By African American Books Writer Denise Turney

The power of focus spices up your goals with an effective and strong punch. It could be why George Lucas shared, “Always remember, your focus determines your reality.” And why Marcus Buckingham said, “What you focus on expands; results follow focus.”

Does Your Brain Automatically Focus?

Here’s the thing about focus. Even if you don’t want to, your brain is going to focus on something, an object, a person, a work project, a relationship, your health, your finances – something. But that doesn’t mean that you’re focusing on a goal effectively.

True. One or more events, relationships or work projects might grab your attention. However, if you don’t sharpen the focus, there might not be enough energy to move the aim forward. On top of that, in today’s world and often due to workplace demands, you might feel forced to multi-task or split your focus.

Before you know it, your ability to focus until you produce the result you want starts to slip. The most you get from putting your attention on something is just time spent or a daydream. A daydream feels good, especially if you’re the heroine in the daydream. When you daydream, you might reduce stress and anxiety.

Mind Wandering and Focus

What you won’t do is progress until you fulfill what you really want. Even more, according to The MIT Express, “When you are daydreaming (or mind-wandering, as it is more accurately referred to within scientific circles), memories that you thought were lost forever can come to the surface again, or you may suddenly find yourself realizing that you have forgotten someone’s birthday — the kinds of things that don’t happen when you are deep in concentration.”¹ 

A Harvard study has also discovered that people might spend more than 40% of their time daydreaming. Surprisingly, most of the respondents in the study shared that they felt less happy when they were daydreaming than when they were concentrating.¹

Focusing to Produce Good Results

Perhaps deep down you know that daydreaming or mind wandering won’t produce the results you’re seeking.

Focusing on too many events, projects or experiences is also a poor strategy when it comes to achieving what you really want. Harvard Business Review shares that, “The problem is that excessive focus exhausts the focus circuits in your brain. It can drain your energy and make you lose self-control.” Furthermore, “This energy drain can also make you more impulsive and less helpful. As a result, decisions are poorly thought-out, and you become less collaborative.”²

Focus on Success Strategies

This is where the power of focus enters. If you want to achieve a goal or fulfill a dream (not a daydream or mind wandering), you need good strategies. Among the success strategies that you need, there’s:

• Motivation – Strong and consistent motivation that powers you up, allowing you to continue to pursue the goal
• Action Steps – It’s not enough to want to achieve a goal. There must be actions that take you from where you are now to where you want to be. Think of it like wanting to reach a vacation spot. Absent walking, riding a bike, skateboarding, driving, taking a boat, swimming, running, flying a plane, taking public transportation, etc., there’s no way to reach your destination if you don’t map out a course and start taking steps to reach your destination. It’s that simple. As a tip, if you start making steps to fulfill your goal complicated or hard, you might be trying to talk yourself out of achieving the goal. More about how you can overcome this later in this article.
• Clear Details – Achieving a goal requires clear vision. You need to clearly “see” what it is you want. Get still, close your eyes and see your goal fulfilled. Feel yourself living with your goal fulfilled. Focus on the details. Note colors, sounds, scents, objects, plants, etc. that you see. Where are you after your dream is fulfilled? Who are you with if you’re not alone? Here’s another tip. If you can describe your goal so that a stranger can easily envision or understand the goal, you’re on track. Keep this goal clarity at the front of your mind.
• Resources – Identify the resources, including finances, contacts, legal documents, licenses, etc., that you need to fulfill your goal. For example, you might need to complete training or pass a licensing exam to achieve a goal.

Visualization as a Powerful Focus

After you get clear about your goal, set aside time to get still. In the stillness, visualize your goal fulfilled. See, feel and hear yourself doing what you’ll be doing after you achieve your goal. Do this for 10 minutes a day.

Listen to deep meditation tapes at night to potentially shorten the time it takes to fulfill the goal. For instance, if you want to start a successful business, you could listen to deep wealth meditation tapes while you sleep.

Also, write down what your goal is. Consider describing what your goal looks and feels like once it’s fulfilled. Creating a vision board is another way to keep your goal top of mind and to add clarity and depth to the goal.

Follow intuitive guidance related to your goal that you receive. Take inspired and intuitive action. Don’t delay taking the action unless you’re guided to take action on a specific day or time. For example, you might have a dream while you’re sleeping guiding you to call someone on the following morning, asking them a specific question. Do so.

Facing Fear

If fear rears its head, tempting you to abandon the goal, break the goal down into smaller achievements. This can help you prove to yourself that you can, indeed, fulfill the goal. That alone is great motivation.

Trying to convince yourself that achieving the goal is too complicated or difficult is a sign that you might be dealing with fear. As mentioned, get around this by breaking the goal down into smaller achievements. You could also aim to fulfill a small goal that you have confidence in. Earning a postsecondary certificate in six months while working full-time is an example of a smaller goal that might not be related to your larger dream.

Get Your Brain Off Auto Pilot to Focus

Also, take smart risks every day. And shake up your routines. Take a different road to work in a safe area. Or sleep on a different side of the bed or take a bath instead of a shower. These small actions help to shift your brain off autopilot.

Once your brain is off autopilot, you might receive more intuitive guidance. Ability to visualize and see and feel your dream fulfilled might get stronger too. Standing in front of a mirror then speaking your goal fulfilled out loud can also help you build confidence in your ability to achieve what you really want.

Focus on your goal every day, not to the point of feeling stressed. Instead, focus on your goal to stay motivated, continue to open to receive intuitive guidance and take smart actions. List the results associated with actions that you take. Celebrate forward steps and see if, after several months, you don’t start getting closer to your goal.

Resources:

1. Daydreaming and Concentration: What the Science Says | The MIT Press Reader
2. Your Brain Can Only Take So Much Focus (hbr.org)
3. Author Denise Turney’s Official Website – https://www.chistell.com