This F-Word

Nope, not the 4-letter F word (I know that's what you're thinking); I'm talking about the 5-letter word we need everyday - FOCUS!

When we were younger you might remember getting "Focus!" yelled at you by a parent, a teacher or a coach.  "Stop talking and focus."  "What are you doing?  Stay focused!"   I'm  suggesting now that we choose to whisper this word to ourselves, "shhhh . . . stay still . . . focus."

There are so many distractions in our daily lives that we must make the commitment to improving our focus if we stand a chance of getting significant work done - not once in a while, but everyday.  Our phones beep and sing and ring at us, our email "blings" you've got another new email, here comes an instant message, a tweet and on and on.

Ironically, I've resorted to using the rain app on my phone to drown out the noise when I just want to focus on what I'm working on, reading or God forbid, resting.  Focus takes intention and practice - special thanks to my clarinet days; I thought I was practicing scales and difficult passages, but really I was practicing how to Focus. 

It helps to practice focusing in our childhood years, but improving our focus doesn't take buying an expensive instrument or taking a course - it takes committing time to one thing at a time and sticking to that commitment, despite the incoming distractions.

Besides the obvious tasks at work and needs of our home environment, there are lots of daily applications for focus.  Some I suggest are writing, meditating and reading.  When instructing young leaders, I emphasize focused listening - something that can be done haphazardly or with a high level of focus and intent.  Also, I'd appreciate it if some of you would focus more as you drive (you know who you are)!

Focus doesn't have to be the bad F-word and we don't need it yelled at us commando style.  Commit to improving your ability to focus without caving to distractions, focus on extending your ability to focus for longer periods of time, and to really enjoy the process, focus intently on challenges that matter to you, those tasks that make a difference for yourself and others.

Shhh . . . stay still . . . focus.

focused on coaching: http://www.facebook.com/CoachWSolutions







 

You've Got to Play the Wind

I wrote a blog for a while called Be One with the Chaos.  I don't advocate asking for it, but to deny that it exists or wish that it doesn't cross your path is a sure path to failure.

When I was a young softball coach, I can remember hitting ball after ball to my outfielders on the windiest of days.  I'd aim for left field and it would drift to right; fly after fly.  It was frustrating and tiring, sometimes funny and cartoonish, but I kept hitting them anyway.  We could have packed it in and I've seen plenty of teams do just that, but if there are 20-mile an hour gusts at our Monday practice, couldn't it do the same on our Friday game?  Our outfield was ready for that.

I heard the coach for unarguably the best swimmer ever, Michael Phelps, say he made Michael late to meets on purpose. If some random chaos slowed his arrival to a competition, Michael could still get in the pool and swim his best.  He also made him swim hundreds of laps with his goggles fogged up.  That's the edge that great coaching can provide - preparing for chaos and swimming on to victory despite its' arrival.

"Adversity, injustice, bad hops and rotten calls, even good breaks and lucky bounces all comprise the ground over which the campaign must be waged."  Steven Pressfield from the WAR of ART

What is your "campaign"?  Are you prepared to play the wind, go on stage, take the field, the court, go  into court, or to the most important meeting of your life regardless of what gets thrown at you?

Identify your gusts of wind.
Name them.
Write down the terrible referees.
Embrace them!  Prepare for identified chaos (and expect some you didn't know existed.)

"Oh thank you for being assigned to this crucial, stressful day!
. . . because I'm prepared to play in the wind, with the blind ref, with my shoes untied."

Coaching matters.   http://www.facebook.com/CoachWSolutions

Welcome

Welcome to friends and those I don't yet know -
For my birthday, I'm giving myself a new blog focusing on my passion for personal and group coaching.  I've been a lifelong learner, teacher, leader, competitor and musician.  I love working with youth and adults who aspire to their best self even if they are not quite sure what that will be ~

Today I leave you with this thought . . . BE YOU, LOVE YOU, SHARE YOU!