By Colin J. Campbell

Having a desire to be successful is a human character trait. We all want to improve our lot in life, no matter what our circumstance we are innately aware that our happiness depends on being fulfilled, by doing something that brings satisfaction. It is having a purpose. When we define what our purpose is developing a road map to achieve our objectives becomes easier. Finding one’s purpose can sometimes take a lifetime but striving to achieve that definition is part of the process. What often is missing is the ability to stay focused. This is not a character trait that just comes naturally it has to be developed, we need to train ourselves to be focused.

In a recent Feherty interview with Nancy Lopez, she talked about some of her achievements on the golf course. At age 21 when she turned professional, she knew she had the talent and the desire to win and quickly proved that by winning five tournaments in a row and nine for the year. When Feherty asked her what she felt was the secret to her success she said that it was her ability to focus, she also said that she knew right away that winning the sixth in a row was going to be difficult because she wasn’t focused that week, she was tired needed a break and while over a putt she heard a porta potty door slam, she knew immediately that she had lost her focus.

Lopez went on to a stellar career on the LPGA winning 48 tournaments including four majors. On today’s LPGA the number of majors would be higher as three other tournaments that she won are now majors. She also won while pregnant and while traveling with three young children. Not many others would be able to remain that focused to accomplish those kinds of results. At the end of her playing career, she said that when she lost her focus she knew it was time to step aside.

We can all apply the same principles to whatever we set as our purpose. Some suggestions to develop a more focused approach.

Stop trying to multitask. Learn to set priorities, do the most creative thing first and stay focused on that objective until it is complete.

Use the top five list. Set the five things you hope to accomplish tomorrow the night before you go to bed, prioritize the list. Follow the list until all five are complete, if you don’t get all five done make the uncompleted items the first one for the next day.

Exercise your mind. This simple exercise will help you to develop the ability to stay focused. Sit in a comfortable position, begin to count each breath, in and out until you get to ten. If your mind wanders start over but stick to the exercise until you can count ten breaths without losing focus.

Take time away from the office or project you are working on. Some of the best ideas come when we are not at work. Allowing ourselves to do something else and leave the problem to our subconscious is the most effective solution. Thomas Edison maintained that writing down what the problem was prior to going to bed each night allowed the subconscious to work on the problem. Johnny Mercer, the great American composer, said that he would often sit down at the piano and if the idea didn’t come within 20 minutes he would go play golf and invariably when he came back the melody be established in his thought.

Read good books. There is no better way to become more creative and to develop new ideas than to read books that inspire and teach new ideas. They can be biographies of others successes, self-help or books that inspire and even novels. Taking time to read renews your mind and allows ideas to become reality.

These are five very simple things that will help to develop focus. The value of staying focused is that as illustrated by Nancy Lopez and her spectacular success in a relatively short period of time is that by staying focused, success can often come quickly and once achieved the rest is easy.

One of my favourite analogies is a jetliner preparing for take off. The pilot sits at the end of the runway and revs the engines when the tower gives him the green he gives those engines full throttle and he doesn’t back off until the aircraft has reached its cruising altitude. At cruising speed he only needs about 25% of full power to maintain level flight. All the effort was expended to get to the cruising altitude. It is a law of physics that once the bond of gravity is broken and the aircraft gets up there is doesn’t require the same amount of energy to maintain flight.

The same applies to achieving success in any endeavour. A full burst of effort with total focused concentration on the task for a brief period of time will often result in spectacular results. Once the business or career is launched maintaining that higher level of achievement requires far less energy.  The key to success is the ability to stay focused on the objective.

If you are not achieving the kind of success you would like perhaps you need to examine how focused you really are. What other things are taking your time away from achieving your success? Do you practice your profession to be better with concentrated effort?

– Colin J. Campbell CFP, CLU is an independent financial advisor and managing partner of Guidance Planning Strategies Ltd, in Cranbrook.  Serving the Kootenays since 1995, Guidance Planning Strategies focuses on helping families and entrepreneurs create wealth and keep it for generations.

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