focus on what you want, not on what you fear

While last year was about surviving and overcoming stress, fear and uncertainty for many of us, there’s no single soul who doesn’t want to bounce back and thrive in 2021. Sure, there’s a lot of uncertainty looming this year as well and it might seem extremely difficult, if not impossible, to thrive in these challenging times, you must reprogram your mind into believing that you can jumpstart your life, your income and your overall success and well-being. 

One key decision you can make to thrive in the new normal is to focus exclusively on your path and your goals, not on the things that you fear. 

Mario Andretti, the legendary race car driver, was once asked for his best tip on becoming a world-class racing champion. His advice was quite surprising as he succinctly replied, “Don’t look at the wall.” He then elaborated by saying that your direction is largely determined by what you focus on. So, if you look at the wall, you will most likely hit the wall. That’s an extremely useful piece of advice — not only for a NASCAR driver speeding at 200 miles per hour, but for all us as well as we go through this tragic health crisis (or any other adverse situations during the course of our lifetimes). 

We have to keep our eyes on the path in front of us and on the things that are within the realm of our control. Whenever something negative or distracting tugs at our attention, we must avoid the temptation to look in that direction. 

This doesn’t mean we need to assume that the walls i.e. the countless number of distractions, negative circumstances and toxic attention-robbing agents don’t exist at all. It means we must be cognizant and mindful of them every single day and train ourselves to focus on our lane and keep advancing forward at top speed. Because the moment we look at the wall, it’s game over!

As author and entrepreneur Tony Robbins writes, “Most people in life focus on what they fear, not what they want. If you want to have an extraordinary life and you want an edge over anybody else, you must discipline yourself to focus on what you want, not what you fear. Focus on what you want, focus on where you want to go, and when you do this, you’ll activate a part of your brain that knows how to make it happen. Where focus goes, energy flows.”

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