FOCUS – Follow One Course Until Successful

by Thomas E. Anderson, II

Follow

One

Course

Until

Successful

Chances are you have seen this focus acronym before. At one point, I was seeing and hearing it everywhere. But one Monday I read the instructions “Follow One Course Until Successful” and a lightbulb went off. And yes…you guessed it…I started writing.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Monday morning, Wednesday afternoon or Saturday night. If you are reading this post, now is the perfect time to F.O.C.U.S.

Follow. This is your journey. Pick your path, chart the course and follow it. Yes, other paths may look more appealing. But stick the path that you have been purposed to take. It’s like a magnet pulling you and you gravitate toward it. My path is building a business. I have a full-time job and freelance as a coach and consultant. But ultimately, I know that my path will lead to my business. You have the freedom to choose and follow the path that is right for you, so have a ball.

One. The number one represents simplicity at it’s best. Ghalil, author of Professional Dreamer, defines focus as “one pointed thought.” Other writers have compared focus to a laser beam. Regardless of the definition, the idea is to pare your vision down to a crystal clear concept. Before you can simplify, you have to complicate it a little. I’ll show you what I mean. Have you ever put together a puzzle while it was still in the box? Of course not. You had to dump the pieces on the table, create total chaos and put the puzzle together piece by piece. This same concept applies to your future. You have to first unleash your vision and get it on paper. Then, you can make it simple enough for someone to capture it in one glance.

Course. My wife just returned to school to pursue a business management degree. I took a look at her courses and realized that they all lead to an end…earning her degree. Her professors have created a path for her to follow. In life and business, there isn’t always a professor to map out a course. We have to trust our instincts…our intuition. We have to be like the famous jazz musicians who learned the rules of Classical music and then broke them one by one. Through bending the rules they created something totally new. You can do the same thing by staying the course. Someone will follow the trail that you blaze.

Until. Yes…there are going to be gaps when you feel that things are not working out. Yes…you may even experience a sleepless night or two in this process. And yes…you will have to keep a positive attitude even when the odds are stacked against you. You may even have to buy yourself something special or dibble and dabble in a related field while waiting for things to make sense. Do it. But just remember, what happens in the “until” is not your chosen course. It’s just something to keep you busy and keep your mind off of things. It’s a pit-stop – a detour – something to keep your hands out of the mix while life works itself out.

Successful. Here’s one thing I noticed about success – it sneaks up on you. And it seems to arrive like the most expensive Post Office packages…overnight. But no mater how it comes, success is what you make it. It is the product of bouncing back from failure after failure. Success is the result of sleepless nights, blood, sweat and tears. It is the lesson at the heart of every mistake. Success is not the opposite of failure. It comes from failing fast, failing first and failing forward. Above all, success comes through focus. By focusing daily, we succeed.

Thomas E. Anderson, II is a musician and consultant who has enjoyed self-employment since age 10. No stranger to paradigm shifts, he overcame the stigma of childhood obesity and the death of his mother at 17. My Future in Focus has become Thomas’ motto for facing life’s challenges. For more information on his services, click here to visit his coaching site.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy the following:

• How I Organized My Business Using the B-I Triangle
• Keep Running and Don’t Drop the Ball
• Are You a Visionary Entrepreneur?
• The Illusion of Multitasking

All posts on “My Future In Focus” Weblog are the intellectual property of T.A. and are licensed under a

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No derivative Works 3.0 United States License

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due:

Mountain Road – http://www.everystockphoto.com/photo.php?imageId=57701

“one pointed thought”  Quote by….. Ghalil

F.O.C.U.S.   Acronym…….source unknown

Tags: Entrepreneurship, Focus, Leadership, My Journeys in Vision

6 Low-Cost Ways to Write Your Vision and Make It Plain

Last night I told my wife that I thank God for my dad affording me the opportunity to take time off after graduating from college and before entering the workforce. Why? Because I have written the vision for the rest of my life. It took me 6 years to write my vision. Yes, 6 years. I update it on a daily basis (…most times just making notes on my Blackberry, emailing them to myself and adding them to my existing documents) and even though I have written it, it’s still a work in progress. 

Having a written vision is a lifesaver. I would be a crazy person trying to meet the demands of a full-time job, family and ministry with a million ideas swimming around in my head. But all I have to do is reach into my closet, pull out a binder and update my vision for programs like The Power of Please or My Future in Focus. It takes 2 minutes! When it comes to “crazy ideas”, I’m no stranger and would like to share a few popular vision-writing methods with you.  There are many of them, but these are six that I frequently use (…one for each year it took me to write my vision…). You just have to find the one(s) that work for you.

1. 100 Goals.  I came across this technique in The Power of Focus and I thought it was the craziest idea I’d ever heard.  But I tried it and felt alot better once it was done.  I even went a step further and sub-divided my goals according to timing.  What I found was that small goals led to bigger goals.
2. Vision Board/Binder.  This is a good idea if you need a visual reminder of what you want to do in life.  Or even what you want out of life.  Making a vision board helps you to walk-thru your vision.   If you can see it, then you can do it.  
3. Blogging. Clearly, I’ve tried blogging and it worked for me.  I suggest blogging for writers.  My Future in Focus started as a brainstorm – a clean slate to catch my crazy ideas.  And now that I’ve unleashed my core philosophies, I’m repurposing this as a business blog.
4. Life Story.  Are you a good storyteller?  Then the Life Story method may just work for you.  I first encountered this method in Michael Gerber’s “E-Myth Revisited.”  This is how it works.  You imagine yourself at the end of your life (don’t get depressed though).  Then look back and tell your life story. It’s that simple.
5. Recording and Writing.  This method is for talkers – those who have the gift of gab.  Talk your vision out in a brainstorm while recording it.  Then go back and listen to what you’ve recorded.  Extract the important parts – start writing.  You don’t have to do this alone.  Find someone you trust who can help you.  Tip: Digital recorders work best.
6. Mind Mapping.  Does your mind ever feel like a tangled web of ideas?  Mine does.   Glamajama’s Heather Nolte wrote a great article on mind mapping.  I followed her advice and visited Wisemapping – a great website that you can use to unleash your ideas and have access to them anywhere in the world through the web.  

For More information on writing your vision, register to receive your free copy of my special report…7 Misconceptions That Shattered My Vision (…and how I picked up the pieces).

Tags: Entrepreneurship, Goals, idea generation, Ideas, Life, My Future in Focus, New Year's Resolutions, Planning, Vision, Writing

How to Write A Resume Employers Love to Read using TagCrowd.Com

I wish I could tell you how many times I have printed off a 3 page job description to tailor my resume to a prospective employer’s job requirements. And then one by one, highlighted the most frequently used keywords to incorporate into my resume. It got me in the door. But the worst part was…it took forever! I will never have to go thru that long drawn out process again. And after reading this post, you can say the same thing.

I’m going to share a resume writing secret with you that I recently learned at a career workshop. You can use this secret to tailor your resume keywords to employer job descriptions. It will save you time and it’s easy to use. Best of all I will guide you step-by-step thru the process using screenshots I took with my iPhone. Here goes…

Step 1
Pull up www.tagcrowd.com in your browser. It should look like this.

Step 2
Copy text from the prospective company’s job description.

Step 3
Paste the text into Tag Crowd

Step 4
Select your options and Click “Visualize”

Step 5
Check out the employers keywords and compare with your resume.

Its that easy. And the best part is…you can use the same process to evaluate your resume.

Happy tagging!

I am Thomas E. Anderson, II, writer, creator and walking billboard for My Future in Focus. I have been self-employed since age 9 when contracted as a wedding musician. No stranger to paradigm shifts, I overcame the stigma of childhood obesity, bouts of depression and death of my mother before age 18. To read my story, visit the About Me page.

Tags: career, Job search, LinkedIn, resources, resume writing, resumes, TagCrowd, tags

Finding Life Balance Using the 2 Life Wheels

My dad taught me how to ride a bike. And he taught me very well. So well, that within a year I taught myself how to ride with no hands. I distinctly remember concentrating so hard on my handlebars to keep my balance that I crashed into the back of a van. (No worries…it was parked lol). I was so focused on riding with no hands that I blocked everything else out of my view, locked in on my focal point and balanced myself on the bicycle seat with no hands.

Life is like a bike ride where we balance ourselves on top of two life wheels: work and personal. It becomes subconscious. We struggle to shift our focus between making money, managing relationships and maintaining a healthy work ethic. The personal life wheel contains the 6 vital parts of life that we balance such as emotional and financial health. Our work life wheel contains 3 areas such as production and time. Without first finding inner balance it is impossible to balance ourselves on the life wheels.

The good news is that we balance life and bikes the same way – in motion. It is easier to balance a bike while it is moving than while standing still. And it is easier to find balance between your two life wheels while you’re moving forward. If you can ride a bike you can find life balance and reduce stress. To begin eliminating negative stress in your life and consciously finding life balance, purchase my Balancing Act workbook. With it you can discover all areas of the life wheels, achieve balance and maintain your focus.

