Introduction
Why are some people wealthy and others poor? What do some people live calm and enjoyable lives, while others remain stressed and disillusioned? Why do some people achieve tremendous success and others struggle through life teetering on the border of ultimate failure?
There's a simple answer. How you think!
Whatever you focus on determines your reality. Therefore, when you focus on poverty, you become and continue to be poor. Please understand that I mean FOCUS, not just dream about. You can dream about being wealthy all you want to, while continuing to focus on being poor, and your dreams of wealth will never become realities because of your lack of focus. Let's define focus, and illustrate the difference between it and dreaming.
To dream is to mentally imagine some aspect of life, such as you winning a ballgame or a card game, or earning more money, etc. Dreaming reflects desire! Desire alone, however, never produces outcomes. In other words, your dreams might model the reality you desire, but dreams alone never produce that reality.
Focus, plus efforts, defined by plans, produces realities. Well, what is focus? I describe FOCUS as A.I.M. The acronym means Actions, developed with an Intent to achieve a specific Mission. So focus begins with developing a mission. You only develop the mission if you intend to fulfill it. So you see, you transform your dreams into mission when you include an intent to accomplish them. You prove intent by taking the necessary, specified and strategic actions that propel you to the destination stated in your mission. Allow me to illustrate. You dream of completing college with a 4.0 grade point average and being the valedictorian of your graduating class. How do you transform that dream into a mission? First you adopt it as an affirmation. For example: “I will graduate from (name the specific college or university) in (specify the year, based upon where you begin your dream) with a 4.0 grade point average (or its equivalent if the measurement changes) and I will be the undisputed valedictorian of my college graduating class.” Notice that the words of an affirmation commit you to a specific, defined, measurable outcome, with no deviation or allowance for error. Dreams are often generalizations, with no specific outcome in mind, simply unclear desires that you cannot define or develop. An affirmation is different. You can define your affirmation. You can develop your affirmation. More importantly, you can structure strategy to achieve your affirmation.
Now comes the hard work: developing an action plan that guides you in achieving your affirmation. Affirmation defines intent. Actions prove intent. Mission, plus Intent, proved by action constitute A.I.M., which defines FOCUS!
So how do actions prove intent? Let's stick with the affirmation to graduate from college with a 4.0 grade point average and the undisputed title of valedictorian. When does your work on this mission begin? Answer: the very day you define the mission, by transforming your dream (a model of desire) into a statement of affirmation-the beginning of focus, because what you affirm defines your mission.
In other words, you must now develop a plan that specifies the actions you must take to achieve the outcomes you desire. A quality plan is a system that includes the following components:
- Vision-A statement that describes the outcomes you intend to accomplish
- Mission-Your affirmation
- Philosophy-A statement that defines and states clearly your belief in your mission that gets you to your vision
- Objectives-Orderly, specific steps in your action plan that move you progressively toward your vision and reflect your commitment to your mission
- Strategies-Action principles designed to empower you to dispel distractions, conquer challenges, overcome obstacles and maintain your relentless pursuit of your vision
- Communication-Methods you use to convey your vision and mission in life to others, either to solicit their support, or to eliminate them as threats to the outcomes you intend to achieve
- Timeline-The schedule of Actions, Intent and Mission that defines when your focus becomes reality
My 50-year plan illustrates the power of focus
In September 1968, I was about 90 days from being released from prison in North Carolina. I was also a month shy of my 26th birthday. I had become a criminal 21 years earlier when I stole five dollars from my aunt's pocketbook. Almost every day since then I had done something criminal. I was sent to prison for the first time in December 1959, released in May 1962 and returned to incarceration in August 1963. I was released on parole in December 1965, and sent back to prison in July 1966 because of a series of parole violations. So here I was in September 1968, 90 days from a final release date. About a year earlier, I had dropped out of the prison culture mentally, and began thinking about what I needed to do to exit my criminal lifestyle, and end my repeated stints of imprisonment. In other words, I had become sick and tired of being sick and tired of being in prison.
