Focused concentration is a cornerstone for achievement in business and in all areas of life.
You’ve just got to zero in. You’ve got to identify your target and let nothing stand in your way. You’ve got to keep your eye on the target until you’ve released the arrow. Let nothing divert your attention, unless it’s in the best interest of your ambition. Let not an obstacle come before you without getting around it. Whether you go over it or go under it, try a different path until you prevail.
Concentration in sports is crucial. The consummate professional on the field or on the court won’t hear the jeering of the crowd. Their concentration keeps all noise and clutter at bay. They have one thing in mind: moving the ball.
To stay on track, you have to focus; you have to filter out all the noise and the clutter that gets in your way. That’s how you get around negativity.
In a tennis match, how long does it take for your opponent to return the ball? Not very long. What if you lose your concentration? The game is over. One little slip of concentration, and your opponent puts the ball by your feet. There goes the tennis match.
In a major presentation, if you just lose your concentration for a second, you could lose it all. All the hard work, all the long hours, all the preparation… all the momentum building to that crucial presentation could be gone if you don’t keep your concentration. If you don’t watch your audience, if you don’t focused on the task at hand… it could all slip right by you. Wherever you are, be there. Whatever you’re supposed to be doing in each moment, do it.
You can’t be thinking of everything you have to do at one time. You have to concentrate on just one thing at a time–one project, one job. You have to take it one task at a time. Do what you’ve set out to do. Keep your mind only on that one task. Why? If you don’t, you won’t accomplish anything.
Concentration takes a lot of discipline. It takes a lot of discipline to demand privacy, to keep the “do-not-disturb” sign on your door while you’re in the middle of an important job. It takes a lot of discipline not to answer the phone every time it rings at home. Remember, they make voice mail and answering machines so you don’t have to answer the phone every time it rings.
When you concentrate on the work at hand, your family will appreciate an uninterrupted dinner hour. Your night work will get done a whole lot faster. So stay focused on the task at hand.
If you have a long list of things to get done within one day, do the toughest one while your concentration is at its peak. If you’re a morning person, get the job done in the morning. Don’t wait until the evening when your energy is all spent. Do the jobs that need the most concentration when your body is best able to handle them. If you’re a night person, save those tough jobs for the night. Take it easy in the morning when you’ve still got cobwebs in your brain. Learn your body’s rhythms, and do the jobs that require the most concentration when you’re best able to do them.
When you’re at work, be at work. When you’re in a conference, be in that conference. When you’re at your kids’ school play, soccer game, or dance recital… be there. Don’t let your mind wander. Stay focused. Stay focused on the task at hand or the company you’re with. Don’t let your mind wander during conversations–you never know what important points you’ll miss.
When you recognize the need to concentrate more and then discipline yourself to stay focused, that focus will come easier and easier. Focused concentration can become a habit. If you work on it a little every day, you’ll soon find yourself wasting less energy. You won’t need to struggle with your own mind.
The same principle applies in nature. As I (Jim Rohn) like to say, a tree will grow as tall as it can. In the spring and summer, a tree’s growth season, it absorbs nutrients from the soil and converts sunlight into sustenance, focusing all of the resulting energy into growing and thriving. But in fall and winter, the growth stops and the tree becomes dormant, biding its time until the new growing season, when it may again concentrate on its task of growing tall.
One of the greatest enemies of this sort of concentration is worry. Worrying about your future can prevent you from being where you are right now. We’ve all got to worry some. We all become alarmed at times. But we don’t want our fears to overwhelm us.
Worry is useful, especially where the safety of your kids and your loved ones is concerned. But don’t let worry conquer you. Don’t worry about things over which you have no control, like the weather, the stock market, and the politics of other nations.
You just landed a huge contract, and you’re worried. Why? Don’t you think you can handle it? If you didn’t have the ability and the power and the knowledge and the skill–if you weren’t worthy of landing that contract–you wouldn’t have landed it! Remind yourself of this. Instead of worrying, concentrate on doing the best job you’ve ever done in your life.
Don’t worry about things you have no control over. Concentrate on changing what you can change and leave the worries to everybody else. By doing that, you can give your job the attention it deserves. You can give your family the attention they deserve. And you can give your colleagues the attention they deserve. Wherever you are, be there. Concentrate!
* Source: Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn