The focus factor. Getting Focus, and Keeping Focus to Accelerate Your Progress. Special Report prepared by ThoughtElevators.com

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1 The focus factor Getting Focus, and Keeping Focus to Accelerate Your Progress Special Report prepared by ThoughtElevators.com

2 Copyright ThroughtElevators.com under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws, with ALL rights reserved. No part of this may be copied, or changed in any format, sold, or used in any way other than what is outlined within this Program under any circumstances without express permission from the author. DISCLAIMER AND TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this Program. The information contained in this Program is strictly for educational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this Program, you are taking full responsibility for your actions. The author and publisher disclaim any warranties (express or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no event be held liable to any party for any direct, indirect, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of this material, which is provided as is, and without warranties. The author and publisher do not warrant the performance, effectiveness or applicability of any sites listed or linked to in this Program. All links are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy or any other implied or explicit purpose. THE FOCUS FACTOR 2

3 The Power of Focus Why do you need focus? When you are able to get a clear and sharp image of yourself and your life as you want it, you will be able to visualize properly and use the Law of Attraction. Focus is a vital step in getting the things you want. Additionally, focus will help you determine what actually is a priority in your life and what isn t. Each day, there are thousands of different things vying for your attention. It can be rather overwhelming and it can leave you in such a disarray that you don t know what to do. Because you have given weight to all of those things, you have lost your focus. When you lose focus, it doesn t matter what you read, what you are told, or what you need to do. You won t be able to see through the cloud of confusion. Even though you have read several lessons in this book already, if you lack focus, they won t mean anything more than some words on a page. That means right now is the perfect time to talk about the power of focus and what you can do to bring your life into a clear, sharp image. If you don t learn how to use focus, then you won t be able to take any of the lessons from this book and apply them to your life. Before we move on to actually prioritizing your life and bringing everything into focus, let s take the time to come up with a master list of all the responsibilities you have. Yes, do that right now! On a piece of paper, list everything you feel you are responsible for. It can be whatever matters in your life, such as: Family Work Projects Children Pets Work Friends THE FOCUS FACTOR 3

4 Groceries Laundry Cleaning Cooking Charities Volunteer Work The Neighborhood Social Activities Be as specific as you can and write down anything and everything that you feel responsible for. Before we do anything else, go through that list with an open, honest, and critical mind. Are there any of those things that you aren t actually responsible for, but you have taken on as a responsibility? For example, if you are working on a project, even if you aren t the leader, you may feel responsible for the whole thing. You aren t, though, and by trying to take on everything, you are losing focus. So, before you do anything else, mark off the responsibilities that aren t really yours to own. Now you should have an honest list of the actual responsibilities in your life. It probably is still very overwhelming and you probably still have no focus whatsoever. Don t worry. This is what we are going to work on in the rest of this chapter. Prioritizing Your Life The first thing you need to do is start prioritizing. This is a big step toward focus because you will be able to actually come up with a list of the most important things that you need to deal with first. So, how do you prioritize? It s simple. Take the list of responsibilities that you made and then begin putting numbers by each thing. What is the most important THE FOCUS FACTOR 4

5 thing to you? Put the number 1 by it and then keep going until you have a list of your responsibilities in priority order. It could look something like this, only more specific: 1. My family 2. My happiness 3. My pets 4. My friends 5. My wealth 6. My job Once you have priorities in your life, then you can teach yourself to focus on one responsibility at a time. Not only will this eliminate the overwhelming feeling, but also, it will bring about focus in all things. Giving Each Thing a Purpose Prioritizing may be easier said than done for some people. If you have problems putting a number on everything, that s okay. Plenty of people would have the same problems, especially if they have been living an out of focus life for a long time. So, what can you do to start putting things in order? Marcia Reynolds talks about this subject specifically in an article for Psychology Today. The greatest organizing factor of your life is to be able to answer the question, For what purpose am I doing this? Did you say yes to a task because you didn t want to disappoint someone or you were afraid to say no? These tasks will drain THE FOCUS FACTOR 5

6 your energy. Instead, look at tasks that energize and ones where the results make you smile. These tasks add up to your personal why. You will probably find that your enjoyable tasks are generally focused on 1)making something happen for the greater good, 2)assisting others to realize potential or make a difference, or 3)changing what is not working now. Your most motivating why can change over time. Determine what most fuels your motivation now. (Reynolds, 2012) Now, each time you have a new responsibility or a new task, think to yourself, why am I doing this? If you don t have a very good why, then you probably don t need to give that responsibility much priority. Your whys should never include statements like: I am afraid of what will happen if I don t. Someone may get mad at me if I don t. I know there will be consequences from others if I don t. Instead, your whys should have real value. They should include things like: Because I love my family and want to care for them. Because it will help me move forward in my career. Because it is the right thing to do for someone else. When you are trying to prioritize your responsibilities, if you find it difficult, just start asking why on each thing in your list. Do you see how much easier it is now? THE FOCUS FACTOR 6

