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How to keep your focus

08 February, 2012 08:14:00 Kirsten Long

Photo ©: www.fotalia.com

Don’t let life get in your way of keeping your focus on getting what you want and being who you want to be.

Have you ever been on a course and thought “This is amazing stuff – I’m definitely going to do this!”?

Ever read a book or magazine article and had similar thoughts. With determination you go out there ready to implement all these great new ideas in your life. Why? Because then you will be happy or you will be the best mom/ manager/ salesperson or you will be thin or you will be rich... Ever done that?

What happened?

Chances are life got in the way

Maybe you tried it for a day or two, maybe a week. Then it poured with rain and the traffic was real bad (anyone experienced that lately?), the kids got sick, and the project rolled out late, the boss was grumpy.

Whatever it was, you had to deal with what life threw at you at the time, and all your original intentions flew out of the window, to join all those other lonely intentions in the sky!

The problem was that your focus returned to living your life or even surviving your life and you lost focus on the things that could improve your life.

Basically, you just didn’t have the time and your inclinations went to the bottom of the priority pile and eventually got lost.

When I send a quote to a company for training, I always include monthly coaching sessions for 4 to 6 months after the training as part of the quote. The purpose of these sessions is to help the participants integrate their learning into their daily lives.

How to keep your focus

If you identify with life getting in your way, what can you do, apart from getting a coach?

You have to make a concerted effort to keep that focus.

Plan your day the night before

If you keep forgetting to do this, put a reminder on your phone. Think about your goal to integrate the new learning into your life. Go over what you want and decide on the actions to take the next day that will move you in the required direction.

Allocate the first part of your day to taking those actions

Once you have done these – get on and deal with what life is sending you. A few minutes are all that it takes. Get out there and focus on being who you want to be.

About the author

Kirsten Long is passionate about her profession of coaching. Although she has been hugely successful in two other careers, she has finally found one where she can achieve her life purpose of helping people move forwards in their lives. She has worked full time as a coach since November 2005 to date.
(Member of COMENSA, ICF, Toastmasters (ACS CL)

Follow Kirsten on Twitter (Coach4LifeKL)

Cell: 082 801 7513

Mail: kirsten@coach4life.co.za

Web: www.coach4life.co.za