RobKinney.com

Imagine for a second…

Do You Make These 6 Mistakes When You Can’t Focus?

Rob

I was reading an interesting blog post the other day from Penelope Trunk. In the post she was talking about how when we leave our options open, we are actually hurting ourselves because we are not focused on one thing. She went on to say this is the reason why multitasking doesn’t work as well as everyone would like to think it does. What she was saying did make sense.

 

When you are fully invested in one project, one thing, all of your attention goes towards that project. Everything you do, research, look for is all related to that one thing. So what do we do that screws this up? What mistakes do we make that divides our attention? Here is a list that covers  some of the things we do.

 

  1. Decide Already – Make a decision. The heart of the problem is that you haven’t made a decision and stuck to it. Your attention is split between multiple choices and you are not focusing on one single thing, so any passion you may have for it, will be weak.
  2. Doing Too Many Things at Once – We try to do everything all at once. Again, our focus is divided and so is our energy. You get more done by focusing on one thing, finishing it and then moving on. Doing one thing at a time does not mean that you can’t do other things, only that you have to finish one thing before you do the next.
  3. Yell at Yourself – Yes, this is OK to do. You can yell at yourself (either out loud or just to yourself). When you are getting off task and not focusing, YELL AT YOURSELF! Tell yourself to get back on task. Your mind will want to stray and it will, if you let it. But, you can also jot it back to where it needs to be.
  4. Have Some Willpower – Come on already, I see adults all of the time doing something and then saying that they couldn’t help themselves. Sure you can, you just chose NOT to. make the choice to do what is right and what you should be doing. Also make the choice to stick with something, no matter how tough it gets.
  5. I’m Entitled – It seems these days, that everyone feels that they are entitled. That things should just be given to them and that it is incomprehensible to think that they would be expected to work for what they want. I’m sorry to say but it will take work to focus on what you want and achieve your dreams and no, nobody will just hand it to you.
  6. I Give Up – Ok, so it gets hard. There will be difficult times and challenges but, are you going to throw in the towel at the first struggle? If you do, then you are not committed enough to your desire and your focus is not strong enough.

 

So there you have it, six mistakes that we all make from time to time when it comes to focusing and achieving our dreams. I wish you luck in your endeavor.

 

So what do you think about the six mistakes?

What mistakes do you make?

How did you overcome those mistakes?

What Breakfast Cereal can Teach us about Change

Rob

What? No Milk? What am I going to do? It’s first thing in the morning and there’s no milk in the house. I’ve ran out of Almond milk and there’s not even any of the wife’s dairy milk. I guess that only means one thing… Black Coffee.

OK, so I can suffer through that but, what am I going to do about breakfast cereal (I was getting hungry)? After opening and closing the fridge several hundred times, hoping something new would appear each time (it didn’t) an idea finally struck me. I dumped cereal into a bowl and proceeded to pour Orange Juice over it!

 

It was actually quite good. luckily it was just Granola cereal and not something like Fruit Loops (I would’ve probably went into diabetic shock). However, it made me think. What else are we doing in which we are so set in our ways or our expectations that we don’t even know we are in a rut? Once you recognize it, how do you get out of it?

 

One of the best ways to recognize when you are in a rut is when you are just going through the motions. You may even feel or think that you can’t live without it. When you start to have these beliefs and it is something that is holding back your growth and change, then it may be time to shake things up a bit.

 

Take a look at the situation and ask yourself how you could do things differently. What could you substitute? What can you replace, change or adjust? Can you do it backwards or in another way? When I run, there are times when the same path becomes boring and not much of a challenge. During those times, it can be motivating and a challenge to simply run the same path but in the opposite direction. This can change things up just enough to give a different perspective.

 

Trying new things can open you up to a whole world of discovery. Your mind wakes up and starts looking for creative solutions rather than just accepting what is there and producing the same old tired responses. The more you shake up your known world, the more creative you will become. But it does more than that, it allows you to see with new eyes and experience new things. It can take a so called normal boring day and give it a shot of adrenaline.

 

Once you begin to change just one thing, you may find that making changes aren’t so bad and can actually lead to new growth and adventures. But it also reinforces the fact that if you can make this one small, unusual change then, what else can you change? It is an easy way to accept and welcome change instead of being fearful of it and rejecting it.

 

So maybe next time, I will try it with Fruit Loops.

 

What has become repetitive for you?

How have you changed it?

In what ways did you recognize it?