THE TRIPLE F SERIES: Part 2- FOCUS: Lessons From Early Morning Jogging

Hello Cherished readers I know it's been a while since you heard from Noeses. A couple of people have asked when the next post is and I say the next post is now! End of semester exam took Noeses away for a while. It was challenging but I guess the “Challenge Effect” has taught us that every challenge is worth it. I am back now to continue the “The Triple F Series” from where we left off.

The second F in the series is FOCUS. You might have come across the idea that FOCUSING is an essential success recipe. Everyone tells you; “focus on your academics, focus on your work” etc. I think that’s fine. What intrigues me is that people tell you; “focus, don’t get distracted”, and at the same time tell you; “what do you think you are doing?, look at what others are doing”. Now that’s confusing and contradictory to me. I have learnt something new and I would love to share that with you. Let me tell you a story that taught me so much about FOCUS than you can imagine:

I spent the long vacation after my second year in university somewhere on the countryside in the volta region of Ghana; that’s my hometown Wli, where the highest waterfall in West Africa is located.

During that time, one of my cousins and I took to early morning jogging. My cousin is a fan of that so he carried me along. Our aim was to run to a certain river (bridge) and back. The first two days of the early morning jogging was not easy for me. The funny part is that I bragged to my cousin about how easy it would be. During those two days, I ran with my cousin side by side, at the same pace because I always wanted to keep up. He always left me because I would get exhausted and stop on the way. However, on the third day something happened that taught me a lot; this time I could run the whole journey without stopping. It may surprise you to know that a few meters to the house my cousin stopped but I ran to the end. What did I do different? This time I ran with my earphones stuck in my ears, focused only on our target and most importantly I ran at my own pace. He ran ahead of me, a little faster than I was running but that didn’t bother me. I was not exhausted like before and as a matter of fact I was very happy that day because later in the day a certain concept of focus occurred to me as I was able to draw a link between the early morning jogging and The Concept of Focus.

Lessons from Early Morning Jogging

These are the insights I gained from the jogging experience.

The Distraction of other People 1

I have learnt that people often get distracted by looking at other people instead of focusing on their own strength, focusing on their goals and believing in their strategies. From my story, I was distracted by looking at my cousin. I forgot that I could do it my way by focusing on my strength and developing my own strategies. You see, in life some people are slow learners while others are fast learners. Some people are great starters while others are great finishers. Slow learners can become masters once they get the concept and bad starters can get into the race after a few meters. Even some great achievers had to learn this the hard way. For example, Usain Bolt is a great athlete. He is not a great starter. He admits that and consoles himself with great finishing. However, during the 100m final of the 2011 IAAF world championship, Usain Bolt made a false start and was disqualified because he wanted a good start so badly. Months of training went to waste. He was distracted by the knowledge that other athletes were increasingly becoming fast starters, especially Yohan Blake, his teammate. He forgot to focus on his strength of been a great finisher.

Lesson 1: Know thyself, focus on thy strength and thy goals and believe in thy strategies.

Lesson 2: On the journey of life don’t look to your sides unless looking to your sides motivates and helps you.

The Distraction of Remainder

Most often on the journey of life, people look forward and get distracted. This is simply because they only see how far they have to go. The same thing happened to me during my early morning jogging. When I was exhausted and looked at how far I had to go, I got distracted by that distance and stopped. One can actually find focus by looking forward. How is that? One can find focus by looking forward at one’s goals and target destination, especially if that destination was shaped by one’s deepest desires. There is another alternative and that’s looking back to see how far you have come and the results you have achieved already. I believe that if you do this you can find more focus. The question is; “would you like all that effort you exerted to get that far to be wasted?” I could have found more focus if I looked at how far I had come in my early morning jogging because going back to the house from the river, I mostly had a long distance to walk a little and jog a little…..lol

Lesson 3: Look back to find courage and focus from how far you have come.

Lesson 4: Look forward only to find inspiration from your goals and target destination.

The Distraction of other people 2

Sometimes the distractions we encounter are from what other people say- other people’s opinion. You might want to turn a deaf ear to what some people have to say. I am not saying that you shouldn’t listen at all. All I am saying is that don’t listen to the naysayers. Don’t listen to those who can’t see what you can see. Don’t let them distract you. It’s your dream. Protect it!

Lesson 5: Don’t listen to the naysayers.

In order to stay in lane and focused on this journey of life, you need to focus on your strength, focus on your target destination, find inspiration from how far you have come and believe in your pace and strategies. Remember not to listen to the naysayers. Don’t get distracted because distraction leads to fear, fear leads to loss of balance and eventually, there is loss of focus.

Get ready for the last in this series, the last F which is FEAR. What is fear? Is it real or unreal? Get ready for what is ahead.

There are several perspectives to The Concept of Focus. What is your perspective? Let us know your thoughts. Cheers!