Focus

What is our point?  And by that question I mean to ask, where are we going?  What are we moving towards?  Is there a destination that we have clearly defined?

Have you ever reflected on your life and realized that at some point along your path you’ve forgotten what you set out to do?  Maybe you desired at one point to accomplish something great and noble, only to realize upon later reflection that you are no longer even moving remotely in the direction of the goal you set out to accomplish.

I’ve been there. At some point I always seem to lose focus. As the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment says, people with strength of focus stay on track, they follow through.

Frodo, from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, had focus.  Early in his life, as Tolkien described it, Frodo was adventurous.  Most of Frodo’s fellow hobbits were home-bodies.  They were, by and large, happy to cerncern themselves solely with their town, their garden, their food, and their hobbit hole. They happily lived in the present with few commitments and responsibilities.  Frodo was the exception. He would dream of traveling the world like his uncle, Bilbo, had done. He fantasized about it, pretending to be on epic journeys full of danger and glory.

Maybe for him, an agricultural environment wasn’t the best place to excel, because it wasn’t until Frodo embarked on a journey destined to change his life that his true strengths became apparent. When the day came that he was handed a quest, Frodo’s obsessive search for a mission became his greatest asset.

When Gandalf tasked Frodo with delivering the Ring of Power to Mount Doom it was then that Frodo discovered his true strength; focus.  And what did focus give him?  Focus gave him the drive to clearly see his goal no matter the potential distractions. Despite all the forces at work to distract and obstruct Frodo in his task, his focus drove him on.  His focus kept his goal first among his priorities despite hardship, time, enemies, hunger, pain, and imminent death.  In fact, his focus added value to enduring those hardships.  Each hurdle crossed was a rung on the ladder that led to the mountain in his sights.

Many of us struggle at times to keep a goal in our sights because of the many distractions we face, but someone with focus finds it easy to keep an eye on the prize.  They can be counted on to keep their vision clear.  They will assign value to actions and choices based on how efficiently they move them towards their final destination.  Their actions today are based on their goals tomorrow.  Like a bloodhound given a scent, there is only one end to their activity and that is when they find the source.  Until then, they are on the hunt.

You want to stay on track but have trouble wading through all those forces that pull most of us off the path?  Partner with someone like Frodo and they simply won’t let you forget where you are going.