Andrew Jobling's Blog - Posts Tagged "focus"
The closer you look, the more you see
We have two beautiful fluffy four-legged children! Mr Big and Joia are the greatest joy and loves of our life – with the exception of each other. Joia is our gorgeous little princess who is cream coloured and Mr Big is our little man who is black and white. The other day I was looking for Mr Big and couldn’t find him anywhere. I looked all over the house, inside and out. Several times I walked past the back room which is right next to the laundry … it’s often the place I dump the clean clothes before we fold them and put them away. This day there was a big pile of clean clothes on the floor which I took a cursory glance at each time I walked past. The third time I walked past, still with no sign of Mr Big, I looked more closely at this pile of clothes and guess what I saw?
Have you ever seen the book called ‘Where’s Wally?’? It’s a picture book about a boy wearing a red and white striped top who is easily camouflaged in a large group of people … the task is to find him. It’s not easy to find him with a fleeting look, but with some focus and greater attention his location becomes apparent. So I stood and stared at this pile of clothes and out of nowhere Mr Big appeared in front of my eyes … he had been lying there, camouflaged by the clothes, the whole time.
‘Big deal’, you say! As always I thought, ‘how can I turn this seemingly boring and insignificant event into a lesson that would make for a useful topic in this weeks blog?’ For me it’s this … the solution for every challenging situation is there right in front of us. The answer to any question is available to us. The secret to handling any and every interaction is obvious. The closer we look, the more we see and the answer becomes obvious … all we have to do is focus with greater attention.
Have you ever stepped on the scales, looked at your increasing weight and then jumped to the ill-considered conclusion that you can’t lose weight? Have you ever been offended or angered by something someone did or said which sparked an unnecessary feud? Have you been confronted with an un-expected situation at work or in your business that you initially could see no solution for? Have you ever decided that, in your pursuit of a desired outcome, you weren’t good enough and don’t have what it takes? Have you ever looked at an idea, a business or opportunity which, on the surface, looked scary and so you didn’t even take time to research it properly?
I think it would be fair to say we would all answer ‘yes’ to one or more of those scenarios. The problem is not the situation … the problem is the cursory glance! I can guarantee you that with a closer look and more attention you will find exactly what you are looking for.
Upon purposeful reflection, the answers will always appear …
You get on the scales, your weight is increasing and your initial response is to ‘spit the dummy’ and give up. However, on further reflection it becomes obvious that some bad habits have crept back into your eating and exercise regime which has contributed to this weight gain. You know what you need to do and you get yourself back on track. Isn’t that a better outcome?
Your partner says something that offends you and you’re just about ready to snap-back some nasty hurtful retort but you intuitively stop yourself and reflect on the situation more closely. You know that your partner has been going through some tough personal circumstances and is hurting emotionally. You understand that hurting people can lash out and unintentionally hurt others, so instead of inflaming the situation you act with love, understanding and compassion. This love is returned to you and significantly strengthens your relationship. That’s more like it!
You get hit with a significant obstacle at work or in your business and instead of trying to find someone to blame you look a bit more deeply. With purposeful reflection you identify an amazing opportunity to fix the situation, create a new client and/or build a deeper business relationship. That’s how business success happens.
You’re writing your book, building your business or training for a marathon and due to the fact that it’s not easy you consider yourself not qualified or good enough. However, you decide to reflect on this conclusion for a moment and you realise that the pursuit of any worthwhile goal will bring challenges. If you keep going, keep learning and keep improving success is predictable and inevitable. You look deeper and recognise that it’s not about talent, age, background or experience and so you persist, you learn the lessons, you stay focussed and you create success. You can do that … anyone can do that!
As you are looking at a potentially exciting opportunity you feel the fear that is associated with stepping into the unknown. Your initial reaction from the first fleeting glance is to avoid the fear and reject the idea … which would normally stop you. This time, however, you reflect and realise there’s no risk in researching. As you look more closely you can see there is nothing to fear and it’s worth giving it a go, so you do. You gain confidence, you reap benefits and your life is vastly improved. How does that sound?
