How to Get Laser-Focused–3 effective ways to achieve your goal

How to Get Laser-Focused – 3 effective ways to achieve your goal

I must say that the ability to stay focused is a great force in what you want to achieve in life. If you can master this skill you are on your way to success. The best definition that I’ve seen about focus is the concentration of attention or energy on something. Another good one is the maximum clarity or distinctness of an image rendered by an optical system. Keywords here are concentration, attention and, clarity.

But how can you get focus in this chaotic world that we live in? In my work as a mechanical cad engineer in a marine engineering industry, it has been a stressful environment. Noise generated from colleagues (even boss) can create distraction from the work you want to accomplish. Life in the MRT can be stressful too specially jostling for a position on your way to the office and way back home.

So here are the top three keys on how to master your focus and achieve the activities that you have set;

1. Write it Down– (Begin with the end in mind.) You must be able to have a clear picture about what you want to accomplish. The best way is to write down your goals. I know lots of ideas have been written about this topic. This may sound easy but in reality it will take some time and a good practice of self-discipline. I still have challenges about this but one thing for sure that this worked out great for me. I’m still in the process of mastering this skill. I am still very much working on a 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. job though it has been a culture of practice to spend more extra time at work. I’m telling you this since I’m practicing this skill mostly outside of my work. Even as I write this article, I am distracted by lots of other things like Facebook, (this is very addictive as tons of information are shared from each of your friends), email, twitter, digsby, IM, YM, and other social media platforms. The best way is to shut off every single form of tools that will not help you in accomplishing your current activity. Never multi task as this can hamper what you want to accomplish. I must admit that this had been a struggle for me but I am doing my very best to overcome this challenges.
2. Make it clear and compelling – (If you can’t then you must.) There is a need to create a compelling reason why you need to do the task. If you don’t do this, imagine what will happen to your dreams or your goal. Say, you want to build a school for the children, what will happen if you failed on this dream. Imagine the thousands of children that will be deprived of that education, there’s a possibility for them to do illegal ways of making ends meet. If you dream on spending more quality time with the family, imagine the pain of not being able to spend with your children the growing years of fun, play and education. If you will not do it then you will never be. Make it a habit to do it now. One of my worst enemies is procrastination or locally called as mañana habit (mamaya na – in Tagalog), means tomorrow or indefinite time in the future. A bad habit that most of the Filipinos have inherited from our Spanish conquistadores. Here’s a good advice from the famous Michael Jordan, “Just Do It”. No wonder, he is considered as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
3. Persistence – (Money grows on the tree of persistence.) This is an act of continuing or a repeating behavior. It is almost synonymous with commitment and perseverance. Repetition is the mother of skill.  I’ve heard this from Tony Robbins a number of times even during his UPW seminar here in Singapore. This goes hand in hand with focus since you got to have persistence before you advance to another level of activity that is in alignment with what you want in life. Never give up on what you want to achieve whatever it takes. As long as you do it in an ethical way. Keep on practicing the skill; master it until you can consider yourself as a world-class player in your own right. Your ability to visualize yourself of achieving your dreams or goals is a key in your dogged pursuit and practicing your skills in a consistent basis.

Frankly speaking, I’ll tell you that this is not an easy task as I’ve told you that I still face this challenge even when I was writing this article. It has been always a battle for me and I will always fight it until it becomes a habit.

Here’s another tip that might help you. As I was writing this article, I am listening to a classical music. I think it helped me in my concentration and attention to this activity. Your environment plays an important role too so create any possible ways of convenience for you as you do your task.

It’s good to post some affirmations on your wall, or post it note. I made this habit of posting some form of powerful quotes or declarations even on my Facebook or twitter to motivate myself. It is a good form of autosuggestion. It’s a great feeling for me and even more when other friends like it too.

Here are some personal selection about focus affirmations and quotes from successful personalities.

The Holy Scripture says “Let your eyes look straight ahead. Keep looking right in front of you. Make level paths for your feet to walk on. Only go on ways that are firm. Don’t turn to the right or left. Keep your feet from the path of evil.” Proverbs 4:25-27 (New International Reader’s Version)

“What you focus on consistently, you tend to manifest in your life” -Tony Robbins

“Where attention goes, energy flows and results show” – T Harv Eker

“Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives”. – Tony Robbins

“My main focus is on my game.” – Tiger Woods

“The first rule of focus is this: “Wherever you are, be there.” – Unknown

“It’s not what’s happening to you now or what has happened in your past that determines who you become. Rather, it’s your decisions about what to focus on, what things mean to you, and what you’re going to do about them that will determine your ultimate destiny.” – Anthony Robbins