Impulsive Joy

Have you ever tried to intentionally stop thinking about something?  The more you try to “not” focus on it, the more it occupies your every thought.  Have you ever been in the middle of a meeting or delivering an important message and suddenly that inner voice begins to sabotage your focus and shift it straight to doomsday?  Chances are if you give in to that inner voice, doomsday is exactly where you will wind up.

We’ve all been there at some point.  Our mind wanders to a place we don’t want it to go….and suddenly we are there.  That very place we didn’t want to land.

We plan out our day and suddenly our time is sucked into a vacuum of busyness that leads to nowhere.  All opportunity for true productivity is zapped by a bunch of urgent instead of what we know to be important.

This week, a few friends and I were sharing things we were learning from different books we are reading.  My very wise friend, Julie, shared something so insightful, yet so simple, it has captured my focus — in a very good way.

While reading “Hungry for God” by Margaret Feinberg, she read about a principle in Mountain Biking that says this:

“Don’t ever look where you don’t want to go.”

Simple, right?

Think about it.  When you’re riding alongside a precipice…the last thing you want to do is look downhill because guess what, you’ll be headed that way.  Looking where you don’t want to go occupies your  focus.  We’ve all been there — and not just while mountain biking.

If you are in a position of leadership, you have so many things that can occupy your focus.  You can pollute your mind with negative self talk…and begin to believe it.  You can start to wonder if anyone wants to work with kids…and talk to people in such a way that they affirm your preconceptions.  You can doubt your vision for the future and dwell in the past.

You can even take on a new job that side tracks you from creating the art that you were designed for.  Or, start well intentioned “good” programs that ultimately take you straight off the charted path of an effective strategy and into the peril of the mountainside.

As a leader, you need to have a plan of action with an end in mind.  You need a vision of an ultimate destination to where you are leading others.  It is only in that crystal clear strategy that you will begin to filter out things that are not a part of getting there.

It’s a principle we could all benefit from:  Don’t ever look where you don’t want to go.  It occupies your focus.  Stay focused on where you want to go, stay positive about your journey, and fight to stay in your sweet spot.