Month: October 2018

I remember performing poorly in my grade 7 despite excellent academic results in the previous year. Yes, it was a new school and a lot of the subjects were new but I had worked hard and was frustrated that I still performed poorly.

One day my teacher noticed I had a strain on my face from the last row where I sat in class. She sent a letter home for my parents to check my visual acuity and a few day later I was wearing prescription glasses to correct my shortsightedness. Then I realized I had written down my notes incorrectly. Many of the words I wrote didn’t make sense. The letter p was written as q and a as e for example. I just couldn’t bring the words into focus. The board appeared as a big blur. Little wonder why what I read didn’t make sense.

Do you know what you want out of work? Out of life?

Or is everything a big blur?

You need to get into focus!

There might be a lot of movements under and around you but whilst you may twist and turn the onus is on you to make sure that your focus is constant.

Don’t put your energy into things that are not aligned with your focus and remember you cannot be all things to all people. You cant do everything, don’t let your ego drive you down. Cut short your engagements, don’t be afraid of saying No when needed. Face one assignment per time.

When you have too many things on your mind, it takes away from your focus, so, to in order to take a positive step forward, you have to be honest with yourself about your abilities and your circumstances. Take a minute to step back and take a holistic view about whatever it is that is before you knowing that you can’t do everything. Embrace the humility needed to cut off what you can’t handle and things blocking your focus.

Put a magnifying glass on your assignment.
Many of want to light up our dreams and visions. We have the tools needed but nothing seems to be happening. Like a child with a magnifying glass trying to make fire, some of us ask for more sun rays. The problem though isn’t a lack of sun rays, the problem is a lack of focus. If the magnifying glass is kept steady enough, the light rays will converge and focus enormous energy in one spot and a fire is started.

There is fire when there is focus. It might just be that you are asking for more rays instead of more focus.

Focus precedes success

In the words of Steve Jobs, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done.”