What are you focused on? How sharp is that focus? How relevant is that focus?

As Stephen Covey says it is vital to “start with the end in mind”. So when you design your business or your life it is vital to have a clear idea of where you want to get to. How successful, how rich, how famous, how happy do you plan to be?

Within that big picture what happens day by day? What are the individual steps that move you consistently and steadily towards this big view? Many of us have a head full of our ‘fantasy’ future. But this is so often nothing more than a vision, almost a diversion from the reality of what we are doing and where we will end up.

We have looked at commitment and how vital it is for us to fully ‘sign up’ to the future we are beginning to build. Focus is just as important because it is the reality we build into our picture of the future that decides whether we will succeed or fail.

If you haven’t done it before get hold of some binoculars. Look towards a point in the distance and look through the lenses turn the focus. All of a sudden your target will become absolutely clear, with sharp edges. The mistiness and the blurred edges vanish. It is like being in a dark room and the lights go on – everything becomes clear.

Your career and your life can be like that. If you are focusing on something you truly want and you truly commit to the focus is astounding. The sharpest edges and the clearest colours you will ever see. And as you move towards your staging posts on your journey the focus, the gains, the sense of achievement will give even greater clarity.