Happy New Year and compliments of the season!

Congratulations to each and every one of you for making it to 2019. Let’s be glad and grateful we all made it to 2019. 2018 has come and gone with its own experiences. 2019 offers to be great if only we can learn from the mistakes of 2018, and do the right thing. I’m not concerned about the challenges you went through in 2018; they are history and worthy experience if we learn from it. Some of you may have made your resolution in 2019 to do and not do a particular thing, but I can assure you that the only way you can achieve your dream and desires in 2019 is to commit to being focused.

It should be noted that the New Year won’t offer us any tangible thing if we don’t work towards it. During the course of this article, we shall be discussing how focus can enable us to achieve our dreams and desires.  I don’t know what your resolution(s) are for this year, but as for me, I have decided to remain focused to what really matters by focusing on my goals and avoiding procrastination and distractions.

The journey of a thousand miles they say begins with a step in the right direction.  You may have heard this saying: anything worth doing is worth doing well. According to Beverly Hills “There’s no shortcut to any place worth going.  We are still in the first week of 2019, some of us have many plans to accomplish, what is important is the actions you take to make the plans a reality. Talk is nothing if we don’t match our thoughts with actionable plans. According to Dwight Eisenhower “plans are nothing, planning is everything”.

In order to remain focused, you must have the courage to say no to what doesn’t really matter or interest you. The ability to say no beings you closer to what that is important.  Courage gives you strength to remain focus. According to Ruth Gordon “Courage is very important, like the muscle, it must be strengthened by use”. Are you a student; businessman; craftsman; medical doctor; sportsman; architect; or writer etc., you need focus to attain your goals. Without focus, you will be like a wanderer chasing shadows.  If you focus on something, you will give value to it because according to Alice Walker “Nobody is as powerful as we make them out to be”.

Focus brings consistency, nothing happens by chance because there’s no smoke without fire. There’s nothing like luck. Luck is simply an opportunity meeting preparation. Isn’t it true that it is more fun to arrive at a destination without necessarily having to justify it?  When you are focused on a task, all your energy and mindset will be fixated on the task at hand. I likened focus to an eagle! When you are focused on a particular task, you may experience one or two mistakes.

Mistakes are necessary for growth. Those mistakes can create opportunities if properly harnessed. In the words to “Sophia Loren “Mistakes are part of the dues one pays for a full life”.  When you are focused on a task, all your energy is asserted into the work, you overlook distractions and pay absolute concentration to the task at hand. Focused minds are as hungry as a lion looking for a prey to devour. Focused minds overlook failures, they continue to strive for perfection until they get it right. According to Bile Jean King “Champions keep playing until they get it right”. It doesn’t really matter how many times you have failed if you are focused on getting it right, all that is important is how well you finish. The end always justifies the means. Success-minded individuals are like visionaries. They see the big picture.

According to Napoleon Hill in his book “Think and Grow Rich”, he stated that what a mind can conceive believe it can achieve it. If you have a vision or imagination that can bring change or even innovation, you need to be focused. Without imagination and vision, your thoughts and ideas can’t fly. It’s your ideas that set you apart from your contemporaries. A great way to remain focused in life is by allowing your passion to be the driving force of whatever you are doing.  Your passion should be able to draw people closer to you. In the real world, most people are always attracted by why you do what you do. The reason behind your action and motive is very important. It is this quality that brings business opportunities to you.

Furthermore, it should be noted that the most basic principle of the Law of Attraction is to focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. As human beings, most times we have the tendency to focus on our problems, challenges, and difficulties as opposed to practicing gratitude and attracting what we truly need by appreciating them. For example, we often focus on the problem, on the unpaid bills, on the fear of losing our job, our lover, our health, our looks, but the real focus includes positive thinking, planning for, and visualizing the future. If you focus on opportunities, you’ll get more opportunities. If you focus on obstacles, you’ll get more obstacles.

Below are some examples of how positive focus can help us live healthy lives this year and beyond if we practice it religiously:

Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want.
Focus on what you have, not what you don’t have.
Focus on what you like, not what you don’t like.
Focus on what feels good, not what feels bad.
Focus on the solution, not the problem.
Focus on the joy, not the sorrow.
Focus on the abundance, not the scarcity.
Focus on why it WILL happen, not on why it won’t happen.
Focus on having it all, not on settling for less.
Focus on where you’re going, not where you’ve been.

Let’s look at some of the most accomplished leaders in the word. Tiger Woods sinking a perfect putt and Warren Buffet, poring over financial statements. What do these extraordinary individuals have in common? They all focus with laser-like precision on their goals. They have all mastered the Magic of Focus. Even one of the greatest American President Abraham Lincoln, who failed in business, marriage, election in addition to having so many setbacks in his personal life, he was still focused on his mission in life, he was never deterred in his failures in pursuing his political ambition until he was elected as the president of USA.

As you focus more on what you do want and less on what you don’t want, you become the conscious creator of your own precious life. Given that what you focus on determines your reality, wouldn’t you agree that it’s worth mastering the Magic of Focus?

I’m going to conclude this article, by asking you a question. Look at your life. Do you like where you are right now? If no, just know that your life is a perfect reflection of where you’re placing your focus. If you like the reflection, great, keep up the good work.

Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with New York City Department of Correction as the legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success.