I am Thomas E. Anderson, II, writer, creator and walking billboard for My Future in Focus. I have been self-employed since age 9 when contracted as a wedding musician. No stranger to paradigm shifts, I overcame the stigma of childhood obesity, bouts of depression and death of my mother before age 18. To read my story, visit the About Me page.

Tags: balance, Focus, life balance, Stress

Make Burnout a Thing of the Past

Are You in a Balancing Act?

Have you ever been driving on the highway, take your hands off the wheel for a second and your steering wheels pulls your car to the left? That’s a sure sign that you need a wheel alignment. Reason being, if your car tires ever became severely out of line, they would pop.

The same thing goes for your life.

When your life is out of balance, it manifests through feelings of burnout, stress, health issues and family problems. If these areas are out of balance, it can feel like you are being pulled in 100 different directions. And it won’t be long before you feel just like those unaligned car tires—about to pop.

Engaging in a balancing act for an extended period of time causes burnout. You can end up burning the candle at both ends trying to get everything done. When you feel burned out, those feelings can result in mental, physical and emotional stress. If you have ever burned the candle at both ends, did you notice that fun things were the first thing to go. Relaxation and hobbies were next on the list. And before long, you looked around and all your favorite pastimes were a thing of the past.

Have you stopped doing the things that energize you? Is it hard to remember the last time you did something for yourself? Something that you enjoy doing? If you answered no, your life just may be in balance. If your answer is “yes”, check out my new workbook, “Balancing Act: Walking the Tightrope of Life and Business.” If this scenario sounds anything like your life, I have something that will make your life a little easier. To find balance in your life and career, click here to purchase Balancing Act.

I am Thomas E. Anderson, II, writer, creator and walking billboard for My Future in Focus. I have been self-employed since age 9 when contracted as a wedding musician. No stranger to paradigm shifts, I overcame the stigma of childhood obesity, bouts of depression and death of my mother before age 18. To read my story, visit the About Me page.

Tags: Burnout, life balance, Passion, personal development, Stress, work life balance

Are You in a Balancing Act?

Are You in a Balancing Act?

Are you stressed out? Or maybe you are flying through your day at 100 miles per hour and you’re about to reach your limit? You may even be at a place of burnout where your passion has disappeared. If so, then your day probably sounds a little like this.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

It’s 5 AM. You get up, brush your teeth, jump in the shower and get the kids ready. You drive the kids to school by 7:30 and fight traffic across town to make it to work by 8. You have piles of work waiting on your desk when you dart the door. You put your coat down, trade pleasantries with co-workers and dive into a pile of papers to start working.

You pull up Internet Explorer only to find that 100 new emails have wandered into your inbox. Just as you start to reply, a co-worker comes in your office (without knocking) just to chit-chat. You engage them for two minutes and then…RING, RING, RING! Its your boss on the other end, calling you to a planning meeting.

On your way to the meeting, you get a text from your daughter reminding you that you have to pick her up from soccer practice after school. So, when will you have time to work on your final paper? After all, you need your masters degree to get that raise. Not to mention, preparing for that class you’re teaching tonight at church.

This is your life in a nutshell. And if you don’t get some relief pretty soon, you feel like you will end up in the nut house.

Have you ever felt like you are moving forward in life like an elephant riding a bike on a tightrope…while juggling Ginsu knives? One wrong move and it is curtains for you. Life feels like that at times, but here is the good news. That is not the case at all. By the end of this workbook, you will not only be able to make sense of your balancing act, but you will also be able to focus on a few key areas or common threads in your life.

You have just read an excerpt from my new workbook, ”Balancing Act: Walking the Tightrope of Life and Business.”  If this scenario sounds anything like your workday, I have something that will make your life a little easier. To find balance in your life and career, click here to purchase Balancing Act.

I am Thomas E. Anderson, II, writer, creator and walking billboard for My Future in Focus.  I have been self-employed since age 9 when contracted as a wedding musician. No stranger to paradigm shifts, I overcame the stigma of childhood obesity, bouts of depression and death of my mother before age 18. To read my story, visit the About Me page.

Tags: balance, Life, personal development, Stress, work, work life balance

From Purpose Driven to Purpose Fulfillment

This video is a must-see! Dr. Paula Price talks about the things that prevent us from fulfilling the purpose for our lives. Watch the video to see how to overcome failure and move forward with what you have been purposed to do.

Tags: LinkedIn, Purpose, Success