How to live an inspired life - 3rd Stage - Focus & concentration (Part 1)

Focus is another essential key to living an inspired life because it allows for directed action. Wholesome action produces integrity, which provides a stabilizing force. Willingness provides us with great amounts of energy to participate. Focus and concentration provide us with clarity and help to actualize our visions.

“Focus is about saying no.” ~ Steve Jobs

I view the energies of the mind as being similar to that of a laser beam. Whatever we place our attention on, we invest and project our energy into it. If we can keep our attention on one thing for extended periods of time, with little to no distractions, the laser beam becomes very concentrated, powerful, and penetrating. However, if we move our attention around to many different things, the laser beam of attention becomes less and less concentrated, becoming hazy and losing its intensity. This is what many people do with their attention. They allow themselves to be easily distracted or they simply say “yes” to too many things, spreading their energy thin, and over time, they become less and less effective and clear in whatever they choose to pursue. This tendency also leads people to experience burn out easily and repeatedly.

The goal here, at this level, is to identify those things that really matter, that we really care about, and that make our heart sing, then ruthlessly strip away all the non-essentials that are not aligned with that. One good exercise to help you clarify those things that really matter to you is by taking a little time to write up your manifesto. A manifesto is a declaration of your core values and beliefs, outlining what it is you stand for and what you’re all about. This kind of clarity can help you work out your “vibe” and it also helps others to know what you’re all about and how you can help or support them. A manifesto is kind of like a mission statement but it is more personal and hard hitting than that.

Practical:
Writing Your Manifesto

1. Take a pen a paper and a cup of tea, and take some time to ponder and write up your manifesto. To start, feel free to just scribble things down in any order to get started. Later on, you can go back, clean it up, and arrange it to flow more clearly. If sentences aren’t your thing, feel free to use short phrases or bullet points to help you. Also, make an effort to use strong and authentic words to help chisel away depth and clarity. So much so that by the end of it, it should scare you a little bit (in a good way).

2. Here are some questions and suggestions to help you get started. What change do you want to see in the world because of your work? What value do you want to create and offer? What kind of influence would you like to have on others through your body of work?

3. Next, focus on the why you do the things you do, as this will provide more power and clarity. The why encompasses your values, beliefs, and the core reason you do things. After the why, focus on the who (who are your audience, who are you serving, who also shares the same values and beliefs that you do?). After the who, focus on the what or how (which is your preferred medium of communication, e.g., painting, speaking, writing, managing people and projects, etc.) The what and how will be your craft, something that you will need to put a lot of time into and be able to stand out from the crowd.

Interestingly, some people can become masters of their craft and become very successful and inspired from simply following the three initial keys already mentioned: wholesome action, willingness, and focus. Most commonly, we see them as sports athletes, and prodigy types who become geniuses at their chosen craft and for many of them, they do not have the interest and don’t see it as necessary to explore other avenues. This is because they are primarily just interested in one thing, and that’s doing what they do. They have the focus on becoming masters at their craft above all else.

For every super athlete or prodigy type, there is a team behind them that helps to organize, manage, and navigate them through marketplaces to help turn their prodigy-like skills into something that generates influence, inspiration, and financial benefits. For those who work behind the scenes, and are interested in living in an inspired way, it will still require the further levels. It is also worth mentioning here that those super athletes or prodigies who focus on one thing often face great difficulty later on in their lives when their peak performance or craft become compromised in some way, often through injury or illness. If these people do not make the effort to learn how to live in a way that is more holistic, they often fall into very depressive and self-destructive states, as they are emotionally and psychologically ill-equipped to deal with life outside of their craft. Therefore, to avoid these fall outs, these people would benefit from looking into the next two levels, too.

When we develop the ability to focus and concentrate, the laser beam of the mind becomes very intense and powerful, allowing the individual to penetrate into new spaces beyond what most human beings can access. This enhanced capacity to access more sophisticated levels of information and intelligence allows new insights and solutions previously unexplored by most other humans. These extra insights and solutions can then be seen as gifts that we can bring into the world and share with others. This enhanced capacity for focus is what activates the genius within.

We all have access to vast amounts of information and intelligence within our own energy field (infinitely more than the Internet) and also in the greater energy field that surrounds all of us. However, most of us can’t access the information clearly because we cannot hold our attention long enough in certain spaces to be able to access and “download” it. Now, this is not to say that if you concentrate solely on gaining the answer to one very specific problem that you will get the exact answer you are looking for. It doesn’t seem to work that way.

