Focus won’t get you anything, focus will get you everything. In a world where there’re more distractions than ever, focus has become a rare value to possess. Increasingly adversity, unforeseen circumstances and struggle for survival, recognition and fame has robbed our minds one of its strongest power, which is power of focus. We have all been a victim. But amidst all this craziness and chaotic atmosphere that we live in, some individuals still trumps in creativity, why is that? and how do they do it? You may ask. Before we go further, I want to tell you this short simple story;

In India, there’s what they call “The Mahabharata” It is an ancient Indian epic where the main stories and some of their histories were told. In it contained some ancient proverbs too. So there’s this story of a young man called Arjuna, and he had a guru teacher. He’s being taught archery by this guru teacher along with other students. One day the Guru Dronacharya hung a wooden crow, from a tree branch and then summoned all his students. He handed each of them the bow and asked them to aim for the crow’s eye but first they should explain what they see before they shoot. The first student approached with his bow and the teacher asked “what do you see?” the student says “I see the garden, the tree, the flowers, everything!” then the teacher asked the student to step aside and not to shoot. He asked the second student and was told something similar “I see the air and leaves blowing in the wind” The Guru Dronacharya went ahead and asked few more students and they all gave similar replies.

Now came Arjuna, as he approached with his bow, the teacher asked him “what do you see?” he said; “The only thing I see is the crow’s eye”. Guru Dronacharya said; “RELEASE YOUR BOW” and Arjuna hit the crow in the middle of its eye.

WILLFUL BLINDNESS

This story is very simple, but if we can reflect on it, there’s a great lesson to be learn. Arjuna didn’t just say I see the crow’s eye, he said; “The only thing I see is the crow’s eye” that’s a huge difference. In law there’s what they call “Willful Blindness” it’s a situation in which a person seeks to avoid civil or criminal liability for a wrongful act by intentionally keeping themselves unaware of facts that would render him or her liable or implicated. To Arjuna, he chose to intentionally be unaware of every other thing surrounding him, it doesn’t matter how beautiful they seem or look. Whether the garden look so dazzling, or the formation of the wind around the leaves is captivating, Arjuna cared about none of that, he only saw one thing the crow’s eye. He knew that he can still behold those things after the shooting right? Isn’t amazing that most of the things that causes us to lose our focus or serve as a distraction are not really going anywhere. They just present themselves as priority or urgent, thereby depriving us from doing the important things that actually moves the needle in our lives.

If you are wondering about those people that trumps in creativity, how they do it? BINGO! Here’s how; They adopt willful blindness, they learn how to be intentionally unaware of the environmental distractions, so they can listen to their smooth, calm, inner voice when it speaks. That’s how they give birth to their brain child and you too can do it, if you learn the act of willful blindness. Trust me, it’s not as easy as it sounds, but it’s very possible and practicable. It’s a journey and a practice, which I have employed and enjoyed for a while now, and I can tell you, it’s very profitable, as a matter of fact, it will help repel most of the distractions that will want to steal your focus. You need to understand this; Distractions will come, adversity will come, struggles and competition for relevance will show up, but in those state of bewilderment if you capture intentionally the important things, solutions will be born. One way to capture this is; you need to write down those things that are important to you, don’t just leave them in your head, your head can’t be trusted. That’s where all the fight happens. Writing them down will always give you an advantage, and you can always review them and edit them.

ALONE TIME

Another important thing that helps with focus is, Alone time. Create an environment that will help you concentrate and reflect. Alone time doesn’t mean loneliness, alone time helps you to reflect and meditate, but the environment in which it’s done is very important. Many are scared of being alone, they mistaken being alone from being lonely, others are scared to reach deep down inside themselves because of what they could find. Those memories, if you can’t face them, you can’t beat them. If you keep running, it will keep chasing you. You need to clear off all those garbage that has blocked or weakened your power of focus. Remember Arjuna said; “The only thing I see is the crow’s eye” He cleared off every other thing and he was able to shoot his target. Although it may not always turn out the way we want it, although we might not be able to shoot our target like Arjuna did, but with focus, every shot takes us closer to our goals and dreams. Another thing you need to watch out for; If you feel like you lack focus, you probably have a lot of fear. You think about your weaknesses rather than your strengths, you have more limiting beliefs than empowering ones, and those things puts fear in you. You can’t battle fear and focus at the same time. The guy would say, I don’t think I have a lot of patience, why don’t you focus on the other good values you have, I don’t think I can speak before a crowd, why don’t you focus on writing and creating content first, I don’t think I can write a book, why don’t you focus on recording your voice first. Like I said earlier, it’s a journey, the more we do it, the more we progress.

If you feel you need some professional help on how to maintain and retain your focus, so you can increase your productivity and effectiveness, you can always reach out to us, send us an email at Info@merkuriusmind.com or you can also visit our website www.merkuriusmind.com to book your appointment for free, my team will be more than happy to help you. We believe that you deserve to live the best life you desire, and we are HERE to help you achieve that. Our Motto is; Love, Serve, and Inspire.

Thank you for taking out your precious time to read this blog, we hope it helps you with your journey on focus. Please stay tuned.