Deepen your capacity with focus

By Bayo Ogunmupe

       Focus is like a laser beam, it can cut through anything on its path including steel. Focus carries tremendous power in life. With focus you can achieve anything in life. Focus is concentrated effort, with your capacity or talent and skills you gain greater direction; producing your desired results. Because of our free will, our culture of choices, we are pulled in various directions; this makes focus intentional behaviour.  Worse still, you find yourself enmeshed in irrelevant situations. 
       Indeed, one well cultivated capacity or talent, deepened and enlarged by focus, is worth more than a thousand shallow faculties. The first law of success is concentration: to bend all the energies to one point; focused and unwavering. Two, focus increases your energy. If you have a desire to achieve a goal, get what your target is. The mind does not focus on achievement until it has clear objectives.
       After the Americans landed on the moon,  the National Aeronautics and Space  Administration (NASA) attributed their success to focus. Albert Siepert, deputy director of NASA asserted that NASA succeeded because it had a clear cut and expressed goal. By doing this NASA drew the best of men to the goal and gained the support of every department of government to achieve the goal of landing a man on the moon and bringing him back alive.
       Three, focus lifts you. The world stands aside to let pass anyone who knows where he is going. In a sea of mediocrity, just pursuing  what you want distinguishes you from others. Focused people seek abundance by asking for it; they imagine they have it in the present, affirm and feel it. They show gratitude and trust that what they desire will be given them.
       Four, focus expands your life. Narrowing your horizon widens your perspective. If you want to expand your capacity, focus on your objective. Five, you have to intentionally sustain your focus to enable you attain your goal. What separates the superstar from mediocrity is that the champion concentrates just a little bit longer.
       Several years ago, I memorized a definition of success to guide me in my career: success is the progressive realization of a predetermined goal. From it, I realized success is a process not an event. And a process takes time and focus; only focused people direct their capacity for achievement. Six, make every action count towards the attainment of your wishes. Which is why you have to forget the past because the past is irrevocable. You are running a race, you cannot look backwards. Your eye should be on the finish line; you should be too big to let pettishness disturb you.
       Seven, focus on the present. Make your job your focus. Striving is like driving, it is good to check your side view occasionally. You cannot pay full attention to it otherwise you wont go fast enough.  Eight, stay focused on results. By doing that, you will find it easier to stay positive and encouraged.
       In your march towards greatness, you will meet many toxic people. Their  impact on you will reflect in many ways. Refreshers will inspire your dreams  and energize your capacity. Refiners will sharpen your  ideas and clarify your vision. On the other hand traducers will try to reduce your vision and condign you to  your comfort zone. Projectors will deny your talent, hinder your efforts and impede your progress. You stay grounded by remaining  focused.
       Finally, develop your priorities and follow through your plans. If you chase two rabbits both will escape. Do not allow anyone break your focus.Concentration is the key to achievement in business, politics and warfare. Focus on your strengths; what you commit yourself to determines what you are. Focusing on your weaknesses deter and  weaken you. The Aso Villa mafia used third term to break Olusegun Obasanjo's focus thereby achieving much less than expected of him as a two term president of Nigeria. The mafia is doing the same thing with Buhari now by making the war against corruption Buhari's only goal. Do not allow mediocre people reduce you to their level by breaking your focus.