Business Times of Edmond, Oklahoma February 2020 - Page 26

BUSINESS MATTERS
MIKE CRANDALL
P rofessional G rowth S olutions
Having 2020 Vision in 2020!
I
f we want to have better vision, we have
to know what to focus on. Think about
being at the Eye Doctor — they ask you
to focus on specific things — which screen,
which line, which letters, etc. They use
this concept to allow your eyes to focus
on the most important things so we can
determine how good, or how bad, your
vision is.
This is not true just at the Eye Doctor,
it is also true in life. Both our professional
lives, and our personal lives.
The concept of focus — not only
physically with our eyes, but also
psychologically with other senses — allows
us to see things more clearly. This clarity
in vision also allows us to truly find ways
to get better at something we want to
pay attention to. This sounds really easy;
however, it is not easy at all.
In order to focus on something we
need to know what to pay attention to, as
well as what not to pay attention to. As
things in life and society get busier and
more hectic, this becomes increasingly
difficult. Each minute, hour, day, etc., we
are inundated with information — from
personal interactions to other sources
of information around us. It is easy to
be overwhelmed. Think about all the
texts, emails, calls, tweets, posts, etc. that
surround us.
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February 2020 | The Business Times
These things all come at us and steal
our time, our energy, and our focus. If we
allow this to happen, we get pulled away
and distracted. Which means we also lose
focus. Sometimes this occurs very quickly.
If we want to have better Vision in
2020, we need to know the things to work
on so we can develop our ability to focus.
One of the most important concepts
that can help us with this, is learning to
understand the concept of R.A.S., which
is your Reticular Activating System. This
is a bundle of nerves in our brain stem
that filters out unnecessary information, so
only the important information gets in.
Once you learn to filter out the things
that our unnecessary, we by default learn
to pay more and closer attention to the
things we need to focus on.
Think about it this way: if we don’t
filter out the unnecessary information it
is more difficult, if not impossible, to pay
attention to the correct information.
High achievers learn to identify what
they should pay attention to, by learning
what not to pay attention to, using the
concept of R.A.S. to learn to filter out the
unnecessary things around them.
They learn what people, relationships,
information, etc. are a waste and that will
cause them to lose focus. This knowledge
is then used to help them figure out what
to pay attention to and what not to pay
attention to.
We all have the same amount of time.
Learning to focus on the right things
allows us to ensure that time is used with
the best things, and not wasted on things
that don’t help us.
Now let me ask — how much time and
energy have you put into figuring out
what to focus on? What not to focus on?
What to pay attention to? What not to pay
attention to? If you don’t know or don’t
like the answers, find a Business Growth
Consultant who can help.
MIKE CRANDALL lives in Edmond,
Okla. He is a consultant, coach, trainer,
speaker and author focused on the Subconscious
Psychology of Human Interaction and
Motivation. His firm specializes in sales,
management and leadership development for
Proactive Business Growth. Mike is based in
Oklahoma and serves visionary clients across
the United States. He can be reached at Mike.
[e-mail] or at 405-844-1700.
For more information, go online to www.
customgrowth.sandler.com.