In my sales
training experiences, when people
talk about achieving goals and having success in business, the word
focus always
seems to come up. I
wonder, do people really
understand what focus is, how you get it, how you keep it and how your
daily
actions tie into it? Many
people think
focus is invisible, like concentration. But if we have no physical
structure or foundation
behind our concentration, then they day-to-day activities of our lives
can make
our concentration short lived.
Techniques to
Keep You Focused
Keeping
focused on your goals is simple when you have the tools you need to do
so. Here are three tangible ways to create and keep focus a
part
of your daily life:
#1 Write down your personal & business goals and
follow a plan of action
#2 Create a belief system that ties your life values, goals and actions together
If your
belief system is to live your life with honesty and integrity
(“the golden
rule”), then you will internalize these things and make them become one
with
your daily actions. If
you believe in being
honest and integral with yourself and others, in treating people the
way they
would like to be treated (vs. the way you would like to be treated –
see Stephen
Covey), you will begin to realize that your beliefs don’t
turn on and off depending
on your situation. They
become your life
values and a way of living your life that carries through your
business, home
and social settings. If
your
belief system involves being strong in mind, body and spirit, you will
naturally want to stay and keep healthy with diet, exercise and
activities that
fulfill your mind and spirit. If
you
keep yourself challenged, read or listen to books, explore new ways of
understanding yourself and others, then this is reflected in your daily
actions.
Regardless
of your particular belief system, when you truly believe in something
that
positively contributes to your life values and goals, you
can condition
yourself to always have focus in your life.
You will not need to be reminded to stay focused
when you create
self-discipline within yourself to work your belief system. This is my definition of
true focus.
#3 Condition
yourself to keep focused on your goals
How
can we
condition ourselves to keep focus a part of our daily lives? If
we go
all the way back to 1890’s and look at the research by Russian
Psychologist and
Nobel Prize Winning Physician Ivan Pavlov, we learn about the
phenomenon of
classical conditioning.
Classical
conditioning is a learning process that occurs through associations
between an
environmental stimulus and a naturally occurring stimulus. While
investigating salivary response in
dogs, he noticed that the dogs started to salivate before food coated
in chili
powder was actually delivered to their mouths.
He saw the dogs salivate in the presence of the lab
technician who
normally fed them. He
began to use a
variety of neutral stimuli (bells, whistles, tuning forks and visual
stimuli)
to evoke the salivary response in dogs, in the absence of the food. His research findings
suggested that if a stimulus
and a response are repeatedly paired, eventually the two become
associated and
the organism begins to produce a behavioral response to the stimuli.
Here
are visual examples.
Prior to conditioning...
...
a dog will salivate at the sight or smell of a steak
(unconditioned stimulus). The
dog will
not salivate at the sight or sound of a bell (neutral stimulus).
During conditioning...
...the bell
(neutral stimuli) is first presented to the dog, followed by
the steak (unconditioned stimuli).
After repeated pairings of the bell and the steak,
the dog will
develop an association between the two stimuli.
After conditioning...
...the
bell is no longer a neutral stimulus. It is now
known as a
conditioned stimulus because it evokes a salivating response
(conditioned response) from the dog, in the absence of the steak.
No,
we
don’t respond to our environment quite the same way that
Pavlov’s dogs did,
however the same basic principles behaviorism and conditioning that
apply to
higher order animals, also apply to humans.
Humans have been conditioned over time to elicit
different behaviors and
emotions based upon our up-bringing, schooling, traditional
though-patterns of
our social environments, religions, politics and nationalities. By understanding how
classical conditioning
works and how to administer the techniques ourselves, we can achieve
new
desired behaviors or eliminate undesirable behaviors.
Let’s
get
back to the topic of focus. Here’s
how
we can apply the basic principles of classical conditioning to increase
our
focus, using these four techniques:
#1 - Identify
your
setting (unconditioned stimuli): When and where
are you most
naturally focused? Recall
the moments or
places when/where you are most confident, energetic, creative and
focused. Is it in
the comfort of your own home or
office, in your car, at a park, in a gym, at your kitchen table? This setting is
the place where you will
need to begin your conditioning.
#2 - Create a
trigger
(the conditioned stimulus): You may not be
as naturally focused
on achieving your goals during the course of a busy day out selling
your
products/services and as you would in the quiet comfort of your own
home or
office. By creating
a trigger, or conditioned
stimulus, while in your desired setting and at your best, you can begin
to
invoke the frame of mind you want in any setting. A
simple a gesture, a handclap for instance,
or a series of words like a mantra, is all that is needed to trigger
the
desired response.
#3 - Pair the
trigger
with the response: While you’re in
your best setting and/or
focused frame of mind (the conditioned response), while you’re most
productive,
creative and energized, repeat the use of your trigger.
Use it as often as you feel necessary to
establish an association. The
trigger
must be able to invoke a focused frame of mind.
#4 - Use your
trigger
in other settings: Once you feel
good about your trigger, you
can begin to use it when you feel it’s most needed.
In an unproductive meeting, during a stressful
day, or when you feel you’ve neglected your action plan and goals use
your
trigger to get you back on track and focused on your life values and
goals.
