COMMON DENOMINATOR
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
This common denominator for everyone is focus.
Nothing is more critical to success or working our way back from failure.
Focusing isn’t tricky; sit still, eyes front, mouth closed, ears open, and concentrate.
Remember, just like in the first grade, so pay attention; there will be a test later …
But we’re all grown up now.
We remember how to focus, but we don’t have a stern teacher with power over us keeping us focused, so we have to rely on ourselves to exercise self-discipline.
We can do that.
But what should we focus on when so many issues and values compete for our attention?
That’s not a complex question, but a perplexing one when we cannot find our sense of direction, one that aligns with our philosophical compass.
At the end of this year, we’ll all read about the clever-most people who made a killing this year because they bought when nobody was buying, they sold what nobody was selling, and they focused on things nobody else cared much about or noticed.
We’ll wonder, why wasn’t that wizard me?
Because it wasn’t.
Miraculous success stories are rarely immediate magic, luck or focus alone. Most successes, fortune-building and clever market moves are the product of relentless focus in all aspects of the work, every nuance of a business or commodity – unwavering strategy, passion, conviction, hard work, innovation, teamwork, and collaboration. There are few shortcuts, but every success recipe and every magical story share a common denominator – focus.
Success in anything, to be that best-selling author, to compose great music or compose fabulous food is no different than the person who built the best-ever mousetrap – an unrelenting commitment to something.
The reward might be financial, but that’s icing on the success cake.
Edison wasn’t pursuing fame or fortune at first; he wanted to light the world and continue his quest to create great things. So was Jobs. So is Dyson. So have all the big-name folk we call successful and countless millions we’ve never heard of or met. Sure, sometimes it’s good luck and good management, but their focus is the foundation on which their achievements stand.
But spend some time with people who have nothing, who want for nothing, and they’ll define success differently.
Their alternate view isn’t from age or an act of resignation – it comes with the realization that fame or fortune are both fleeting and illusory goals at best. They’ve learned, as we all do in time, that our value, purpose, and success are not measured with numbers in any ledger or ‘available credit’ at the bank …
Value, purpose, and success are not measured by how many people show up for you in death at your funeral but by how you showed up for others in life when they needed you. Or when they said they didn’t say they needed your help, you showed up anyway.
Value, purpose, and success are not garments we wear on the outside because we wear them on the inside – naked, raw, and essential to life as food, shelter, love and the rest of Maslow’s hierarchy.
If we know who we are, what we want, and where we are headed – and we have that resolve and will, the day-to-day minutiae won’t sway us, but that doesn’t mean we can avoid being vigilant about our purpose in life, in work, and relationships.
Value, purpose, and success take a drubbing some days, or we get so busy or wound-tight about some issue that we lose sight of them, causing us to get off track. That, in itself, is not a problem because we get ourselves back on track.
It only takes one effort, one day, and back on track, we are.
We need to remember that stepping away or taking ourselves off-focus is no act of self-care because each day we stray, getting back on track gets tougher.
Our activity regimen’s power weakens every day we skip, stray or delay.
The best way to get back on track is to not get off track in the first place.
But, if you do, quickly getting back on track is best; the only better way is to keep ourselves on track every day.
Everyday focus is built one day at a time …
|