Focus

Focus definition:

• the concentration of attention or energy on something
• concentrate: direct one’s attention on something
• cause to converge on or toward a central point

On the outside this week has been a week of opposites – on Monday I was running a head hunting course for recruitment consultants and on Sunday I will be delivering the first module in a personal development program for a martial arts academy.

What is interesting are the similarities.

At a break in the head hunt training the recruitment consultants asked me how to be successful in recruitment – a very common question. The week before I had asked Sensei Craig Long, six times British kickboxing champion and owner of the York Martial Arts Academy what made people successful at martial arts. The answer it turns out is the same thing; focus.

But let’s put some perspective on this in case I’m just getting carried away as us personal development specialists can do; so just how much different does focusing on a goal or objective make?

Consider the following two statements; one is true, one is not:

1) If you focus on a goal or an objective you will reach it.

2) If you focus on a goal or an objective you will get closer to your goal and increase your chances of reaching it and being totally successful.

Being a realist I would offer the second statement as the true one. Focus does not guarantee success but it increases the odds in your favour!

And whether you are preparing for martial art combat, building a career or working towards a personal goal improving the odds has to be a good thing!

Until next time; be successful

Stephen

Trainer, Coach, Public Speaker

NEW Addition: PS – A very interesting comment has been added by a reader – I would invite all other readers to read it and add their thoughts

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Coming next on edenchanges.com – more recruitment specific tips

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We would be delighted to discuss your corporate training or coaching needs so call us, or email us, today to discuss:

International: +44 1757 249 380 UK: 01757 249 390

Email: enquiries@edenchanges.com

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Photograph by the talented Jade Macalla,  photo manipulation by me

 

Pushing the Envelope

Sixty one years ago today on October 14, 1947 a young pilot climbed into an experimental plane and took off on a flight to achieve something that had never been achieved before…to break the sound barrier.

The prevailing wisdom at the time was mixed with some thinking that the forces would literally rip the wings of the plane or lock the controls up causing a catastrophic and fatal crash.

As it was Chuck Yeager flying the experimental plane the X-1, (named by Yeager “Glamorous Glennis” after his wife) flying at an altitude of 45,000 feet entered the history books as the first man to successfully break the sound barrier.

In the years that followed he, and others, continued to fly further and faster and even now there are pilots and aerospace engineers striving always to ‘push the envelope’ (as they say in the aviation world) and go faster and further.

Because those people did that, because they strove to do the things that haven’t been done before they achieved more and they learned more. After all the benefit is not always in reaching the goal but the wisdom that is learned along the way and we could all benefit from more wisdom!

I know specifically how I will, for myself, push the envelope today and yes it’s a little scary and it’s a little unnerving and I welcome that. Because when it is done, when the attempt is made and whether I succeed or fail, I will have pushed my personal envelope out further than it has been before and I welcome whatever that brings.

So I invite you to consider a simple question;

“What personal barriers can you exceed today?”

What can you attempt that you haven’t done before, what target could you set that you haven’t reached  before or what action could you take that you haven’t taken before.

Or in other words…

How far can you push the envelope today?

Until next time;

Stephen

Stephen Hart

Following on, following through

One of the most common flaw made when people are learning to play golf is failing to follow through properly.

‘Following through’ in golf is literally the part of the swing after the club has struck the ball. The ball has, a fraction of a second earlier, gone sailing off into the air, and the club simply continues to swing through empty air.

Yet the fascinating thing about this is that if the follow through isn’t done properly the ball won’t go where it should.

It’s almost a moment from science fiction where a future event affects a current event – time travel on a golf course!

Now if you consider my blog “Ideas are not Enough”, ( http://edenchanges.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/ideas-are-not-enough ) and think about those decisions that you might have considered and even started to take since reading that how many of them have you seen through fully? How many of them have you completed and indeed how many decisions did you miss?

In golf it’s all about intending to follow through, indeed planning to follow through. This affects everything from the players stance, their muscle tension and their mental expectations.

In life it’s the same. Have the intention to see things through, planning to do them completely even when it seems you will be simply swinging through the air and not making a difference. This is what enables people to achieve great things.

Until next time;

Stephen

Stephen Hart

PS I am indebted to a friend of mine James Moorhouse for the ideas that became the article above; thanks James.

PPS The graphic is an example of work by Jules Bonnet. with thanks.

More can be found at: http://jules-bonnot.deviantart.com/gallery

Changing the world

How do you feel about the world right now?

Are you happy with the global state of affairs or does international conflict, the threats to the environment or global injustice touch your conscience?

On a more local scale would you have people be more polite, more thoughtful or more positive to each other?

If you are nodding as you read those lines with the thought that ‘Yes; sometimes I wish for those things’ then you have a simple challenge if you are genuinely serious about making a difference in the world. Y

our challenge is this – how do you turn the idea into action. More specifically; how can you influence other people to make a positive change in the world?

It might sound like a very big question yet the answer is remarkably easy and the really beautiful thing about the answer is that you personally have the power to put it into action.

So what is the answer? Well it’s this – whatever change you want to see in the world you need to first adopt that change for yourself. For example if you want people to be more polite then be more polite yourself. If you want people to recycle more then make sure you recycle more.

