Hocus Pocus, It's All About Focus

Fifty years ago my grandparents were not distracted or confused about their purpose. They may not have liked their calling. In fact, my grandmother did not, but she never lost her focus. "The farm" provided grazing for 3 cows, a few fat pigs, one goat tied to a post, acres of corn, pear trees, peach trees, and a cherry tree by the farm house. At least this is what I remember.

My father remembers picking beans, and his Mom giving birth under a tree, and then going-back to bean-picking (she gave birth 12 times; my grandfather had a focus too!).

"The farm" gave and was life for Mommer and Popper. At noon, their sons and workers crowded the kitchen for lunch. At times, there would be 20 men eating from Mommer's table. For years, the stove was stoked with wood.

They labored every day including Sunday when they went to the West Haven Connecticut farm market at 3AM. Although they never thought of focus, they understood the importance. Every action was intended toward keeping the farm going, killing a chicken. How many of your grandmothers can whack the head of a chicken and throw it in a pot simmering on a wood burning stove?

Neither wore Armani or Burberry. Their children carried a bushel of potatoes to the barber to barter a haircut. Popper could graft branches on a tree;Mommer could cook spaghetti sauce for 30 on a wood burning stove.

My grandparents weren't too nurturing, but I observed that living on a farm requires focus. Every animal and each plant dies without attention. They both wore glasses, but neither was myopic or hypermetropic. They could see what needed doing, knew they could do it, and did it. Yes, they did complain; farming is hard, even tragic work, but they never gave up well into their 80's.

No farming in my life except for a couple of raised-box gardens. My tools are software, spreadsheets, and optimization tools. I harvest fees for my work when portfolios grow, and when my clients can buy with the fruits of their portfolios from the financial planning guidance I provide.

Mommer and Popper cultivated about 6 /7 crop fields, but they were all vegetables. Growing fruits and vegetables is the farming they understood, and they never veered from it.

Maintaining one field of endeavor requires focus because distractions grow faster than weeds. Many weeds attempt to choke the one plant we want to grow.

Doubt

Email

Telephone calls

Google searches

Coffee/tea breaks

Pets

family

Internet Marketers

My father spent hours pulling weeds around the bean plants. When his parents said, "Go pick beans," he must have understood the harvest depends on pulling out the weeds (not really; he didn't want to feel the wrath of his parents on his butt!) Don't think he liked doing it, but my guess is he learned something invaluable. He kept his focus as a home-building contractor. Only once did he veer, and it was a costly distraction.

So, what do you do to keep the weeds out and the plants growing? Using Internet marketing jargon, discover and nurture your keywords. What motivates you? What one subject defines you clearly and deliberately?

Remember Jack Palance in "City Slickers"? Holding one finger upward, he said to Billy Crystal, "Just one thing". Find that "one thing" that gives you a focus. Write, memorize, and meditate on that "one thing".

Next stay alert to shades of meaning. Every plant, animal, fish, human shivers with nuance. Find the energy within every facet of what keeps you focused. What gets your attention. What makes your heart stir rapidly (other than romance)?

To get to your goal, you will need to fulfill a sequence of tasks (pulling weeds).Keep track of each one by listing and "checking-off" its completion. Monetize tasks by asking and recording. "How much did that effort earn?" "How long did that task take?"

You cannot measure what you don't track. Keep a journal.Observe what works and what does not. Make sure that your focus resolves a problem for yourself and others. Once you discover a pattern to your focus, how can you create a self-perpetuating system with monetary rewards?

Pulling weeds is tedious, but the harvest comes. Keep your eyes on your field and that "just one thing" that validates you. All of a sudden you will awaken to the magic of "Hocus pocus, it's all about focus."

As a registered investment advisor, Ray Randall provides clients with tools to manage risk control as clients work toward investment goals. You may read more about him at Ethos Advisory.com Ray also manages the article bank and resource directory found at Echievements.com. Would you like to know how much risk your temperament permits? Fill out a request for a no-cost report on the Ethos Advisory Services contact page.