It tends to work more in the way that when we place our attention into the “ball park” or vicinity of fields of information that we then gain access to the problems, answers, and information associated with that particular field of knowledge. For example, I would be unlikely to discover an answer to a psychoanalytic problem if I was engaged in the space of math. It would be much more likely that I would only receive knowledge and information directly related to psychoanalytic theory if that was where most of my attention was, even if not directly or obviously relevant to my original problem. However, there are a few rare people who can access a cross-pollination of information, covering a variety of fields of knowledge, yet for most of us, we seem to hover around in just one or two primary fields of knowledge.

It also seems that knowledge and information comes through in two distinct ways, that also need to be played out in sequential order.

They are:

1. Working our attention into that particular field of knowledge, which generates a kind of subject specific energy field (that we often call “head space”)

2. Letting go of any effort and relaxing our attention for regular periods of time, which help trigger and allow new insights to come through more readily

Have you ever worked on a problem at work or at home for a whole afternoon, trying to “crack it” and come up with the solution? It comes to bed time and you give up, frustrated, only to wake up in the morning “knowing” the answer or having a vision of the solution flash across your mind’s eye.

Focus is not only useful to bring through great insights and solutions, but it also helps fuel the fire of our passions. Our passions can often be connected to those things that we are naturally good at. What subjects at school came easily to you? What things were you naturally good at when you were younger? When researching these types of subjects, I come across authors and speakers who mention the ages of 15-16 to be of great significance.

They suggest that if we look at our main interests and skills we naturally picked up at around the ages of 15 and 16, it provides great insight into our true work or soul mission. Now, personally, I don’t have a clear memory of those times, yet they do hold some significance to my life. For example, I had no idea I was going to be a writer or even write for fun, yet at that age, I enjoyed reading and I enjoyed learning about religion, psychology, basic forms of philosophy, and running around playing sports. What about you? What were you naturally interested in at the ages of 15 and 16?

Sometimes, I come across a person who is obviously talented and gifted at some field of knowledge or some skill, yet they detest working in the most common job associated with such a skill. What to do then? I believe, and have found, that those skills and knowledge is indeed connected to their soul mission, yet they have not yet found the right avenue or framework in which to work with it.

As an example, a close friend of mine was very good with research and writing within academic frameworks, yet soon after they began working for a university, they began to loath the work. However, a few years later, they had quit their university job and began freelance writing and working on projects that they deeply cared about and now they really love their work.

If you feel like you’re still struggling to align with your true work, here are a few ways that may help you work it out…

1. What are you naturally good at? What comes easy to you?

2. Complete the Enneagram personality test online (www.enneagraminstitute.com)

3. Now check your Enneagram results with this career list (www.thegreatofficeescape.com/career-choices-for-enneagram-types/)

4. Reflection exercise: What does your ideal day look like/involve? (E.g., What time do you wake up? What does your work life look like?)

5. Have you ever considered that your work is, in fact, play?

6. If money wasn’t an issue or concern, what type of work would you get out of bed for and be inspired to be involved in?

To live an inspired life, some sacrifices will need to be made. More correctly speaking, they will appear as sacrifices, especially in the early stages. The truth of it is that once you commit to living an inspired life, it will begin to take on elements of the extraordinary.

Inspired living is living in a non-ordinary way.

Most extraordinary people rise with the sun, do a form of meditation or exercise, and then dive into the day ahead. They are unlikely to work a 9-5 routine, but break up their day into more efficient and effective chunks, suited to their energy levels and personality. They hone their energy, get skilled at delegating and prioritizing. They rarely falter from their focus and their vision. They are very skilled at not becoming distracted. They will often work on weekends when required, and will rarely take holidays.

Even though this can sound a bit like a “workaholic”, it is not so because inspired people are often well-balanced people, allowing space and time in their day for family, relationships, problem-solving, exercise, and rest. They know that time is limited and that wasting time is foolish. They rarely associate with people who do not share or contribute to their vision or work. They know it’s not about working hard, it’s about working smart and to be smart, you need to learn and grow into being a smart person.

