts.” - William Glasser, American psychologist

How about you? Do you have the ability to focus and use the power of focus?

Here are a few quotations I leave you with for a great and focused week:

• “If you've lost focus, just sit down and be still. Take the idea and rock it to and fro. Keep some of it and throw some away, and it will renew itself. You need do no more.” - Clarissa Pinkola Estes, American poet
• “When you write down your ideas you automatically focus your full attention on them. Few if any of us can write one thought and think another at the same time. Thus a pencil and paper make excellent concentration tools.” - Michael LeBoeuf, American businessman
• “Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it.” - Greg Anderson, American athlete

I would love to read your feedback!