Posts Tagged ‘focus’

How to inspire others

Have you ever had the desire to inspire? That feeling that you wanted other people to look to you and feel their hearts getting warmer and their decisions to make the most of their lives clearer?

We have probably all heard of people or met others who seem to elevate us by the way they approach life. They may have overcome the greatest odds to reach the top of their field or they may have managed to do only “normal” things like running a marathon or learning to read or write, but they did it with significantly less resources than we have. These people are inspirational and we can learn a lot from them.

Well known inspirational people like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi and Helen Keller all seem to be driven as well as centered at the same time. The combination of these two characteristics seems to play a role in making them extraordinary. This ability to be driven while they are centered appears to help them through difficult times and make them inspirational. Therefore, if we want to learn from them and also inspire others, we also need to cultivate these two characteristics.

• Being centered. These inspirational people’s actions stem from a deep conviction about life. They know what they believe and value and they are not uncertain about their purpose in life. Their centeredness thus spring from the fact that they know what they stand for. They have a clear vision of what they would like life to look like and therefore they believe in what they are doing. They follow their heart, no matter what the odds are or what their circumstances are and this has inspired others to also carry on in the face of adversity.

•  Being driven. Because inspirational people really believe in what they are doing, they are focussed on what they want to achieve. They have set their eyes on the prize, the ideal they want to achieve and they will not allow anything else to distract them from this mission. Their clear and almost single-minded focus thus enables them to put all their energy into making their dream a reality and thereby inspire other people.

These two characteristics set inspirational people apart from others. However, these are also qualities that each one of us can develop in our lives. You can become centered by thinking about what you believe.

Take some time to think about what you want to do with your life by answering the following questions:

§  What are you convicted about?

§ What are your dreams for the world and other people?

§ What is your purpose in life?

Once you have your purpose, put your energy into making your dream a reality by focussing on it and setting appropriate goals to achieve it.

When you do this, you will become driven – not by your dreams, but by your purpose. When you transfer these qualities of being driven and centered by your purpose to every aspect of your life, you will not only live a purposeful and focussed life, but will indeed be inspiring to others as well.

Has it ever happened to you that when you are about to buy a product that you’ve not really noticed before, it suddenly seems as though the whole world decided to buy exactly the same product..? Suddenly it seems that the whole world is driving the exact same Toyota or Volkswagen you plan to get…! Or just when you think you will be the only one wearing Jimmy Choo’s, it suddenly seems that everyone has some already!

Did everyone really decide to buy the same products overnight or could it be that is merely the first time you noticed? Maybe it was there all along, you were paying attention to it?

Let’s do a quick experiment: think of the colour blue, now look around the room or office where you are now. Notice how many blue items you can see.

Now look back at the screen/desk in front of you. Without looking away from your computer screen, can you list red items in the room or office? If you are like most people, you will probably find this hard to do. In fact it may feel as though there is nothing even remotely red in your vicinity! Now look around and compare the number of red and blue items.

Chances are that there will be at least 5 – 10 blue and red items each! More then what you would have noticed without this exercise.

Now, here is the big question: did it suddenly appear in the 20 seconds between looking for blue and looking for red? Most probably not. The difference was that you decided to look for it. When you were only focused on blue, it was hard to see red, but once you looked for red, even though you were aware of the blue, it was much easier to spot.

The same is true of life. We are sometimes so overwhelmed by all our problems that it is hard to think of any solutions. We feel boxed in / stuck or overwhelmed.

The easiest way to solve this is to stop focusing on issues and problems, and start focussing on options, solutions and positive realities. By specifically looking for solutions and options, you will be surprised at how many you will find. This does not mean that you ignore the problems. It just means that you make a conscious decision to look for solutions instead. Here are some quick fix steps, if you are feeling stuck or frustrated: ask yourself these questions:

1. What did I do to overcome similar problems in the past? Try to list as many solutions as possible, by continually asking yourself: what else?

2. What could I do differently to overcome this problem? Again, try to list as many possibilities as you can, by continually asking yourself: what else?

3. Following this, review what you wrote and identify what the next step is to take. Just the first step. Take this step NOW! Don’t wait! Just do it. This action will break the pattern of feeling overwhelmed. Keep repeating step 1 – 3 until you’re on an automatic recovery.

By changing your focus from problem-focused to solution-focused, it will increase your performance! And the good news: it’s as simple as 1-2-3!