DOING WHAT IS REQUIRED... A FOCUSED PRACTICE
Robert M. Brown III, Ph.D., contributing editor
When I was in graduate school, I was on a mission. I completed the course work and passed the comprehensive examinations in a very short period of time, relatively speaking. The next hurdle was the development of the dissertation, which is a document that demonstrates a doctoral candidate’s capacity to produce scholarly research. I was clueless. Intellectually, I knew what I had to do but in reality, I didn’t know where to begin. In time, though, I came to understand the process of writing a dissertation. Once that understanding took hold in my conscious and subconscious, progress became discernible. After a while, a momentum gathered and with commitment, focus, hard work, support and a never quit frame of mind, I completed the journey. I share this not to pat myself on the back but to illustrate this point: Doing what you know how to do compared to doing what is required can be mutually exclusive...
March is here. Winter will begin to give way to spring. Shortly, the grass will turn green again, trees and flowers will bloom and a feeling of renewal will be the order of the day. Have you remained committed to the New Year’s resolutions that you boldly proclaimed a couple of months ago? Have they become a part of your daily routine? Remember, 2011 is the year for abundance. This happens by taking full responsibility for every aspect of your life and if necessary, changing your mind to begin the process of producing the desires of your heart. I don’t mean choosing to wear the blue sweater rather than the grey sweater. I mean the process of adjusting your perception to fully embrace your positive attributes, understanding that you are a work in progress. This also includes the focused practice of doing what is required. Try the following exercise to assess how you feel about yourself and your capacity to achieve what you want:
- Do your feelings about yourself help you to achieve your goals? Why?
- Do your feelings about yourself inhibit achieving your goals? Why?
- When you worked to achieve a goal, did you use a systematic process? If so, was it helpful?
- How often did you exert effort to achieve the goal?
- Several times a day?
- Once a day?
- A few times a week?
- Once a week?
- How focused were your efforts when you worked to achieve the goal?
- Extremely focused?
- Very focused?
- Somewhat focused?
- What areas of personal development did you have to improve (e.g., better time management, increased self advocacy, less procrastination) to achieve the goal? List all that apply.
Chances are that when you reached a goal, it came as the direct result of attributes such as:
- High levels of self-efficacy — the belief that you could achieve the goal
- A “roadmap” that guided you through the process to achieve the goal
- Deliberate and consistent effort
- A never quit mindset
The aforementioned exercise can form the building blocks for learning how to engage in the focused practice of doing what is required to reach a goal or pursue a new endeavor. Excellence, success and achievement don’t just happen. They are the result of commitment, sacrifice, hard work, learning from mistakes, going the extra mile for as long as it takes, making adjustments along the way, and never quitting. It requires, as one of my professors used to say, a willingness to break the behind. Boy, is that a lost art...! It also includes effective team building (i.e., support) and collaboration. The central figure, however, is you and your mindset.
In 2011, WAKE UP!!! Time is passing. How are you seizing and maximizing the moments of your life? How are you bringing your talents and skills to bear to live and serve more abundantly? How are you working to make things just a little better than they were? What legacy do you want to leave as a function of what you are working to create today?
You are an eagle, capable of tremendous feats! But, an eagle that cavorts with chickens will never fly. It’s time to take off!
