What Are You Focussing On?

“It’s a well-known fact that what we give our attention to grows and what we don’t give our attention to tends to fade away.” How to Make Your Dreams Come True — Mark Forster

What are your thoughts on this?

My dad used to say what what you think about will likely happen.

We tend to focus on the negative aspects of life. We do this for protection. Negative things can harm us. And we need to prevent ourselves from being harmed.

Some examples I thought of:

• we talk in detail about a bad day at work but summarise a good day.
• we look for what is wrong on a situation rather than looking for what is right
• reports identify error rates, not success rates
• we tend to coach faults/gaps in performance rather than how to build on strengths/achievements
• we complain about our lot in life rather than the benefits we have
• we never have enough money so we focus on our lack, not what we have
• we look how far we have to go rather than look at how far we’ve come

If this is the case, we are missing an opportunity to focus on the positive. And if the initial quote is true, or at least beneficial, how might this play out in living the life we want?

So, how would you like to think? By focussing on the lack, the gap, what you don’t have? How will that make you feel? How will your energy be?

Don’t try this at home

Spend the next 7 days highlighting all the gaps, problems and issues that you see … in detail!

Try this instead

Or, I actually suggest you do the opposite. Spend the next 7 days looking at all the things you have.

To do this I suggest the following:

• grab a notebook
• go in to each room of your house and where you work (might be the same place)
• write down all the things you have
• this isn’t Marie Kondo, they don’t have to bring you joy, just list them
• you may be amazed at what you have
• (you may also realise you have a bunch of stuff you no longer need!)
• do the same with relationships — this could be tricky if you’re in a tough situation
• same with finances — if you’re in debt, like we used to be, start making a plan to rectify that by focusing on what you want

Doing this exercise does not automatically resolve all our issues into a perfect life. It’s not magical. But it may help you realise how much you can be grateful for and what you can focus on.

As the quote says: “what we give our attention to … grows.”

And may also help on taking some initial steps on improving some things.

I’m writing this on a perfect day in Perth, Western Australia. I’m outside on the patio. A galah is feeding from the bird feeder. The wife has just pruned the bushes this morning. There are kids a few houses over having a great time!

While I sit here, I am in to Day 4 of a 14 day quarantine. I have to stay hone while the rest of the city is free as can be. But, the peace and quiet, the ability to read and write is priceless.

I’ll focus on that for a while!