Three Things I've Learned About Focus

Focus is a challenging skill. Have you ever realized what you focus on grows? Focus on food, and your appetite will grow. Focus on making healthy choices and suddenly you realize that lunch entrée was your total daily allotment of 1,500 calories! What you focus on grows. And when you choose to set your sights on something, the outcome is often secured before you have even begun.

Unless…you loose focus.

I suppose you could say that’s what happened to me two years ago. It was April 19, 2010 and a few minutes before 6:00 P.M. Being the master chef that I am, I was about to throw a frozen pizza in the oven for dinner when my ten-year-old son flung open the garage door and crumpled into the couch. Sobbing and heaving, he finally managed to get out a few words. A rock had been thrown into the side of his head. That’s when he started throwing up.

Then it was 911. An ambulance to the nearest hospital. Emergency CT scans. And a depressed skull fracture. A doctor quickly telling me Scott needed to be transferred to a higher level of care and that a helicopter was on its way. The helicopter EMT pausing and turning to me, blades whirring a few paces down the walkway, asking me to give Scott a kiss goodbye. Wait, did he mean goodbye for now or a more permanent goodbye?

Two years ago, someone hit a HUGE pause button on the life I expected. And my focus was interrupted in multiple ways. A large rock thrown by another 10-year-old boy. An accidental injury. Combine that with my daughter’s chronic illness, and you will understand why for these last two years caregiving has been my center of attention.

Interrupted or not, I have been reminded of the power of focus. Here is what I have learned so far:
1. Focus requires intentionality.
We live in a world filled with randomness and uncertainty. It will never be easy to keep your focus. Gaining and maintaining focus requires daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly pause points, where you look up and make sure you are still headed in the right direction.
2. Focus creates momentum.
When you and I determine to pursue a goal and then focus our activities around that goal, we create movement. Movement eventually leads to momentum. Dave Ramsey’s Momentum Theorem states, “Focused intensity over time multiplied by God creates momentum.” Now, that is a powerful truth!
3. Focus relieves pain.
Ever find yourself concerned about too many things? When you feel pain, it is a signal! The agonizing ache you sense when you are overcommitted or overwhelmed is not meant to be ignored. Focus allows you to let go of the unimportant in favor of the most important things. When you trim your life or ministry down to those things that really deserve your attention, you feel less pain…which means you find more joy.

For the record, Scott is doing well, despite the lasting effects of the injury. He has quite a few medical complications, but he does well in school and is enjoying being a middle-schooler. And me...I am learning a focus on the truly important things is not really a loss of focus at all.

What deserves your personal or leadership focus today?