Following social norms is unlikely to pay off or contribute to an inspired way of life. Following the common social scripts and beliefs that go a little like this: Get good grades, go to college, find a good job, marry a wife/husband, buy a big house, and have children. Most of these social scripts come from the old world view and from our cultural programs. That is to say that they are wrong, it’s just that they were more relevant and applicable to the worldview held by the previous generations.

Another reason people find it hard to let go of social norms and their old ways of doing things is that there is the feeling of missing out. That feeling of missing out corrupts the energy of focus and redirects our energy into fallacious activities. When you have established yourself into your inspired life, the feelings of “missing out” dwindle until they completely dissolve.

What the human being is capable of has changed, especially in the last thirty years or so. And so with it, social scripts are also shifting. Universities no longer offer the support in exploring new ideas and philosophies, but instead, adhere to political agendas and policies. “Good” jobs with big companies are fewer to be found as the industrial era wanes and economies shift. Marriage divorce rates are at an all time high, and people are marrying much later than usual. House mortgage rates and the amount of debt and financial pressure on new families is crushing dreams and putting immense pressure on family units.

It is fair to say that it’s time to approach things in a new way, or at least dare to consider it. A new way that empowers the individual to align with their soul mission, which involves re-training, re-educating, and creating completely new ways of looking at ourselves and the world we live in.

Here are a few suggestions to break out of the common social scripts:

1. Avoid seeking advice from friends or family who are following the common social scripts. E.g., Get good grades, go to university, get a good job, get married, and get a mortgage. Instead, find people and read up about people who were, or are, “kicking ass” with whatever it is that they are doing. Follow them and read up on their history and take note as to how they do it. These days, you can easily connect to inspiring people through social media and mailing lists. Immerse yourself in the energy field of those who are inspiring. Also, it is worth paying for advice from these people.

2. Check in with your beliefs about money, work life, and success. Watch out for “life is hard”, “you have to work hard for the money”, “work hard and save your money”, etc. These are all old world views. There are many other ways, find them…

3. Go traveling when you are young and able. Also, go traveling when you are not so young. Spend a decent amount of time in each place. I recommend spending at least two weeks at a time in one location to get a decent energy immersion experience. Avoid fly-by tourism because it does little to make a lasting shift on our energy field. It can be helpful to have a purpose for the travel, e.g., research, study, meeting key people, going to conferences, doing interviews, going on a retreat, etc.

4. Don’t expose yourself to the most common forms of media, which includes the most popular movies, TV shows, music, and books. If you watch and read what everyone else is, then you’re knowledge will be no different than everyone else’s. From that, what value can you offer? Just like travelling, it is more valuable to go off the beaten path.

5. Focus on the feeling something gives you. If it makes your heart sing, if it gives you goosebumps, if you feel fully alive and awakened when doing it, follow this! More feel, less think.

6. Hang out with people who are energizing, motivational, and a little bit weird!

7. If you're over the age of 25 or so, don’t subscribe to “I have to get a job” with the idea that you have to impress or sell yourself to a big company. Focus more on “I will create a job” or “I will make a job” with a vision of yourself working and receiving money directly from your clients and customers.

8. Snap out of the work money model of $ = per hour! It’s a model that comes out of the industrial era and belongs in the factory line. It is disempowering, non-motivational, and the money potential is always capped. Go for value offered rather than trading your time for money. Focus on increasing the value of projects. The more value, the more money it can produce, regardless of the time invested. Develop passive or semi-passive income streams. Get organized. Use technology to help you. Work with people aligned with your mission – if you can’t find them yet, work alone until they pop up.

9. Find an exercise practice that you really enjoy. Don’t wait around for your friends to come with you, or become dependent on another person to do it. I found yoga (I had to go looking for it on my own when I was younger and I am thankful I did). It can be dancing, lifting weights, martial arts, or anything. It’s really important! Physical training will keep your energy circulating, allowing you to shake off negative experiences easily and will help keep your mind clear and body pain free.

10. Spend some time alone each day. Reflect on the sensations in your body. Notice your breathing. Take time to connect with yourself. Focusing on your body sensations is more powerful then thinking about your thinking.

11. Reduce unnecessary talking. Talking too much wastes precious energy. Most people talk too much. So much so that it has become a common social script. Choose your words carefully. Learn to be articulate. Don’t engage with talking for the sake of talking. Even if you have nothing to say and you are with others, know that you are still having a conversation – you are conversing in energy.

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Michael Hetherington
BHlthSci, Chinese medicine & yoga
Author & Teacher

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