Wednesday 4 May 2011

What Are You Concentrating On?

Osama Bin Laden is dead, you must have heard it on TV, read it on newspapers, they are all full of his story, how he died and all the gory details if you want them. Last week it was the royal wedding, we were inundated with the images of Katie & William. Before that it was the earthquake and Tsunami disaster in Japan. For newspaper editors/proprietors, TV producers, News Anchors it is okay for them to be fixated on these issues, after all it sells their papers and brings viewers to their TV channels. But for you the attention that you pay to these world issues should only be cursory, there is no need for you to know the nuances of every issue. Now as you sit there with your mates debating the legality of the US Navy Seals in killing Osama, just ask yourself; What has that to do with me? How does it improve my personal position? Do I personally benefit from the death of Osama such that you need to read every transcript of every newspaper on how he died?

People concentrate on issues and activities that have no benefit to them, they are so knowledgeable when it comes subjects which have nothing to do with them. I know it because personally I used to waste time concentrating on non-issues. I remember well that I spent 2008 scouring websites about Barack Obama, I knew where he would be visiting next, what speech he would give and how other newspapers reported it. But I was no journalist no was this to an assignment at work or school but foolish fixation on issues that have/had no bearing on my personal life. It was late last year when I was on this journey of self discovery and personal development that I finally kicked the dreadful habit of concentrating on non issues. I still see the trend amongst some of my friends and some of my family, people accumulate useless information and spend years concentrating on issues that have no bearing to their development. It is no wonder that the very same people complain that they never have time and also are surprised why they are not getting ahead in life.

Take for instance one my female friends, she works hard during the week and only has some spare time during the weekend. Her free time is spent on BBC watching the omnibus episodes of "Eastenders", she is actually an authority in the BBC soap, she knows all the characters, she also sometimes can deduce the plot for the next episode. She gets so animated when discussing "Eastenders", when she has finished watching the omnibus she also watches re-runs of past episodes she stored on her satellite box hard drive. But my friend is not employed by BBC as a researcher nor is she a script writer looking for ideas, she is a care assistant. Last year she refused to partake in an National Vocational Qualification sponsored by her employees citing the lack of time, yet she is willing to amass useless information that does not improve her position.

Do not get me wrong there is nothing wrong with watching your favourite TV program some of the most successful people I know do it, they use TV programs to unwind. However they differ with my friend above that they never concentrate on anything which is not directly beneficial to how they want to improve their positions in life. Finishing all the stages of "Farm-ville" on Facebook my sound impressive to friends but if you not games software developer it will not benefit you improve your situation. Being the best amongst your mates when it comes to "Super Mario" on Nintendo Wii might be something to brag about but if its not benefiting you you are wasting your time. For those that concentrate on being entertained, amassing massive hours of watching television, films and reading newspapers having a reputation of being authority on current affairs they pay the ultimate price. They are the same folks that are constantly complaining about not having enough time, they are disillusioned by their positions in life. remember they are not doing anything to improve themselves by taking the extra knowledge about their chosen field of expertise making themselves competitive in today's economy. As a consequence they remain where they are knowing all about what is happening in Libya before everyone else knows about it. Yet they know little or nothing about the about the work they are involved in.

Whatever you concentrate your time on just remember that you will be coming an expert in that field therefore it is imperative that you are concentrating on issues that are beneficial to you. Its no wonder that some of the most successful people develop a life-long habit of learning, they do subscribe to the notion that education finishes when you graduate from college or high school, they are forever taking any available opportunity to improve themselves. Learning does not mean just attending a formal course part-time or full-time, it also involves self teaching. The world wide web is awash with information, if you are a graphic designer are you keeping up to date with developments in your industry and familiarising yourself with the latest tools. There is no need to waste your time and then mourn about how circumstances conspire to keep you down have a look at what you are concentrating on and ask yourself if its beneficial to you. Katie and William are now married but for you to cut those newspaper clipping and keeping them will not benefit you at all unless you sell Royal Memorabilia and gain monetarily from collecting Royal trivia leave it to those who do.

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