Daily Inspiration #30
Venus Williams
Focus
Venus Williams
Focus
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player who is generally regarded as one of the all-time greats of women's tennis and who, along with younger sister Serena Williams, is credited with ushering in a new era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour.
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Venus is held in pretty high regard in the world of tennis.
She has accomplished quite a lot.
What she says about focus is what drew my attention.
"I don't focus on what I'm up against.
I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest."
I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest."
This statement is really important.
What we put our focus into is exactly what we will get.
If we are focused on what we are up against things will be very difficult.
If we focus on what we don't want, we will get what we don't want.
If we focus on what we do want we will get what we do want.
Think about how many times this has happened:
Something goes wrong or not the way you wanted it to.
You got mad and started saying things like, "I can't believe that this or that happened... This or that suck and that's not what I wanted."
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You wanted "A", got "B" and started focusing all of that anger on "B".
Sometimes this moment can last for sometime...
"Why did "B" have to happen?
I hate it when "B" happens!
"B" happens to me all the time."
If this sounds familiar then do keep reading because there is a very easy way to turn all of this around.
It's perfectly natural to get mad when something doesn't go right.
If anger were bad in and of itself the emotion wouldn't exist.
Anger is a very useful part of your emotional guidance system.
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The trick is using it in a way that is beneficial and not harmful.
The trick is what you focus it on.
Here, I'll show you:
Something doesn't go right, you get mad...
"A" is what you want, "B" is what you don't want.
"Man I'm so mad, I can't believe I didn't get "A"!
"Why didn't I get "A"?!"
"What the @#$% do I have to do to get "A"?!"
Notice no mentions of "B"?
Now, I'm not saying to get mad all the time.
I'm saying if you are already mad, sad or experiencing a powerful negative emotion you can use it to your advantage if you simply focus it on what you do want instead of what you don't want.
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At first this will be a conscious decision and even pretty hard to do.
Eventually you will do it naturally and it will be quite easy.
When you do this you will notice more clarity in the situation.
Your anger will also subside easier and very soon your answers will begin to come.
You can often tell who is going to win a head to head in nearly any competition be it sports or singing by what the people say in their intro.
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Listen closely and feel their physiology.
One will be focused solely on winning and seem totally confident.
The other will seem less confident and their focus will be somewhere else (The other competitor, homelife, the audience, etc...).
So pay attention, if you notice your thoughts words or actions are focused on the thing you don't want, then grab the wheel and steer them back toward what you do want!
Be sure to remember what Venus said:
"I don't focus on what I'm up against.
I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest."
I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest."
Thanks for reading,
Michael David
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Previous posts in this series:
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