Hocus Pocus, Let There Be Focus

Life is full of roles, responsibilities and consequences; therefore, being able to stay focused is important when seeking balance in any overwhelming experiences life decides to throw at you. Success in life is nothing without being able to share it with others, and having the ability to focus will allow you to stay present when working and playing with others. In life there are believed to be three states of focus in which you can be engaged: 1) being in focus; 2) lacking focus; and 3) being focus obsessed.

The benefits of being focused in life could almost be considered unlimited. One benefit is the confidence you feel, and with increased confidence you're given the ability to step out of your comfort zone and make improved decisions. With improved decision-making capacity, you are able to find purpose in your life, have the passion to take on life’s stresses as they come your way, and ultimately improve your overall well-being. So simply putting focus first helps you live life to the fullest and allows you to experience the best in everything you do.

Life is short, as they say, and there's no time to be wasted being unfocused. But how do you stay focused or engaged? For some staying focused on tasks and current situations can prove difficult, and doing so thus takes practice to improve. A great tip for learning to increase your ability to stay focused involves giving yourself a reward for meeting "being present" goals. For one week keep track of how well you stay focused on tasks. For example, say you need to write a blog that is 500 words in length. Look at the clock when you sit down to begin writing. Note the moment your focus wavers from this task, and look at the clock to note the time. When you're able to refocus on the task at hand, note the time again.

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Surviving Reality: Compassionate Competition

To a lot of people, the word competition is ugly and holds a negative connotation. When we think of the word competition, we often think of professional sports, athletes, Survivor the reality show, "others" on the dating scene, or the younger generation entering the workforce who may just beat us out for the next big promotion. But in reality competition can be what empowers us to be more than just a survivor and the reason we flourish and succeed. We can amp up the level we achieve by embracing compassion within our actions during times of competition.

Compassion isn't just for the strong, educated or well read; it's for everyone, and our success can be easier when it's not built on the shoulders of those we pass over but rather on our supportive interactions with our competitors. By encouraging them to do more, be better and go for the gold, we in turn become stronger. When you look toward wanting a more successful professional life, you normally envision yourself climbing the Corporate Ladder—which means you need to put up with certain elements in the work environment to get to the next rung. And as I've mentioned in past articles such as "What's Your Edge?" that there are many things you can do to ensure you have an edge. But we encounter competition in many different areas of our lives, and it's important to understand that how you embrace your competitor in one sector will reinforce how you interact in another.

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A Stone Foundation Supports Your Success

As we look around at others in our lives, we often wonder what it took for certain individuals to succeed: how they made it so far, so quickly or what motivated them to keep going even when times were difficult. There are many qualities that make a great leader or support you in becoming one; there are unlimited opportunities for you to experience and gain the skills you need to become successful in life, but one of the elements people often overlook is their foundation. Examining the foundation on which your life is built is not about going back and pointing the finger at our childhood. It's about looking forward to your ultimate goal and asking yourself what it takes to get there to achieve and manifest your goal.

We all know the building parable "Is your house built on sand or stone?" When it comes to achieving success, understanding that your experience and academic portfolios are the building materials you use to build your life house means it's important to ask which pieces of your experience are stone and which pieces are sand. While moving through life, our foundation needs to actually be comprised of both elements, for science reminds us that sand is actually very small stones.

In life flexibility is critical to our learning and adopting new information, allowing us to mold and bend when necessary and stand firm in our beliefs and values. Using me as an example, people often wonder why I would choose to make certain decision in life; and for the most part, my decisions were based on following my heart and my desire while staying true to my dreams and values. When first embarking on the new role of coach, I did the exercise most of us have done when deciding to take a turn in our careers and wrote down how my life experiences (both professional and academic) supported this turn. When looking back to even my teenage years working at a boat marina, my work experience has always ultimately supported either directly or indirectly my recent life decisions.

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