I want to encourage you to look closely at all situations before you make a hasty and ill-considered decision. Clarity is always there, as long as you take the time, pay more attention and reflect on the outcome you want. The closer you look, the more you see and like magic the answer will appear in front of you … then you will understand that it has been there the whole time.
Have you ever seen the book called ‘Where’s Wally?’? It’s a picture book about a boy wearing a red and white striped top who is easily camouflaged in a large group of people … the task is to find him. It’s not easy to find him with a fleeting look, but with some focus and greater attention his location becomes apparent. So I stood and stared at this pile of clothes and out of nowhere Mr Big appeared in front of my eyes … he had been lying there, camouflaged by the clothes, the whole time.
‘Big deal’, you say! As always I thought, ‘how can I turn this seemingly boring and insignificant event into a lesson that would make for a useful topic in this weeks blog?’ For me it’s this … the solution for every challenging situation is there right in front of us. The answer to any question is available to us. The secret to handling any and every interaction is obvious. The closer we look, the more we see and the answer becomes obvious … all we have to do is focus with greater attention.
Have you ever stepped on the scales, looked at your increasing weight and then jumped to the ill-considered conclusion that you can’t lose weight? Have you ever been offended or angered by something someone did or said which sparked an unnecessary feud? Have you been confronted with an un-expected situation at work or in your business that you initially could see no solution for? Have you ever decided that, in your pursuit of a desired outcome, you weren’t good enough and don’t have what it takes? Have you ever looked at an idea, a business or opportunity which, on the surface, looked scary and so you didn’t even take time to research it properly?
I think it would be fair to say we would all answer ‘yes’ to one or more of those scenarios. The problem is not the situation … the problem is the cursory glance! I can guarantee you that with a closer look and more attention you will find exactly what you are looking for.
Upon purposeful reflection, the answers will always appear …
You get on the scales, your weight is increasing and your initial response is to ‘spit the dummy’ and give up. However, on further reflection it becomes obvious that some bad habits have crept back into your eating and exercise regime which has contributed to this weight gain. You know what you need to do and you get yourself back on track. Isn’t that a better outcome?
Your partner says something that offends you and you’re just about ready to snap-back some nasty hurtful retort but you intuitively stop yourself and reflect on the situation more closely. You know that your partner has been going through some tough personal circumstances and is hurting emotionally. You understand that hurting people can lash out and unintentionally hurt others, so instead of inflaming the situation you act with love, understanding and compassion. This love is returned to you and significantly strengthens your relationship. That’s more like it!
You get hit with a significant obstacle at work or in your business and instead of trying to find someone to blame you look a bit more deeply. With purposeful reflection you identify an amazing opportunity to fix the situation, create a new client and/or build a deeper business relationship. That’s how business success happens.
You’re writing your book, building your business or training for a marathon and due to the fact that it’s not easy you consider yourself not qualified or good enough. However, you decide to reflect on this conclusion for a moment and you realise that the pursuit of any worthwhile goal will bring challenges. If you keep going, keep learning and keep improving success is predictable and inevitable. You look deeper and recognise that it’s not about talent, age, background or experience and so you persist, you learn the lessons, you stay focussed and you create success. You can do that … anyone can do that!
As you are looking at a potentially exciting opportunity you feel the fear that is associated with stepping into the unknown. Your initial reaction from the first fleeting glance is to avoid the fear and reject the idea … which would normally stop you. This time, however, you reflect and realise there’s no risk in researching. As you look more closely you can see there is nothing to fear and it’s worth giving it a go, so you do. You gain confidence, you reap benefits and your life is vastly improved. How does that sound?
I want to encourage you to look closely at all situations before you make a hasty and ill-considered decision. Clarity is always there, as long as you take the time, pay more attention and reflect on the outcome you want. The closer you look, the more you see and like magic the answer will appear in front of you … then you will understand that it has been there the whole time.
