North Star Mental Fitness Blog

The Focus Point Generates The Benefits of Success

Do you want the benefits of success?

Do you want freedom, happiness, peace of mind and power over your life?  These are the psychological benefits of success and successful caring for yourself.

Do you know where to go to get the benefits of success?

You are right, if you said the Focus Point.  The Focus Point in the NOW is where you can make successful choices.

Living in the Now will provide you with the opportunity to make choices that will bring you freedom, happiness, peace of mind and power over your life!

Is Your Focus Point Vacant?

Consider the Focus Point as the location in time, where you can take up residency if you choose.  You can take up residency in the past, future or NOW.  I recommend that you live in a Focus Point in the present or in the NOW!

Is your Focus Point in the NOW vacant, rented or for sale?  Have you allowed other people to live in your Focus Point?  Do you need other people to make your decisions or give you approval for your decisions ?

You always can take up residency in your Focus Point by making an independent decision in the NOW!

Your Focus Points always exist in the NOW!

Unfortunately, too many people:

The Focus Point Is Where You Shoot To Reach Your Goal

"If you don't shoot, you miss 100% of the time".  This is the advice from a former military sniper.  When my friend told me what has been drilled into snipers by their mentors, I realized how important this statement is for good mental fitness.

At each Focus Point you have a choice to shoot at your target.  At the Focus Point, you must shoot if you're going to reach your goal.

Wasted Focus Points mean you will miss your goals 100% of the time.  Failure to shoot towards your goal is a choice to continue your life as it is.

If you want to self-actualize in any part of your life, you must shoot toward your target.  At the Focus Point is where you can take your best shot.  If you want changes in your life, you have to shoot for something different!

Blindly Continuing Past Successful Choices Can Turn Into Failure

Successful past choices become history, unless you continue to make new choices at your Focus Points!

Successful past choices decay and turn into failure, unless you continue to make new choices at your Focus Points!

Don't rest on your past successes or become complacent.  Continue to make new choices in your Focus Points or you will lose your cheese. 

Last week I had the opportunity of talking to a gentleman in his 80s.  He is going through a marital separation.  When I asked him what he had learned, he said it was "time to re-grow".

Continue to be successful by making new choices at your Focus Points!

Life Is a Series of Focus Points

No matter how many bad choices you have made at past Focus Points, at each new Focus Point you have the opportunity to make new choices.

It doesn't matter if you have participated in self-defeating and painful actions for years or only for a brief time.  What matters is making a new choice at Focus Point Now!

You do not have to be defeated and give up, because of past failures in changing your behavior.  What is important, is for you to make new choices at your Focus Point Now!

In my e-book, I Live within the Environment Created by My Choices, I have provided 15 ways to think differently at your Focus Point.  You can use these 15 ways of thinking to become free from self-defeating and painful problems from your past that creep into your present life and ruin the quality of your life.

The Focus Point Is like a Switch

At your Focus Points you can turn on taking care of yourself and your benefits from taking care of yourself

or you can turn off taking care of yourself and your benefits from taking care of yourself.

You Live within Time Created by Your Choices!

My Focus Point Is Now!

When you focus it is always in the NOW!

What you focus upon can be in the past, future or NOW!

When you focus in the NOW on what is in the past, the past becomes your NOW!

When you focus in the NOW on what might be in the future, you lose your NOW!

When you focus in the NOW on what is in the NOW, you become your NOW and your NOW is created by you!

How Much Time Does It Take to Be Successful?

Last night, one of my clients wondered why she had not made more changes in her life.  She is a very busy woman with a list of very important priorities in her life.  Her family comes first. It became clear that what she wanted for herself was not not a practical priority for her.

I urged her to commit to herself.  I emphasized that she needed to make what she wanted for herself a priority.  She needed to stop making self-defeating affirmations such as "I am depressed" or "I'm insecure".  She decided to repeat the following affirmation" I am secure and I have many talents and abilities".

How much time will it take for her to change?

Mindfulness

Mindfulness was brought to my attention by Dave Schoof, who wrote in response to my blog, Can You Live in the Moment in a Cubicle:

"Your article reminds my of a great teacher, Tich Nhat Hahn, a Buddhist monk who has written about mindfulness in challenging situations like war, prison cells, etc. He is one of the better teachers of walking meditation and taught it to prisoners in cells.

While I am not trying to say that 'cubists' are just like prisoners, there is some wisdom and a lot of benefit to being able to be mindful in challenging places."

When I researched mindfulness, mindfulness explains Living in the Now from an experiential perspective.  What is mindfulness and where did it come from?

I'm Living in the Moment!

"I'm living in the moment like my coach taught me" said the smiling, Florida Gator, Joakim Noah.  He did not want to talk about repeating another championship or turning pro.  He implied that there would be time for those decisions at a later date.

He and his teammates had just reached the pinnacle of college sports, a national championship.  He wanted to savor the victory and experience the results in success.

"We have to enjoy this moment, I have to enjoy this moment right now.  It doesn't happen that often" said Billy Donovan coach of the national champions.

Today I want to blog about the reporters who continually pressed players like Joakim Noah and coaches like Billy Donovan and the new Michigan coach, John Beilein about 'what is next" before they even can celebrate their championships.  Sports Frog had a blog on the Florida Gators and Billy Donovan and "what is next" for Billy.

Why do I want to talk about reporter's relentless pursuit for the next story?