Whatever gets your focus gets your life

Many years ago I used to race MotorX. My racing coach would tell me to “look past the obstacle and look through the corner”. His advice was pertinent because if I focused on the obstacle or at the beginning of the corner, my focus was too shallow. This would mean that I would be more likely to hit the obstacle or misjudge the contour of the corner because my shallow focus became all-consuming and what was happening after it was an unplanned surprise. 

Also for about 12 years, I was a goalkeeper in soccer. When anyone made a breakaway and was running towards my goalposts, I would spread my arms out and make as much noise as I could to keep my opponent focused on me. When they shot for goal, more times than not, they kicked the ball straight to me rather than into open space because I became their focus. Why? Because too often the loudest voices in our life control the choices in our lives.

Whatever gets your focus gets your life. If your focus is on the immediate and you're not thinking long-term, then everything beyond the next day or week is not being planned enough to bring you success. 

I once watched a 600m race where Heather Dorniden fell just before the final lap of the race but went on to recover and win the race. It is amazing! Check this out at the link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9rUUz8cMDM

Too many people, when they fall, think it is impossible to still be competitive. At the start of every race, all competitors are equal. It's the finish of a race that decides the places. Have you chosen the place you want to finish your race before you start? I think Heather did! Which I guess is why she picked herself up and resumed her goal of winning the race. Her stumble may have made her humble, but victory was her goal and she should be very proud of what she achieved.  

I was so excited when I saw this race and this race has stuck in my my mind so much more than watching a race where there seemed to be a clear winner right from the very start. Overcoming discouragement, disappointment and distraction is critical to having a winning mindset. We all have obstacles even if sometimes our obstacles are our own two feet. 

We can very easily trip ourselves up. Too often, we don’t even need any outside interference to fall or make a mistake. But, it is what we do next that matters, not the mistake. Mistakes only result in failure when we give up. 

The future we embrace is directly connected to the vision we carry and our perceived ability to make this vision become a reality. If we can’t see or “visualise” it first, we can’t find what it is we are looking for. Many times when I have been working with a company on an AGP, an “Amelioration Growth Plan”, I will split a team up into pairs and give them children's jigsaw puzzles with about 20 pieces and ask them to race to put them together. Normally they can't do it. 

I tell them that the jigsaw puzzles are for children 6-8 years of age, they are simple! Why can't they do it? The reason is they don’t have a picture of what the puzzle is meant to look like when complete. So even the simplest puzzle is difficult when you don’t have a picture of what it is you are aiming for. 

Have you started this year with a vision or a plan? Have you hit a couple of hurdles or have you taken a fall? Are things not going quite to plan thus far? 

Vision leaks and vision creeps. Sometimes we lose our way and start to dismantle our own dreams. There is enough resistance outside us so don’t introduce resistance inside yourself. If you believe your plan now is too big or too hard or there are too many circumstances working against you, you have reduced your dreams to your circumstances rather than changing your circumstances to meet your dreams.  Repaint your picture. Reconnect with your vision board. Read and re-read your AGP and get your focus off the shallow or immediate circumstances and back onto where you want to be. Re-embrace your future and don’t let current circumstances steal your dream. Be bigger than the problems you are facing. Don’t let your peripheral become your focus and your focus become peripheral.

Most planes flying from one place to another spend much of their time off-course. What gets them to their destination is consistent re-calibration. Today is a fresh page for you to re-calibrate and reconnect to where it is you really want to end up. It isn’t easy, but it is essential. 

Planalife you want to live in through a Business on Purpose. If you are having problems with refocusing, motivation, planning, change management, resistance reluctance, discouragement and disappointment, don’t catastrophise the current conditions improvise your direction and come back to your plan. If you are having problems with “looking through the course” and you are now focused on the peripheral instead of the plan, please reach out, send an email or give me a call. 

I would love to help you get Back on Track.

Have a great weekend! 

Cheers… Ian