There are always valid and significant reasons for good people to miss their desired goals. While many folks are always wondering “why” the seemingly apparent heir to great achievement misses the mark or fails in their attempts to accomplish great dreams, it is the wise man who readily sees and knows why the best equipped or most likely to succeed individual fails to accomplish their mission. All it takes for a golfer to miss hit an apparent “give-me” shot, is for him or her to take their eyes off the golf ball,…even if it is only for a split second. Temptations and distractions are usually the biggest culprit involved in the loss of the performer’s concentration and efforts. I personally think the one single great lesson of life that I have learned from over five decades of working with and guiding human beings towards their cause is that there is no substitute for paying attention.
Focused, attentive, locked-on attention is what keeps a performer on line, on track, and always moving in the correct direction towards the accomplishment of their dreams and goals. Without such committed focus,…distractions will always “weed” themselves into the efforts and work ethic of man in his attempt to achieve real success.
God tells us and warns us to pay attention to the task at hand we are performing if we want to accomplish personal success. He tells us in the Holy Bible in the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 1, verse 5, NKJV :
(5) “A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,”
God is directly telling you to (1) first gain proper knowledge and understanding of what it is that you desire to accomplish and then (2) learn how to do the work required to produce the desired results…before you begin the work of achieving your heart’s desire.
You see, if you do not know what the really important things are that must be performed or accomplished and keep your mind focused and fully attentive to you doing the necessary work habits, then, by default, you are inviting distractions, accidents, and even disaster to happen to your performance.
As it is with any significant accomplishment, the performer or the leader must always keep the important things important. Failing to do so all but guarantees future failure.
Distractions and temptations can many times appear to be good things….but in the long run of events they always rob you of your own productivity.
They primary way to avoid any distractions which might interfere with your planned work schedule and its accomplishment is to maintain your mental focus on that which is required to be completed. How much you personally value your desired dreams and goals will always determine just how much attention you can maintain on any given subject.
Permit me to share a short story regarding distractions and their negative effects:
A band of juvenile thieves had a well-refined method of operation. They would enter a store as a group. Then one or two of them would separate from the rest of the group. The others would move to a distant section of the store and start a loud argument and related ruckus. Their actions would cause enough commotion to grab the attention of the store clerks as well as the customers. All eyes would turn towards the disturbance, leaving the one or two “roving” thieves an opportunity to fill their pockets with merchandise or cash and then leave the store before anyone suspected what had just happened.
It would be hours, sometimes even days later, before the victimized merchant realized things were missing and call the police. By that time, the thieves were long gone and there was no possibility of tracing or recovering what had been taken.
Temptation works in much the same way. It distracts us by using the allure of fame, fortune, power, or satisfaction of fleshly desires. In the process, we are often diverted from critical steps we need to take toward the accomplishment of our goals. Whenever we take our eyes off what is truly important in our lives, we will always run the risk of losing it!
Paying full attention to the required tasks at hand is an absolute “must” if you are to ever accomplish your mission, your assignment, your dreams, or your goals.
Please allow me the freedom to give you four training tips that I know for certain will assist you in doing a better job of avoiding distractions and temptations that enter into your lives during the course of living and working towards your personal objectives:
1. Dream Bigger. You will discover as you pursue your dreams that little dreams require just as much time, resources, energy, and effort to accomplish as do big dreams. Little Dreams carry with them only little rewards. Big Dreams carry with them only huge rewards. Resolve to only dream Big Dreams.
2. Make sure your dreams are so big that they scare you. Big dreams that require more than you can personally do in order to
achieve or accomplish insure that you seek, find, and include other’s assistance on your team. One is simply too small of a number with
which to succeed. Involve the help of other people to assist you in accomplishing your dreams and goals.
3. Leave plenty of room on your dream-building team for God Almighty to be involved. When you include God into the work effort
and accomplishment of your dreams and goals, you are insuring your own success. Our God wants and longs to be invited into your work
efforts to accomplish great things for His Glory.
and finally,…..
4. Make certain that your dream is so big and so clear and so important to you to achieve that it “Arrests Your Full
Attention”. As discussed above, you will accomplish those things that are always at the forefront of your own thoughts and focused attention.
“Locked-on” focused attention to the required work habits to be expended in order to accomplish your mission is what is needed to keep
you and your performance steady on task.
Leaders Gotta Lead…………..