Your Point Of Focus
Is It Helping You Or Hindering You?
Your point of focus is the central point of your attention. It is the second most important factor that will determine whether or not you achieve your objectives.
The first and and most basic key to accomplishing any success in life, is knowing what you want. This core desire will fuel your efforts to achieve that success, but without focus those efforts can be wasted.
It’s A Binary Choice
Your point of
focus is a binary choice and the result of that choice is critical to
your happiness, your inner peace, and your ability to create what you
want in life.
You can either focus on what you want and what you
want to move toward.
Or, you can focus on what you don't want, what you
want to avoid, what you are afraid of, what you are worried about, and
what you want to move away from.
The most resourceful approach is to live life as though you expect to reap the results of your thoughts immediately.
Why?
Because we live in an energetic universe and it's not neutral, it is a participative universe.
The dominant thoughts that you have, and especially the underlying energetic states associated with those thoughts, are influencing your life.
The dominant energetic states associated with your primary point of focus are either helping you or hindering you.
Is Your Unconscious Point Of Focus On What You Don’t Want?
The big problem for many of us is that we are not conscious of what we are focusing on.
To unconsciously focus on what you don't want demonstrates your immunity to change and is the root cause of all your resistance to what it is that you say you do want.
How do you know you’re unconsciously focusing on what you don’t want?
Here's how you can tell your true point of focus:
(1) How you are feeling
Anytime you have a bad feeling you are most likely unconsciously focusing on what you don’t want and what you are trying to avoid.
(2) Your results
Any time an area of your life isn't working, it's quite possibly because you're focusing on what you don't want in that area.
Why would you have a negative point of focus?
The
root cause of focusing on what you don't want is past [often early life] bad experiences
and trauma. So when you have a present day significant negative emotional experience,
you begin to think: "There's danger out there, and I have to avoid it."
To
avoid it, though, you have to focus on it, and when you do that, two
things happen: first, you feel bad, and second, you get it.
Then
you focus on it again… and create a vicious cycle of defeat "chasing
your tail" to make up for the impacts of the unintentional
miss-creations of your negative energy.
One good solution to this issue is to adopt a mindful approach
to life as an effective way of becoming aware of your habitual
(negative) thought patterns and emotional states and weakening their
hold on you to the point that you no longer self identify with these
thoughts and states.
Personal experiences
I lacked a point of focus in the early years of my business career as a
professional salesman. I started out selling capital goods such as
printing equipment and photocopiers, then moved to selling services in
the computer industry and then I joined Dun & Bradstreet selling
information based direct marketing services (this was in the
pre-digital era).
In my first 2 jobs I always managed to
maintain a position in the top 20% of performers, but when I got to Dun
& Bradstreet I wanted to be top salesman.
I got off to a
good start and hit my targets but I wasn’t breaking any records. Then in
the seventh month I missed a target and was very despondent.
My sales manager took me aside and gave me a piece of advice that has stayed with me for the past 40 years:
“Stephen” he said, “you’re
a good salesman and one of your strongest qualities is your energy and
enthusiasm, but you’re all over the place, you lack a point of focus.
To become the great salesman that I believe you can be, you need to
establish a point of focus your on those core activities that will
generate the big sales.”
Fast forward 12 months, I applied
his advice and I was the top salesman. I shattered all previous records
by bringing in the single biggest order the division had ever seen, I
exceeded my target by 250% and earned a lot of money.
For a long time that was as good as it got because I spent many of the following years of my life not living to my full potential because of fear.
My unconscious point of focus was primarily fear of failure, but also fear of what others may think, fear that I was not good enough, and fear of "not being ready yet".
6 Key Pointers To Help Your Point Of Focus Remain On What You Do Want
Here are 6 key things that I have learned and practice to help stay focused on what I do want:
- Be very clear - What do you want? What is your core desire?
- Stop trying and start doing. When you try you don’t do – so just do it.
- Remain mindful and begin noticing when you are focusing on what you don't want.
- Be aware that your resistance will try to pull your mind back to what you don't want. If it does, be mindful and sit with it and accept it.
- Change your point of focus back to what you do want. I recommend: The Three Minute Power Pause
- Keep short accounts with yourself and when needed, correct your thoughts in the moment they occur.
Next Article:
How To Overcome Fear And Perform Powerfully
Return from "Your Point Of Focus" to:
LATEST ARTICLES
Intuition & Anxiety - Are There Angels Or Devils Calling Here?
How To Tell The Difference Between Intuition and Anxiety. How do you know whether the voice of your intuition is real or just the product of your inner anxiety? We all struggle with these inner voices…Like A Prayer - Life Is A Mystery
It Isn't The Process Of Prayer That’s The Problem, It’s The Way It’s Framed. Regardless of what we feel about Madonna or her song the topic of prayer often arouses strong reactions. Usually, it is som…Fear Of Missing Out - "I'll Have What She's Having!"
We Follow The Herd - We Mimic Other People's Choices. Fear of missing out - or FOMO as it is popularly referred to - is the feeling that everyone else in your peer group is having much more fun than y…Free - Self Improvement Resources
Exercising Balance and Discernment. I have just updated these self improvement resources with a number of additional sources of material that are practical and can help you change your life. Check it…Your Higher Self - Your Hardwired Portal To The Universe
This Is The You That Is Beyond Your Thinking Mind. This is the big you, the transcendent you, the you that is often referred to as your higher consciousness or higher self. This is the you that acts a…The Power Of Gratitude - It's Good For You!
