How To Stay Focused | Jack Canfield

Hi there. I'm Jack Canfield, co creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and the author of the Success Principles. I have a question for you today. How hard has it been for you to focus on your goals lately? If your answer is, well, pretty hard, Jack, you're definitely not alone. With everything that's been happening in the world lately, there is a lot to distract you and make you feel uncertain or anxious about the future. And when you feel like the ground isn't quite solid beneath you, it can be very hard to keep your eyes on the horizon and focus on your goals and what it is you need to do to achieve what you really want. And that's why today I'd like to share some tips on how to stay focused and on track no matter what else is happening in the world around you, so you can achieve your dreams and experience a life that truly makes you happy. Okay, so how do you stay focused in times of adversity? Well, if it's all of the bad news online or on TV that's got you distracted, my first suggestion would be to step away from the screen. So much news seems designed to make people feel helpless these days. I don't really blame the media. They tend to deliver the news that we ask them for. It's our clicks that tell them which articles get the most eyeballs and are just giving us more of what we're showing them we want. And of course, we're biologically wired to click on the stories that alarm us or make us feel threatened, because we're designed to pay more attention to the things in our environment that threaten us than to the things that we consider safe. But that means most of what we're reading is the bad news. And continuous exposure to negative news can make us feel anxious about what the future holds and helpless in terms of our ability to do anything about it. And that sense of helplessness can keep you paralyzed and unable to move forward. So if you're feeling distracted or uncertain or helpless because of the daily news about what's happening in the larger world around you, I want you to know that it's okay to stop paying attention to it and. And focus your attention on yourself, your family, your friends, and your life instead. So stop watching the news. After all, there's not much you can do about most of what news you watch on TV and read about online and in the press. But what you can do is make a positive impact in the things that you can affect, like your family, your friends, your local community, your job and your goals. And the more you focus on learning how to achieve your goals and how to become your best self, the bigger the positive impact you'll actually have. So I really encourage you to step away from the news. Consider taking Facebook off your phone, stop doom scrolling the news, or hanging out in super negative and defeatist online communities. I guarantee that you'll still find out what's happening in the world if you need to know about it, but you won't be overwhelmed by all of the divisiveness and the endless fear inducing alarmist, what we call discourse that might be happening now and could possibly happen in the future. If you cut down your time watching and reading about the news on TV or on social media, you'll find it so much easier to stay focused and positive about the future. Now it could be that the adversity you're dealing with is more immediate. Perhaps you've personally had to deal with some kind of trauma or obstacle or setback recently. Maybe you or a loved one has been dealing with a serious health issue. Maybe you've lost someone or suffered a painful breakup with a romantic partner or a longtime friend. Maybe you've lost your job or you're dealing with a big setback in your career or your business. Maybe the important things you thought were going to happen didn't end up happening. If that's the kind of adversity that's been distracting you lately, I really want to encourage you to cut yourself some slack and give yourself a lot of love and self compassion right now. Because dealing with that kind of pain, disruption or loss can take all of your energy and leave you feeling exhausted frayed nerves. At the end of the day, you have to carve out some time to heal and replenish your well. So make healing from your wounds and getting your strength and energy back your top priority. And then take time to remember what you're capable of achieving and re clarify your vision and the steps you need to take to make it happen. And just remember, when you're processing something that's very stressful and emotionally exhausting, it can can take a lot out of you. So you may not be able to devote as much time and energy as you'd like to getting back on track toward achieving your dreams. Try to be as realistic as possible about the time you're able to commit and what you're able of accomplishing during that time. And set goals that are more likely to be able to achieve because setting a small goal and achieving it actually creates more momentum than setting a goal that's so big that you fail to achieve it. Now the next thing I would encourage you to do is to liberate yourself from any non vital commitments or distractions. You're going to find it a lot easier to focus on your goals if you give yourself more time to do it. So I want you to look at your weekly schedule and identify any tasks or commitments that you can delegate to others or give up altogether. For example, if you spend a lot of time driving kids to and from sports or music practice, see if you can start carpooling with another family so you only have to drive half as often and then use the time you've just freed up in your schedule to focus on working toward your goals instead. Now my next step is to take better care of yourself. Go to bed earlier and get more sleep. Do yoga or some other form of gentle movement or stretching before bed so your muscles aren't tense and you're able to sleep better at night. Eat healthier meals that give you the nutrients you need for a healthy immune system so you don't get sick or feel run down as often. Exercise more, go on walks in nature if you can. All of this will boost your energy and your sense of vitality and will make it easier for you to focus and concentrate for longer periods of time. I also recommend that you do some mindset work. If you don't have a daily practice of meditation or visualization, now is a great time to start. Meditation helps you become more aware of your thoughts and will help you liberate yourself from the constant monkey chatter of your mind. And so you're able to direct your thoughts in more fruitful directions and focus on what you really want to be doing. And visualization makes it easier for you to keep your goals top of mind so you can remain focused on them even when the daily distractions of life are vying for your attention. Now my next piece of advice would be to get some help. You are not an island. You were not born to do everything on your own. Ask for the help you need from your family, your friends, your colleagues and whoever else can help you achieve your goals. And remember that there's a ton of free help available for you online. No matter what kind of goal you want to achieve, whether you want to get out of debt, find greater happiness, find romantic love, write a best selling book or lose weight and get healthy, you can find a ton of free resources and valuable information to help get you started. And a great place to begin is in the free resources section at my website jackcampfield.com. now, finally remember the value of being flexible. Charles Darwin once said that it's not the most intellectually intelligent of the species that survives. It's not the strongest that survives. It's the species that is best able to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself. So I encourage you to think that now is a good time to get moving again and see how you can adapt to the changing landscape that we're constantly facing. Okay, well, that's it for today. So thanks again for watching. And if you if you have been finding it hard to focus lately, I would love for you to leave a comment below sharing one small action you'll take to begin liberating yourself from whatever has been distracting you so you can reclaim your focus and motivation and get back on track towards your dreams. I'd love to see what you have to share and remember when you commit publicly to a goal or an action, you have a greater chance of achieving it. And also, if you found this video helpful, please take the time to like it, share it with a friend who may need it, and subscribe to this channel for more videos like this one if, like you haven't already done so. And for additional tools and videos on how to form better habits and release the things that are holding you back again, check out the Resources page on my website@jackcampfield.com thanks so much for watching and have a great day.