By Michael Gidlewski

Just as we direct and focus our eyes, we can choose where to direct our overall mental focus. Our enormous capacity for concentration allows us to focus on one thing to such a degree that everything else fades into oblivion.

Thus, we are able to channel our effort and energies into the most productive, high payoff activities at any given moment.

Focusing on what is most important can:

• Help you gain clarity about your priorities and objectives
• Cut a precise path to your goals and desired outcomes
• Keep you on track with your goals and plans
• Help you avoid distractions and interruptions
• Maximize efficiency and effectiveness
• Help you to identify specific, productive action steps

We naturally become fixated on, attract more of, or move toward that upon which we focus our attention. The power of a clear goal, for example, is that it provides a focal point for our attention and energy, thus helping us move toward it.

We need to train our minds to focus on what we want.

How do we do it? Practice, practice, practice. Persistence, persistence, persistence.

Write down what you want. Very specifically, create SMART goals on the GPS goal planning system worksheet, found by clicking here.

Identify the five whys. What are the reasons that you want to achieve the goal? How will achieving this goal benefit you? The more emotion you can bring to it, the better.

Read and review what you have written on your goal worksheet, preferably out loud, several times a day, especially when you wake up in the morning and go to bed at night.

Visualize success. We can use our five senses to improve focus on our goals. What will achieving this goal look like? What will it feel like? How will it taste, smell, sound? Be creative and use your imagination. Maybe increasing your revenue by 10 percent this year smells like sand and saltwater and tastes like boardwalk fries and ice cream because you will then be able to buy that beach house you’ve always wanted.

Take action. Take the next action step that is available to begin moving toward what you want.

Next week, I will discuss three barriers to focus and how to break through them.

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Michael Gidlewski is President of West Chester-based Achievement Unlimited, Inc., as well as a growth catalyst and motivational speaker. He works with motivated business owners and entrepreneurs to clearly define the elements of what they dearly want their businesses and lives to look like, then helps them connect all the moving parts that make up those visions to consistent action and habits. Michael can be reached at 610-793-6609 or via e-mail at michael@achievable.com.

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