The Power of Focus!

The Power of Focus!

When I hear the word 'multitasking', I get that cartoon image in my head of a woman with many arms doing a ridiculous number of things at once; holding a baby, feeding the baby, working at her desk, cooking a meal, talking on the phone, ironing, cleaning, and a number of other things that escape me right now. Do you know the one I mean?!

When I was younger, I used to think it was cool to be able to multitask, because in my head that meant you were capable and efficient. Do many things in less time? What a great idea! It was all the rage back then. People used to put it on their CVs and in job descriptions and praise others for being a 'great multitasker.'

Since then I have learned the value and power of focus and these days, instead of multitasking, I try to focus on one thing until it's completed.

I've just been online and tried to find that image I was talking about, there are a LOT of them and the more I look at them, the more anxious it makes me feel. That says a lot about multitasking, doesn't it?

Putting all of your attention and energy on one thing at a time is so incredibly powerful and so much more effective than multitasking.

Neville Goddard said: “We are only limited by weakness of attention and poverty of imagination.” Think about that for a minute. I interpret that to mean that by stretching our imagination and using the power of focus, we can achieve great things.

Gary Keller wrote a book about it called The One Thing - in fact, there have been many books written about it. I don't have a book to sell you about the about the power of focus (well, not yet anyway!😉), all I can tell you is that in my experience, when I focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others, I am at my most effective and efficient and I get results much more quickly than when I split my attention between many different things.

The example that sticks with me is The Bar (see photo above).

We had our decking replaced a few years ago and we wanted to reuse the wood rather than send it to landfill. We love entertaining and so we were also in the market for an outdoor bar for the garden.

One day, I found myself home alone (a rarity!) with a lot of things on my to do list. Nothing on there was anything I really wanted to do and none were particularly urgent, so my mind drifted to the things I really wanted to do. At the top of that list was 'try to build a bar out of all that wood'! 

I've always had a good imagination, I think most people probably do, but not everyone gives themselves credit for it. For me, when I'm decorating, renovating, upcycling, decorating cakes, landscaping my garden, or creating anything really, I can pretty much always see the outcome in my mind before I start work. 

While I'm creative, I'm not an artist in the conventional sense. Even so, I'll usually do a crude drawing on paper of the imagined outcome/ finished product. That makes the creating part so much easier because once I'm working towards a clear(-ish) goal, I can then work out the steps to get there. It also gives me the drive and motivation to keep going until the end because the desire to see the 3D version of what I created in my mind is so strong.

Vincent Van Gogh has been quoted as saying: “I dream my painting and then I paint my dream.” I feel you, Van Gogh 🤟

Anyway, I had never built a bar, but I do love a bit of DIY and really I love an excuse to use a power tool (who doesn't?!), so I looked on Pinterest for ideas on how it's been done before, decided the measurements I wanted, drew a crude diagram and lay the pieces out on the floor, then I grabbed my tools and got to work.

I should also probably mention here that I decided I wanted to have the bar completed by the time my husband and kids came home that afternoon. I didn't need to of course, but I find that I work well to a deadline, it stops me overthinking things and means that I stay on course and stay motivated. Also, I don't like a project to drag on unnecessarily and I really don't like leaving things unfinished, so one day it was!

By the time my husband and kids came home late that afternoon, I needed a hot bath and a lie down and the garden was covered in sawdust, but 'The Bar' was built and she was beautiful. I was both surprised and impressed by how much I had accomplished in one day and I have since tried to apply this principle to everything I do.

One of my favourite teachers likes to say 'Hocus Pocus Focus!' and I quite like that, because there truly is something magic about being able to focus on one thing to the exclusion of all others until it is complete.

Maybe, like I did, you have a goal or a project in mind, something you'd really like to do or achieve but haven't done yet because you're waiting for the 'right time.' 

See it in now your imagination, see yourself using or enjoying it and hear others congratulating you for achieving it. Feel the sense of accomplishment or pride (or relief!) at having completed it. If it's a physical item, draw it on paper or find an image online that closely matches it and print it out and stick it up somewhere you can see it. 

If it's something else, like an award or a promotion or something less tangible, imagine how you will feel, think and act once it's yours, see it play out in your minds eye and play that movie in your mind often. Think about how you can get there - better yet, find someone who's successfully been there or done it before and see what steps they took. 

Now take ACTION! Don't overthink it. Wherever you are right now, just start! Give yourself a deadline and give it all of your attention.

In other words, 'Hocus Pocus Focus!'

Wishing you every success, my friend,

Amy 💜🤟

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