Creative Guidance-IASbaba, Inspirational & Educative Articles
Staying Focussed:
Life offers us nothing but this moment. This might sound a little crazy but just pause for a moment and reflect on this statement – you are given only one moment at a time, nothing more, and nothing less. Everything you achieve or fail to achieve simply boils down to a single moment. This is why success is such a tricky affair.
Success has very little to do with the past and the future – success is all about learning how to make the best use of the available moment. This is where focus becomes such an important factor of success. Without learning how to focus, more often than not, we are not even aware of what is happening in the present moment. We can get so caught up in what has happened or what might happen that we completely forget the present moment.
It is our ability to focus that helps us to stay aware of life’s challenges. Have you heard of any individual who has succeeded without possessing this ability to focus on one thing long enough? Isn’t success simply a measure of our ability to focus? The one who has learnt the art of focusing invariably succeeds.
Focus is the key differentiating factor between success and failure. Also, focus is not easy. It takes considerable effort to learn the art of focusing. Distraction comes naturally to us. We can get very easily distracted, no effort whatsoever is needed to get distracted; it is always around the corner. But focus, always requires effort on our part. The moment we stop putting in the effort, we become easily distracted.
So how do you develop the ability to focus? It’s simple, when you pick up any activity to complete, make a conscious effort to stay with it as long as possible before calling it a day. This might sound too simplistic, but it always works.
Let us say you pick up a book to read and you read, let’s say, 5 pages and then you are tired. For whatever reason you decide to stop reading and pick it up may be the next day. This is where you can practice the art of focusing. Just at the moment of quitting, tell yourself – one more page. When you get there, tell yourself again, one more. Do this as much as possible. This will do wonders to your ability to focus.
Every activity you pick up has a definite pattern to it. You engage in that particular activity for a while and then drop it. Just at the moment of dropping it, make a conscious effort to stick with it a little longer. Do this with all those activities that are important and useful. Even a few seconds of extended focus can do wonders for your success.
As your ability to focus improves, your ability to stay in the present moment improves, and that can change your quality of living completely. When you have learned how to be more and more in the present moment – your ability to understand life improves drastically. Remember that all your frustrations arise when you drift into the past and the future. Learning how to be in the present moment is the best way to ensure your success.
“This article is a part of the creative endeavor of Inner-Revolution and IASBABA.”
