5 Signs I Have Lost Focus on the Job
When I feel anxious, I have lost focus. My mind is not on what is going on around me. My mind is on what I imagine might happen.
There is a difference between planning for future events and creating scary scenarios of what might happen. I have to remind myself every day that scary thoughts might come along. The best way to end those scary thoughts is to take a deep breath and see the world around me.
The feelings of anxiety will pass. I do not have to fight them.
When I feel regret, I have lost focus. No one can do things in the past. What I can do is recognize where I might have made mistakes. I can learn from those mistakes and not repeat them. I can remember that ruminating over the mistakes will take me no where today. I can take advantage of the time I have today is to take healthy strides that will give me great memories tomorrow.
When I am angry over the past, I have lost focus. Staying angry after things have passed is painful and futile. The greatest waste of time, mind, and energy is carrying around anger over a squabble or personality difference. Ironically, I can often get past the personal anger by speaking with a person and telling that person that I regret how I handled a situation and saying that if I had it to over again I handle things differently.
When I feel insecure, I have lost focus. Insecurity is a form of fear and is another waste of time and energy. We might experience insecurity when we enter a room full of people, especially at a social gathering, or when we are speaking in public. We might experience that feeling when we are working with a new device while other people are watching. Insecurity occurs when our main concern is how other people are judging us. Insecurity makes our thoughts and feelings personal and can steal our presence of mind.
I remember telling my father that a shirt in his closet was out of style. He liked that particular shirt. He smiled, winked, and said, “Son, if other people don’t like the way I look, they can look the other way.”
I loved my father’s modest self-confidence. When he felt insecure, he just let the feeling pass quietly.
Sometimes I find that overcoming insecurity requires action. When I enter a social gathering, I can face insecurity head on by speaking with the first person I know or introducing myself to someone.
When speaking in public or handling a new devices in front of other people, I can practice what I am going to say or do.
If I have no time to prepare, I can admit that I am doing something that I have never done before and ask the audience to go easy on me. Showing humility is always a great way to win over an audience.
When speaking to a large crowd, I can also know that half of the audience is not paying attention and the other half will not remember what I said. The main thing is simply to work from an outline however quickly written and sketchy and to stick with that outline.
When I played football, I suffered horrible insecurity at the beginning of the game. I found that just banging into someone one time relieved the pressure of insecurity, and I was into the game. Often the least simple action can break the ice of insecurity.
When I have target fixation, I lose focus. I become unaware of what I am doing. When I focus, I am aware of my surroundings and aware of the person with whom I am meeting. When I get target fixation, I only see the goal I want to carry out. Target fixation can make me deaf to the points the other person is making. I might fail to give correct and complete information. I try to stay loose and focus on the other person and make sure that I deliver the information this person needs to know.