7 Asking Yourself the Right Questions Here s another way you can start focusing your life. You need to ask yourself a few questions, and when you start answering them, you will find it much easier to decide what s the most important and what isn t. Go through each of these questions one by one and write down real, honest answers. 1. What do I want my life to look like in ten years? By answering this question, you will be able to bring your wants, hopes, and dreams into focus. If you have certain things you want in your life for the future, listing them out specifically will accomplish a few different things: it will help you get the focus you need, it will help you visualize so that you can use the Law of Attraction, and it will help you prioritize your life. 2. What is my purpose in life? You have to find your own mission in life. No one else can find it for you. It has nothing really to do with how you make money or what you do. Instead, it has to do with your real reason for being. It could fall in line with your job, but it may not. Either way, think long and hard on this question. You may not even be able to answer right away or even tomorrow. Just think about it and answer when you can. 3. What do I find exciting in life? Essentially, you want this answer to be the one thing that makes you jump out of bed in the mornings. You may have things that bring you a little joy here and there, but you know the things that excite you deep down to your very soul. 4. What would happen if I gave up a responsibility? THE FOCUS FACTOR 7

8 When you are so overwhelmed that you cannot focus on the important things in your life, you will not have any direction. In order to get things together and move forward, you may have to give up a few responsibilities. Look low down on your priority list, and then ask yourself, would it really hurt anything if I let this responsibility go? With those answers in mind, you should be able to bring tour life into an even clearer focus. You will be amazed at the difference in your life when you have focus. Learning to Enjoy Things Joseph Campbell said, I don t believe people are looking for the meaning of life as much as they are looking for the experience of being alive. When you make a list of the priorities in your life, how many are things that you actually enjoy? If you focus only on things that you feel are obligations and never bring any sort of enjoyment to you, then you are losing the very essence of life. Yes, it s important to help people. It matters that you do good for others, but if you get so caught up in helping others, what happens to yourself? It s easy to lose who you are and to lose joy in your life because you are focusing on everything else. Later in this book, we are going to talk about flow states and how they can be very helpful in ensuring you find your joy. For the time being, know that a flow state is one in which you are totally and completely caught up in something you enjoy doing. You can t really reach that state, though, if you don t know the things you enjoy, right? It s time to make another list. This one will have nothing to do with your responsibilities to others, your job, or your household. Instead, it will focus on responsibilities to you and your happiness. I want you to take the time and write a list of all the things you enjoy. It can include anything, but here are a few samples: THE FOCUS FACTOR 8

9 Cooking Scrapbooking Reading Woodworking Listening to Music Watching Movies Writing Knitting Yoga Golf Tennis Hiking Gardening Playing with Pets Dancing Putting Together Puzzles THE FOCUS FACTOR 9

10 Your list should include all of the things you enjoy doing, and I mean truly enjoy. Don t include anything on this list that you think you should enjoy. Instead, it should be about things that you actually love. The list can be as long or as short as you would like as long as it s comprehensive. It s so easy to lose sight of those things you truly enjoy because you are so caught up in the hectic responsibilities of everyday life. You have work, family, school, bills, food to cook, etc. When is the last time you just sat down and enjoyed a hobby? Now, here is a chance for you to practice the art of throwing out excuses. Right now, you may be thinking: Oh, I would love to enjoy a hobby, but I just don t have time. What s wrong with that sentence? That s right! It is an excuse. Stop making excuses and actually put priority on the things that you enjoy. They really are a big part of moving your life forward and elevating your mind. Think about it this way: if you actually do things you enjoy, then you will have a much more positive attitude about everything. This all ties right back to the Law of Attraction. Your positivity from doing the things you enjoy will bring more positive things to you. Your Lesson Focus is so important to all of the different things we are talking about in this book. Without focus in your life, you won t be able to do those things, you won t be able to move forward, and you won t be able to elevate your mind. So, let s run some diagnostics to see how well you are focused. For each of the statements below, decide if it is true or false in your life: I know what the most important priorities are in my life. THE FOCUS FACTOR 10

11 I am so overwhelmed with responsibilities that I don t know where to start. I put too much responsibility on myself. I am learning how to work on one priority at a time. I have learned how to give up responsibilities that someone else could handle so that I could focus on other priorities. I actually take the time to do things I enjoy. How did that go? Remember that you shouldn t expect yourself to change all at once. It will take time. Just keep working on it and don t get mad at yourself for any failures. Just pick yourself up and keep going. Most of all, focus, focus, focus. THE FOCUS FACTOR 11

The Secret to Planning. an Extraordinary Life. Special Report prepared by ThoughtElevators.com

The Secret to Planning. an Extraordinary Life. Special Report prepared by ThoughtElevators.com The Secret to Planning an Extraordinary Life Special Report prepared by ThoughtElevators.com Copyright ThroughtElevators.com under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal,