Last week in Defining Moments of Clarity we explored two paths to clarity in life. Today, we explore the third and most intentional path and introduce how we can create clarity by finding Focus.
Not from a crossroads of decision or blind-sided by the unexpected, this clarity comes while we are cruising through life.
Cruising feels good.
Just like driving down the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible, the views are beautiful, and roads are smooth.
Being intentional in this season is for the elite and growth minded. There is nothing painful compelling you to be introspective and ask the big questions of life, but you do it because you know that when you aren’t intentional you will drift, and that’s not the life you want to live. You want to live an intentional and meaningful life, creating value and reducing inefficiencies. You want to invest your time where it matters, be prepared and planful, and grow as the leader you want to be. My intentional, growth minded friends know what I’m talking about.
Clarity can come in these seasons, simply by being intentional to carve out the time and space to answer 3 questions. The compiled answer to those 3 questions is your Focus.
Before we dive into that, it is important to identify what season you are in. Knowing our season, gives us the perspective we need to craft our Focus. So, I want you to take a moment and ask yourself what season you are in:
Crossroads of decision
Blindsided by unexpected
Cruising in abundance
Here are a few examples to see what you may relate to:
Crossroads of being Stuck
Driving home each day you think about how much you hate your job. How you feel like you are dying a little more everyday. But with 3 children at home, pressure to provide is significant.
You’ve been questioning what you are good at for a while now. Your current situation has demotivated you so much you wonder if you have anything significant to give. When you were younger you felt carefree and natural, and now you feel like you are constantly striving and straining and getting nowhere.
No matter the aspect of life - career, family, health, finances - feeling stuck is a terrible feeling. It feels out of our control, and many of us love some good sense of control. Once we feel bound by our situations, environments or decisions we become less and less of who we were created to be. It seems like there is no way out and we are trapped.
Crossroads of Stalled
It seems like everyone else is catching the breaks, getting promoted, and gaining new opportunities. Perceived or real, the feeling is demotivating and creates a cycle of comparison leaving us wondering “when is my chance?”
The routine of wake up - drop off - pick up - drop off - pick up - drop off - feels like you are an Uber driver, but in reality you are the unpaid version of one, called “parent”. The monotony of the day closes with a mental dialog of “what is my purpose?” “what am I working toward that matters?” and you keep coming up blank.
Life comes in seasons, much like planting and harvesting. The day you plant is not the day you reap and certainly not the day you eat. When you feel like you have been in the planting phases for months or years or even a decade, it begins to feel insane. Doing the same thing expecting a different result is how Einstein described insanity, and for all you are doing, it seems like the reaping may never come.
Crossroads of Stressed
Should I say “yes” or “no”? Accept or decline? Go or stay? It feels like decisions are everywhere around us, because THEY ARE everywhere around us. On a typical day it is said we make 35,000 decisions and in this season you feel up to your eyeballs in decisions.
You feel paralyzed by decision fatigue and even remorse - regretting a decision and wondering how negatively it may impact your life. Circling the “what if” question in a downward spiral leading to the worst possible scenario...the one that is not probable to happen, but your emotions are acting as though it is around the corner. You are left questioning how to move forward to gain back a life of perspective, peace and calm.
Without a filter our decisions are off kilter.
Blind-sided by unexpected
Unexpected and uninvited, being blind-sided creates awareness for past choices (behaviors, priorities, or lack of priority) and a sudden discontent for where we find ourselves in the present.
It is the medical diagnosis on a routine doctor visit and you realize how important your health is.
It is an unexpected house repair that reveals a need for more reserve cash.
It is your child acting out because they are jealous of your constant focus on work and they need your undivided attention.
The busyness of our life often masks the consequences of our choices until we are blind-sided by something that rocks our reality.
Cruising and smooth
The long awaited, much prayed for season where you have arrived. With seasons behind you of struggling and striving, you find peace and calm in the moment.
After comparing and coming up short, you have intentionally decided to choose thankfulness and contentment. Being grateful and aware of what you do have, has shifted your attention to what is right in front of you.
Which season are you in?
While these seasons of life are different and distinct, they all require that we have clarity of Focus.
And here is what I mean, Focus by definition is "A central point, as of attraction, attention or activity."
What is the central point of your life?
Without a clear and directional answer to that question, we wonder and wander through life. And while that sounds earthy and organic, there is a reality that no one drifts into greatness.
No one wakes up and says, “where did my fat go? And all the muscle??? Where did that come from?”
No one checks their bank account and is shocked that there is so MUCH money there.
No one stops investing in relationships and wonders “how are we getting along so well and communicating so easily??”
No one drifts into greatness.
Individuals don't. Teams don't. Organizations don't.
So what season are you (your team or your organization) in right now?
Crossroads of decision
Blindsided by unexpected
Cruising in abundance
Wherever you are, you can create clarity by finding your Focus.
Your central point of clarity that will reduce stress, build confidence and provide direction and intentionality to your life, team and organization.
Before we find our Focus, ask:
What season am I in currently?
Am I willing to answer 3 questions that will allow me to create clarity by finding my Focus?