Gratitude And Attitude Are Not Challenges, They Are Choices. The power of gratitude quite simply is that it is good for you! Many of us were raised by parents who instilled in us the social niceties o…Living With Your Thoughts - 4 Tools To Help You
Develop A Good Working Relationship With Your Mind. The first step in living with your thoughts is to understand and develop a good working relationship with all areas of your mind. The key to develop…You Are Not Your Thoughts - How To Escape This Ferris Wheel Of Suffering
The 4 Stages To Dealing With Your Thoughts. You are not your thoughts, at least that's what your rational mind tells you most of the time, but that's definitely not how it feels at 3 am when you have…Finish What You Start - Action Will Destroy Your Procrastination
4 Key Tips To Help You Finish What You Start. So why do you fail to finish what you start? Or in my case, why do I fail to even get started? There is a wealth of information out there about how to avo…Going The Extra Mile - The Power Of One More
Life Is Non-Linear, Which Makes The Rewards Of Continued Effort Disproportionately Big. In the pursuit of a long term goal you have to go countless extra miles to set yourself up for a big success. Go…Tao Te Ching - Connecting To Your True Source Of Power.
How To Be Lived By The Tao. The Tao Te Ching is one of those books that many people read, few understand, and even fewer put into practice. The only way to know the Tao is to experience it, and it is…Dying To Self & Dropping The Ego
Everything Does Not Revolve Around Me. The two phrases dying to self & dropping the ego are Christian and Buddhist expressions of the same fundamental truth - the need to correct the inbuilt, hardwire…The Confident Mind - 4 Keys To Peak Performance
Peak Performance Is Meditation In Motion. Peak performance is grounded in the Tao practise of Wu Wei which means "doing with out doing". This is all about how you take action by being so immersed in p…Going With The Flow - The Balance Of Being And Doing
Steer The Boat Each Day Rather Than Plan Ahead Way Into The Future. Going with the flow is about learning to become comfortable with uncertainty, and learning how to exploit the potential hidden withi…8 Principles For Success
A Timeless Foundation On Which To Build Your Success. There are Universal laws and processes that work to support us and guarantee that we achieve all our goals. But first we need to know what they ar…The Loving Father
A Love That Will Not Let You Go. I had a loving father. I knew that I did, but I never felt it. My father was a good man but very damaged and unable to show his feelings. So I grew up knowing in my he…Your Ebenezer Stone Of Help
How To Stay Connected To Your True Source Of Power. Approximately 2,500 years ago the Israeli town of Kafr Qasim was close to the site of two battles between the ancient Israelis and their neighbours…The Stockdale Paradox
How To Deal With The Attrition Factor. The Stockdale Paradox is named after the late James Stockdale, former vice presidential candidate, naval commander and prisoner of war during the American-Vietna…Embrace Your Fear Of Failure And Uncertainty
We Celebrate Success And Ignore Failure. Numerous studies have been undertaken on successful people to understand what it was that they did to become so successful, how they did it and when they did i…The Wilderness Years - 3 Keys To An Exit
How You Got Into The Wilderness Matters Less Than The Lessons To Be Learnt There. The wilderness years can be described as any lengthy time, longer than a year, that is spend aimlessly; without an imm…Boredom – Your Greatest Threat to Results
We Live In A World That Glorifies The Results And Not The Process. We all know what we should be doing, but the trouble with that is that sooner of later we get bored. The enjoyment fades, the excitem…The Luck Factor - 4 Basic Principles
You Can Master The Art of Creating Your Own Luck By Mastering 4 Key Principles "The Luck Factor" is the title of a book published 20 years ago based on the research of Professor Richard Wiseman who fo…Your Relationship With Failure Is Critical To Your Success
Just Because You Have A Spectacular Failure Doesn’t Mean The Game Is Over. The thought that you could fail can really slow you down. But the problem is not the failure, the problem is your relationshi…Lost, Stuck & Going Round In Circles?
Are You Lost In Transition? To be in an alien North African city, late in the evening, in the dark, completely lost in transition from the main market square back to the obscure location of our Riad…Seeing Is Believing Or Is It?
Do You Believe What You See Or Do You See What You Believe? Like the characters in "The Matrix" we are fooled by the illusion that what we see is how things really are. Why? Because this is the mind's…What Difference Did You Make?
What Impact Will You Leave In The Lives Of Others? If you knew you were going to die tonight and you were given a few minutes to reflect before that happened, what would you say was the meaning of yo…Compassion Is Selfish And You Need It
If You Want Others To Be Happy, Practice Compassion. If You Want To Be Happy, Practice Compassion. Compassion is derived from the Latin words "com pati" meaning to suffer with. It has been defined as…The Placebo Effect - 2 Key Takeaways
The Power Of Expectation Of An Outcome Regardless Of The Lack Of Any Substance To That Expectation. Traditionally, the placebo effect occurs when false, or dummy, treatments of inert substances [that…The Red Pill
This Is What Will Happen After You Take It.
"This is your last chance," rebel leader Morpheus tells Neo, holding a coloured pill in each hand. “You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in y…Transformational Life Hacks
This Has To Be One Of The Best Ways For Living The Best Life You Can Possibly Live. An online search on life hacks will invariably provide you with multiple links to ways of increasing your productivi…