The Power of Focus

 Are you familiar with these two sayings?:

1.     Statistics don’t lie.

2.   You can prove anything with statistics.

These seemingly contradictory statements are both true.  And they demonstrate a very important practice in creating the state of happiness.  I am referring to the practice of choosing your focus.

Here are two more statements to consider.

1.     The world is a scary place.

2.   The world is a beautiful place.

Whichever of these is true for you, it is based on your focus.  You can find all the evidence you want to prove either one of these statements.  And this is true for everything in life.   So whether you realize it or not, you are the person creating the world you live in.  If you want to inhabit a world different than the one you are living in, change your focus.

One of my recent coaching clients came to coaching because she was miserable at her job and needed to figure out how to move forward.  After thorough analysis of all the factors in her life, we came to the conclusion that changing jobs at this particular moment in time was not a good option.  That meant either she was going to continue to be miserable, or she was going to have to turn a miserable job into an enjoyable one.

We had already made an extensive list of all the things she hated about the job – she was clear about those when she came to coaching.  Our new task, having decided she was going to stay, was to find all the things that were positive about the job.  It was like pulling teeth at first, but eventually she did come up with a small to moderate list of the good aspects of her job.  From that moment forward her job was to focus her attention only on those aspects and appreciate them as much as possible every single day.  Every time she found herself focusing on some part of her work environment that she did not like, she would stop what she was doing and immediately focus on one of the positive aspects. 

After two weeks she reported that she was beginning to feel less resistant to getting up and going to work in the morning.  By the end of the first month she had added new items to the list of positive work aspects.  And (this is my favorite part), by half way thru the second month she came to our coaching session and said that she thought that the other people in her office must also be doing coaching because they were being so much more cooperative and helpful!

That is the power of focus.  It changes your experience of life.  And as you change, others around you change.  Don’t take my word for it.  Try it for yourself.  Choose some small area of your life on which to experiment.  Change your focus in relationship to this area, and see what happens over the course of a month.  And, if you are willing, send an email and tell me about your experience!