As I said it’s a very easy answer and one that you have the power to implement. Simple yet potent in it’s potential.

Another powerful aspect of this answer is that you can act on it immediately. Simply consider, right now, one way in which you would like the world to be a better place and resolve to do more of that yourself from this moment on.

This philosophy works on three levels. First by changing your own behaviour you have changed the behaviour of one person on the earth immediately.

Secondly, and this is where the big impact lies, you will start to influence those people around you. Humans are ultimately pack animals and we adopt the characteristics of those around us. When you start to act in a certain way people will see this and start, sometimes slowly ,sometimes quickly, to adopt your patterns and behaviours.

The third level that this works on is an internal level because if you genuinely apply this philosophy as you go through life you will realise how powerful you are. Rather than complaining about others you will evolve and grow into someone who sees something they want to change and then someone who does something directly about it.

I don’t know about you, but knowing that I have the power to change the world makes me feel pretty good!

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Until next time;

Stephen

Stephen Hart

Ideas are not enough

Half way into an hour and a half commute to work and the rain was still falling. The roads were slick with water and visibility could have been better. For some reason the traffic had slowed to a crawl and then I saw on the inside lane the reason. A car had broken down and stood forlornly with its hazard lights feebly blinking away. A woman stood, holding her coat hood down against the rain, hand bag in hand next to the car. She was getting wet. And in five minutes she’d be a lot wetter.

Now the next thought that went through my head was that I could pull over and give her the umbrella that was sitting, unused, next to me in my car. I don’t need it and she did. I could have stopped right by her car.

But I didn’t.

Twenty yards further down the road I saw a parking place. Again I thought that I could very easily turn the wheel, slow the car, and pull up. Then I could get out, walk twenty yards and give her the umbrella. A decent, quick idea that would make a difference.

I kept driving.

Now I’ve thought about this up and down and the reason why I didn’t act is not the topic for this thought for the week. The topic is rather that ideas aren’t enough on their own. Action has to follow them.

If you don’t put your ideas into action then the ideas won’t make a blind bit of difference.

If you have an idea to develop yourself, follow it with action. If you have an idea how to increase your sales, improve your health or your wealth then follow those ideas with action. Otherwise nothing will change.

Listen to your ideas, take action and make a difference.

(And I offer my most profound apologies to the woman in the rain…)

Until next time;

Stephen

Stephen Hart

“Never give up, never surrender!”

“Never give up, never surrender!”

A few years ago I was on a plane flying to the beautiful city of Seattle from England. I was on one of those planes with the neat mini television screens set in the seat in front of you. I flipped through the available channels, saw a film on the listings that looked like fun and slipping the headphone on I settled back in my aisle seat to enjoy the movie.

Minutes into the film I started to laugh. First a chuckle, then a contained laugh. I tried to suppress my laughter due to the other passengers on the plane but it got worse. Soon I was crying with laughter, tears streaming down my face as I doubled up in my seat with convulsions. People started looking at me funny and I realised I was the only person on the plane laughing! In a quiet moment of the film, as I wiped the tears from my eyes I glanced puzzled at what they were watching as it seemed inconceivable to me that they wouldn’t be laughing just as hard as I was.

They weren’t watching what I was. Definitely their loss.

At about the half hour point I gave in and laughed and chuckled through the rest of the film as quietly as possible but still loud enough to draw some odd looks from the other passengers…hey what can I say – the film was funny!

So what’s the point of the story? Is it “walk your own path”? Or “Be respectful of others”, or “Humour is good for you”? Well all good points but not where this is going. You see the film was a sci-fi spoof – literally a Star Trek spoof called Galaxy Quest. Now as such it had a heroic Captain Kirk type figure who’s motto was “Never give up, never surrender!” And that’s the point of the story…well that’s the point of the blog, the point of the story was to make entertain you as you read it – picturing one man crying with laughter in the centre of a plane whilst everyone else looks on bemused not knowing why he is so happy! (Watching with headphones remember on my own mini tv)

So for this first blog on blogger I have chosen “Never give up, never surrender!” as the motto. For here is a truth for you, no matter what you want to do in life, no matter who you want to be, as long as you don’t give up and don’t surrender to the objections and obstacles of the world then you will triumph. Consider how many marvellous things that have been created, how many wondrous inventions given life and how many lives bettered because people kept going.

So dear readers it is good to laugh at films and equally it’s brilliant to “”Never give up, never surrender!”

Until next time;

Stephen

Stephen Hart

PS This was posted on my blogger site before I moved to wordpress.

Small Steps

“As we become drunkards by so many separate drinks,
so we become saints and authorities and experts
by so many separate acts and hours of work.”

William James

Consider where you are in life. Are you the person you wanted to be when you were younger? If you answer the question in a negative way then consider how it would be to change. How it would be to honestly evaluate and consider how far short you have fallen of what you are capable.

And take heart because William James was right. And if you are not the person you wanted to be, if there is indeed a difference between what you dreamed of and what you have achieved then that short falling was done slowly one small slip at a time. And no matter how big the gap might be now you can cross it one positive step at a time.

It doesn’t matter how small your steps are as long as you take the steps and take them in the right direction.

Until next time,

Stephen

Stephen Hart