Focus- Critical to Getting Where You Want to Go

Our minds are horrible wonderful things.  They can process a million pieces of information in the blink of an eye.  Our heart pumps blood. When we walk hundreds of muscles move and adjust our balance without us thinking. Our lungs breath without us paying attention.  It sucks when we start thinking  about breathing. Because the moment we focus on it for some reason our brain seems to forget that it can do it by  itself.  The problem is that so many times our mind can also lose focus on what it should to be doing.

But if we want to be a man and not a boy we have to learn to focus.  And not only focus, but focus on the right thing.  If you are missing the mark on either of them you are acting like a boy.  I want you to try and think back to when you were between 10 and 16 years old.  How easy was it for you to get pulled off a task?  I have a son in that age range right now. If you tell him to take the trash out he can get all the bags gathered sitting by the back door. But, if something else pops up he will completely forget what he was doing.  Or he may know that he has chores or homework he needs to get done but instead spends all day playing video games.

So if we want to be real men we need to be able to first focus on something and not be distracted.  When your kids are talking to you you need to be able to focus on them so you can listen.  And when I say listen I don’t just mean register what was said but really understand what is being communicated.  I was really good about if someone would say do you even know what I said being able to repeat what they said.  But did I really listen and understand what they were communicating?  Not at all.  Half finished projects show a lack of discipline and care on our part.  To those we love if we don’t focus and listen we are communicating that we don’t care about them.  Our half finished projects show them that we can’t be counted on.

Proverbs 4:25 Let your eyes look directly forward,and your gaze be straight before you.26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.27 Do not swerve to the right or to the left;turn your foot away from evil.

This chapter of Proverbs is all about making sure that you look for and gain wisdom.  It talks about how wicked and evil men wander and are lost.  The answer it finishes with is the above.  Look forward, pay attention to what you are doing, and don’t swerve.  The answer is to focus on what you are trying to attain.  In this case wisdom.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

Ecclesiastes is a rough read.  Everything is pointless and we are all going to die.  So what is the answer?  Chapter 9 says to enjoy your wife, food, wine, and life.  Oh and whatever you find to do, do it with all your might.  Not half your mind.  Not a distracted mind.  But with focus and all your might?  Why? Because if you don’t your chance of failure goes up exponentially.  No one would let someone disarm a bomb while also trying to do their taxes.  No one would want a pilot to be chatting on the phone when he is supposed to be landing a plane.

So we know we need to focus but what do we need to focus on?  For a Christian this is a no brainer.  God should be your focus.  

Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

For a Christian I could list scripture after scripture that tells me that God should be my main focus.  But what about after that?  Or what about those who don’t follow God?  How do we know what to focus on?  How do we figure out what is next?  The easy and hard answer is what is important to you.  What is your passion that I wrote about a couple weeks ago?  How focused are you on your family?  How focused are you on yourself?

For most of you this is going to be a very personal choice.  I can offer only advice here and no solid answers.  After God you must focus on you first.  Seems selfish but it’s true.  If you don’t focus on making sure you are ok then you will eventually be draining the ones you love and not helping.  You need to be taking care of yourself so that you can take care of them.  Imagine if you were on an airplane.  What do they say in the safety brief?  Your mask first then you can help others.  Another way to look at it is that you can’t give what you don’t have.  If I don’t have peace I won’t have it to give.  If I’m weak then I won’t have the strength to help someone else.  If I’m a mess then when my daughters need me all I’ll have to give is a mess.

After that you need to figure out what is important to you and really focus on it.  If your family is important to you then focus on them.  If your career is important to you, focus on it.  And write it down in order of importance.  Because there will be times where you’re going to need to be reminded.

I would challenge you to look at where you are going in life. Do you feel disconnected from your family? Do you feel lost as a person? Do you feel like God is a million miles away? You will travel toward the things you focus on. If you aren’t close to what you want to be then you probably aren’t focused on it like you should be. Your mind is powerful but easily distracted. If you want to be a real man you need to be able to focus it. If you want to see true fulfillment you need to focus on what is important.