Imagine yourself riding a horse, but you cannot control the horse. It does not obey you and walks wherever it wants, not where you want it to take you.
You want the horse to go to the right, but it goes left. Then, you want it to go to the left, but it goes to the right. When you wish to slow down or stop, it starts running. You feel helpless, unable to control it, and cannot rely on it to safely take you to your destination.
It is the same when you cannot focus on your work, tasks, and whatever you happen to be doing. The mind keeps occupying your attention with irrelevant thoughts instead of focusing on your job or chores.
This behavior of the mind diverts your attention to other matters. Consequently, you might make mistakes due to a lack of attention and have to do your work again.
You need to control the horse and lead it in the right direction to reach your destination.
In the same way, you need to control your attention and direct it to your work, tasks, studies, or goals. This is the real meaning of concentration and focus.
You Need to Focus Your Attention
Your attention keeps going to other matters, for example:
- While working, you might find yourself thinking about other matters.
- When studying, you might find yourself playing with your cell phone.
- While conversing with a friend, your attention might wander away, making you inattentive.
To avoid all this, you need to learn to focus your attention.
Focusing attention is an essential skill everyone must possess.
In certain situations, losing your attention can be risky, such as while driving, working with machinery, cooking, or climbing a mountain. In all these situations, a focused mind is a must.
Sometimes, all you need is focused attention for a few moments. At other times, you need a sustained focus for longer times.
Focus is like a magnifying glass. It helps you see the situation, your plans, and everything you need to do clearly. This enables you to know exactly what to do and how to proceed.
Focus is like a spotlight, illuminating the focal point of your current action. It makes you see it clearly and focus your attention on it.
Where and When Is Focus Most Important?
- When you listen to a lecture, you need to focus so that you hear, understand, and benefit from the lecturer’s words.
- If you are lecturing, you need to be focused. Otherwise, you might forget what you wanted to say and not deliver your message clearly and to the point.
- It is important to be attentive while driving. Especially when driving on a fast highway, in a place crowded with pedestrians, or in an unfamiliar area.
- Do you sometimes say things you did not intend or want to say? This often happens due to a lack of focus and might lead to inconvenience and embarrassment.
- It will take you longer to study or learn a new job, and you might make mistakes and waste time if you cannot focus on the job. It would be difficult to grasp the job if your mind wanders away to irrelevant thoughts.
- Do you need to remember some important information, a phone number or an address? You need to pay close attention. Otherwise, you might not remember what you heard or learned.
- Are you taking an examination? Focus is the most important skill you need.
- Are you an athlete? To win, you must focus completely on your body and actions.
These are just a few examples of where the focus is the miracle that saves you in the various situations of your everyday life.
Even simple actions, such as switching off the oven or locking the door when you go out, benefit from a little close attention. Otherwise, these matters might disturb your peace since you will not be sure whether you switched off the oven and locked your door.
Focus Helps You with Boring Tasks
It might seem strange to you, but focus and concentration are most helpful to pass the time when you are doing something boring. Striving to direct your attention to what you are doing and get wholly absorbed in it makes the time pass quickly.
When you focus on what you are doing, you do not feel the time passing, and you might even enjoy what you are doing. You will finish carrying out any task faster, more efficiently, and with fewer mistakes.
As you see, concentration and focus are essential in every situation and at any age.
Nowadays, in the age of the Internet, social media, and the smartphone, the ability to focus attention is of paramount importance than ever if you wish to lead a sane, happy, and satisfying life.
Due to the overload of information, the attention span is becoming shorter, patience and tolerance are getting weaker, and people are losing their ability to focus for more than a few seconds.
Short Attention Span
A short attention span creates impatience and superficiality. It destroys the ability to control the mind and the attention and makes it difficult to finish anything.
With a short attention span, the mind acts like a restless fly, which moves swiftly from one place to another, hardly standing still. How can you carry out a task, abide by your decisions, or carry out your plans if you allow your mind to go wherever it wants?
The hallmark of successful people is the ability to focus on the matter at hand and keep it there without letting it wander away.
This is true with successful business people, writers, sportsmen, sportswomen, and successful actors and singers.
The ability to focus your attention on anything you happen to be doing is your passport to success, happiness, and satisfaction.
It is a significant tool for keeping you on the road to achievement. It helps you avoid distractions you meet on the way, wasting your time and energy on unimportant matters.
Words to Remember about Focusing
- “When focusing on your dreams, they emerge from your imagination into reality.”
- “A boat cannot reach its destination if you always change its direction.”
- “You cannot accomplish anything if you keep changing your mind and do not stick to your plans.”
- “A focused mind is like an arrow that aims at the target and hits it.”
- “Attention means walking in a straight line without diverting from your goal.”
You can improve your focus. Even a slight improvement would be a great step. You can find guidance and simple exercises in the book Focus Your Attention available at this website.