Catalysts

Personal Brilliance Quotient

Personal Brilliance

Jim Canterucci

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Awareness Catalyst

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Focus

Go beneath the surface and give full attention to what you are doing using a 360 degree focus to allow access to any possible innovation.

Expand Your Focus

Expanding your focus is one of the most valuable aspects of developing your personal brilliance. When what you are doing is the same as what you are thinking, you are present and focused. In this state of mind, you have a feeling of mental smoothness, even when there’s a lot happening.

When I talk about focus, I'm not referring to a laser beam type of perspective, where you block out everything but the opportunity or problem at hand. Instead, when I say focus, I am referring to a 360-degree view. This type of focus is more like a broad spotlight that expands in a circle around an issue rather than a pinpointed laser. Focusing like a spotlight allows us to be aware of all that is within this wide circle of light. When you expand your focus, you avoid becoming myopic and create a bigger sphere in which to operate.

Focusing like a spotlight also means going beneath the surface and giving full attention to what you're doing, without excluding ideas that are on the periphery of your awareness. Imagine an eagle soaring high above the ground, aware of everything in a wide circle below and zooming in on movements in the tall grass that might mean a nice snack or substantial meal. The eagle isn’t wandering aimlessly in its flight. It has a very specific purpose. The purpose of eating (survival) keeps the eagle focused on the hunt.

There must be a purpose to justify and motivate our focus. Can you find a greater purpose for the activities you are required to participate in but that may not, at least on the surface, be on the top of your interest list?

The reality is that even if you love what you're doing, sometimes focus is difficult. It is difficult to force yourself to perform in any activity without preparation. If you haven't jogged or briskly walked in twenty years, it's not likely that you will successfully complete a marathon tomorrow. Some training is necessary. The same is true for your focus muscles.

Expanding Your Focus

Expanding your focus is one of the most powerful things you can do to enjoy greater success in all areas of life. By broadening and deepening your focus, you exponentially increase your possibilities. Your 360-degree vision takes in all of the available options and shows you how information can be used separately or in tandem for the most successful results.

Arm & Hammer Baking Soda provides a real life exercise that helps expand focus. To increase the usage of their product that's been in existence for 155 years, the company identified the numerous uses for baking soda. Their Web site offers tips for how to use their product in various areas of the home, for your family, and for your body. At this writing there are over 100 tips available for how baking soda can be used.

A great way to begin to expand your focus is to think of uses for a product other than the intended use. This process causes you to focus, not only on the intricate components of the product, but also on the environment in which it's used.

Your ability to focus, which is the gathering filter for our brain, can be expanded through mental training and exercise. The mental power you develop will help improve concentration, heighten your imagination, and help solve problems. In effect, you will be able to focus better, generating all of the benefits increased focus brings.

• Clarify Your Purpose
  Keep your purpose in front of you. What is the outcome you desire from the activity? How can you make it fun? How can you link what you love with the activity that doesn't interest you?
  
• Learn to Meditate
  In many ways, meditation is the opposite of focus, in that you are letting go, relaxing your mind, and turning down the volume of the many messages flying through. On the other hand, meditation is a practice of concentration and focus. There are many forms of meditation available. For those of you that are unsure about jumping into meditation because of its mystical side, or because it sounds difficult, many writers and coaches have made the practice much easier to get into than ever before. Find the approach that feels comfortable to you.
  
• Use Visualization Techniques
  Visualization is a very powerful mental training technique. Basically, visualization is the process of creating images in your mind. It is seeing the future or the past. Rather than telling yourself to perform well in your next activity, you actually see yourself performing well in your mind. Visualization takes away most of the surprises in any scenario. You've already seen it. Now you simply perform without the anxiety of the unknown. This allows you to focus on the experience.