I know there is nothing new here. And I am not sure I can advance the conversation any further on this subject than what you already know about it.
Here it is: You get what you focus on. Yep that is it. It is true today. It was true yesterday. It will be true tomorrow as well.
If there is anything new I can add to this topic it would be the word FOCUS. That is the word that really makes the magic happen. It isn’t intentions. Because intentions aren’t doing anything. It isn’t an action.
Focus on the other hand requires something from you. It requires action. It is measurable in most cases.
Did I focus today or did I not.
For example: I like writing these posts. I am not sure I love it. I definitely don’t love it when I am thinking about doing it. But once I start doing it. I kind of get in to it and enjoy it.
However, the only reason I am able to do it is because I focus on doing it. My intentions are to do it everyday, or at least more often. But things get in the way of my intentions and I just don’t do it.
When I focus on doing it. Which requires me to think of something to write about. Then do the work of actually typing it out. I focus on it. This is when it actually happens.
I can remember in my mid 30’s I was focused on paying off one of my first rental properties I purchased. I had a debt of roughly $40,000 dollars or so. For about a year and half or so, all I did was think about paying that dang thing off. When I woke up. When I went to bed. When I earned extra money. Each month when I made the payment. All I did was think about paying that thing off.
I eventually did. But it required that extreme focus and quite frankly, obsession with doing it. I know for sure I wouldn’t have paid it off if I hadn’t been so focused on it.
A couple of years ago I had this moment with my health as well. I have been a person who has worked out pretty much my entire life. I am committed to it. I do it seven days a week for the most part. At that time and for most of my adult life, I have eaten fairly well. When I say fairly well. I would say I don’t over indulge.
But one day I am staring at myself in the mirror after a very hard workout. And keep in mind, I have been a 3:45 am workout person since my early thirties. But looking at myself in the mirror that day I had that moment where I said.
“I work out too hard to look the way I do.”
I call it skinny fat. I wasn’t fat, but I didn’t feel like I was fit either.
So I embarked on a mission to get my body fat percentage down. I focused on it. I had all of the tests done to measure it. I changed my eating habits. I changed a lot of things. I think I may have even worked out a little harder.
I ended up shaving off fifteen pounds or so and my body fat percentage dropped a lot. But it required intense focus on it for it to happen.
I guess the point today with my post is to remind everyone that you can do all of the right things and you can do them consistently. I paid my mortgage monthly for years on that house. I would even pay a little extra from time to time. I worked out everyday for years. And doing really hard workouts. But I didn’t pay off that house or get down to a more desired weight and body composition until I had extreme focus on what it was I wanted to accomplish.
That is the reality. It takes extreme, focus, commitment, discipline, you name it to really move the ball forward in most cases in anything you want. Let me say that again. If your current effort and focus isn’t moving the needle. And you want to bitch about the fact that you are doing everything right. You aren’t doing ENOUGH. I am sorry. You aren’t focused enough.
We don’t really know what effort and focus it actually requires until we start putting the type of effort and focus on the task we want to accomplish is actually getting accomplished.
We don’t really know what is actually required to advance our desired goals. The hard truth is it is probably anywhere from 10x to 100x of what you are doing right now.
To your success and your future.
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