4 Focus Tools to Help You Achieve What You Want

FOCUS: What is it? Why do you need it? 
Focus is your ability to see clearly what you are attempting to accomplish. It's keeping your eyes on the ball, while staying aware of the wider picture. Focus, in essence, is seeing clearly what you are doing, why you are doing it, and where you are heading. It's your mental muscle that can be strengthened and enhanced by various focus tools which we will review shortly. Meanwhile, however, here are some questions to help you understand focus and get focused.

1) What does "Focus" mean to me?

2) Do I need to be more focused? Why?

3) If I were really focused I would be able to do what?

4) Who is the most focused person I know or know about?

5) How does that person show that they are focused? And what does being focused do for them?

6) What specifically do I need to be more focused on?

7) What goals or dreams would I have a better chance of achieving if I were totally focused?

8) What will I do today to practice my focusing abilities?

Focus Tools:

Focus Tool #1: Relaxation
Relaxation may seem a strange "focus tool," yet when you are relaxed it is much easier to get focused on what is important. You are not stressed out and unable to think straight. You are able to see more clearly what lies ahead, what you want, and what you intend to do to get it.

In a highly recommended book, Self-discipline in 10 Days by Theodore Bryant, he lays out a 6 step relaxation technique. In a nutshell, here it is:

1.) Take deep, slow breaths as you talk to yourself in positive terms

2) Tighten, and then relax each part of your body individually from head to toe.

3) Use self-talk to help relax each part. Use visualization (see next tool) to see yourself doing the task.

4) Ask "why?" when your negative self puts up an argument, and answer. Then think of the reward.

5) Take a small step toward the difficult task. Then relax.

6) Start your task in earnest.

Questions that may also help you with relaxation:

1) What else, if anything, helps me to relax, yet keeps me focused?

2) What other relaxation techniques do I know of that might help?

3) What are the rewards of being relaxed, as applied to focus?

Focus Tool #2: Visualization
Visualization is EXPERIENCING in your mind what you want to accomplish. It's more than seeing. It's feeling, hearing, tasting, and even smelling success. In a very real sense it's your wide-angle focus on what you want.  Create mental movies that involve all your senses. Make it real with rich detail.

Questions to help you with visualization:

1) Do I like to visualize?

2) Do I know how to visualize?

3) Am I willing to learn how to do it better, and practice?

4) How have I visualized things in the past?

5) What would help me visualize positive outcomes?

6) Who, in my estimation, is good at visualization? Am I willing to find out from him or her how they do it?

7) What would success look like to me if I could visualize perfectly?

8) If I could visualize perfectly, what would be the advantage to me?

Focus Tool #3: Written Goals
Written goals give you needed focus on what you are trying to accomplish. Then each goal is broken down into daily tasks, which are the way goals get done. Just writing down general goals and then non-specific tasks will not do the trick. Your goals need to be as specific and detailed as you can make them. They need a time estimate as part of this detail. And, estimated cost in time, energy, resources, and money.

How to do it: [from Self-discipline in 10 Days] for each of your goals:

1) Be specific and detailed

2) Ask "Why?" this is a goal. What is its purpose?

3) List steps (in any order at first), the smaller, more doable, the better.

4) Ask: Is this goal worth the price? What are the rewards versus the risk? How will achievement of this goal change my daily life? What's the downside (if any) of achieving this goal? How will achievement of this goal change my family or career life?

Focus Tool #4: "3-Dimensional Thinking"
This tool refers to one given in the book, The Now Habit by Neil Fiore.
In essence, 3-dimensional thinking is an extension of visualization. It's creating a clear 3-dimensional model of your goal, what you are trying to accomplish. It has to be specific with detail and a sense of order and priority. Once you understand the dimensions of your project, you'll be able to do a "reverse calendar," which is working backwards (in your planning stage) from finished product or accomplished goal, to what steps are taken before each step.
The purpose of this is to really understand what you are trying to accomplish by getting a much clearer and 3-dimensional view of it.

Questions to help you see your goal 3-dimensionally

1) What is your estimated time frame for the achievement of this goal?

2) What's the last task that needs to be completed just before this goal is achieved?

3) What are ALL the steps needed? At first, they can be listed in random order.

4) How big a project is this?

5) If I were to make a model of this project what would it look like? Try imagining it (and/or actually constructing it) in Legos, in modeling clay, in paraphernalia from a junk drawer, or in any media you can imagine.

There you have it. Get focused. Achieve more. Have fun.

Ken West is the author of the goal achievement workbook, Get What You Want. He is also the Program Manager for The Fusion Group, an international training and management consulting company.