Focusing Styles
By Silver Rose
Focusing Styles
If you attract what you focus on, as the Law of Attraction reveals to us each and every day, it would be useful to figure out what your focusing style is.
Too often we think we should work like everyone else. In this fast-breaking world where there are so many things coming at us at once, we try and keep all the plates spinning, hoping that none of them will fall.
That’s great if your particular style lends itself to working that way. However, if you’re someone who is ineffective at focusing on many things at once, not only will you be stressed but you also won’t be able to use the power of focus to get the job done most efficiently. You’ll be focused on the frustrations of the task at hand and you will attract more of the same.
For example, the focusing style that works best for me is to be able to really dig into a project for hours at length. I love to sit and create a new speech in PowerPoint, pulling out reference books to look up just the right quote, or going onto the Internet for research that backs up a point.
You would assume that, having my own business and setting my own work schedule, I could easily use my focusing style all the time. However, not only am I the CEO, I’m also administrative support, bookkeeper, travel agent and janitor. That’s a lot of plates to keep spinning.
Here’s what I’ve noticed of late. If I DON’T carve out a way to use my own focusing style, I begin to get grouchy because I’m not enjoying my work. That grouchiness is my internal guide telling me that I’m on the road to attracting what I do NOT want. That grouchiness is a wake-up call to pay attention.
So how can we identify our own focusing styles in order to harness the Law of Attraction to ultimate advantage?
Think about a project that gave you great satisfaction and joy while you were doing it. (Note: sometimes a non-work project will give you better insight.) You felt competent and on top of the world and you were excited to carve out time to work on it. It could have been building something, working on a charity project, redecorating, gardening, or a musical project; the possibilities are endless.
Make a list of all the elements you enjoyed about the work. Were there other people involved and a good deal of teamwork? Were you alone, perhaps out in nature? Were you the boss of the project? Go back in your memory (for some of you, it’s been so long since you’ve thoroughly enjoyed something, you’ll need to go back to childhood).
As you remember your approach to that project, what can you discover about your own focusing style?
I have a childhood friend who has been deeply frustrated at work for years. Her work requires her to wait on customers coming at her from two different directions and to do a variety of tasks quickly. She is, by nature, an introvert who doesn’t like a lot of stimulus and an analyst whose strongest desire is to get things done accurately. Her boss tells her that “good enough” is fine for many of the tasks she’s working on but my friend isn’t comfortable with “good enough.” She wants it to be right.
When we took a walk down memory lane, she remembered fixing radios as a child. She loved taking them apart (all alone) and putting them back into working order. She now realizes that part of her requirement for job satisfaction is to see tangible results that are accurate.
She either needs to find a way to accommodate her focusing style within the current environment, or she needs a different job. Her focusing style lends itself well to the world of accounting where getting it right is the brass ring. Rather than try to fix her existing job, her time would be well spent preparing for a job in accounting and then going out to find one. In the long run, she’ll end up making more money because she’ll be doing a job at which she can and will become exceptionally good.
Here is your homework for the week: (1) identify your particular focusing style; (2) ask the Universe to help you figure out ways in which you can accommodate it within your current work environment; and (3) experiment with it and notice the results.
I promise you, I’ll be doing the homework myself, in preparation for a wonderful 2005!
