3 Days To Maximizing Your PotentialSample

(re)Focus: The Antidote to Perpetual Distraction

“What preoccupies the mind controls the life.” — Timothy Keller

A friend was searching for his cell phone and explained this to the person he was talking to—on his cell phone.

We live in the age of perpetual distraction and the antidote to this is focus.

How focused are you right now? Are you reading these words while scanning your smartphone for a text and simultaneously checking for new emails? Are you fully present in the moment or wondering what’s for dinner tonight?

There are so many different things that can distract us personally as well as professionally. The digital age has fully enveloped our minds, evidenced by the fact that people communicate more through emails, text messages, and social networking than they do face-to-face or even over the telephone.

While acknowledging that email can be important, can you imagine all of the things that you could accomplish in your day if you stayed consistently focused on other and more important things?

On the path toward achieving long-term success professionally, you’ll encounter obstacles and detours. You can’t control all of them, but you can control your focus.

Distraction impedes getting better. The solution? (re)Focus.

WHY (RE)FOCUS?

1. (re)Focusing Saves Time and Energy

You’ll stop wasting time on low-priority or ineffective activities and spend more time on those things that will pro-duce your greatest results and improvement.

2. (re)Focusing Keeps You (or puts you back) on Track

We all get off track periodically and need to readjust. (re)Focus isn’t just about doing new and different things, but rather is about bringing your efforts into alignment with current needs and realities.

3. (re)Focusing Brings Others into Alignment

If you’re a leader, your team takes its cues from you. When you’re focused, you send a strong message about what you need to be doing.

4. (re)Focusing Speeds Results

You can’t get great results doing the wrong things quickly. (re)Focusing is an appraisal of what will get you the best results fastest.

How to (re)Focus

1. Challenge assumptions (quit doing what doesn’t serve you best).
2. Stop multitasking.
3. Block times to concentrate on what is most important.