Minimalist Mondays : Finding Focus
What’s important to you? What’s your goal? Where would you like to be this time next year?
Finding your focus is a very useful thing. It guides you, helps you plan your time, make decisions. Finding your focus can help you find clarity, commitment, and contentment.
I tend to think of my focus as a short-to-mid term goal, something I want to have done in the next 6 to 24 months that helps me towards a larger aspiration.
So, to find a focus, first you have to decide what your long term aspiration is!
Only you can know what that is for you, but I’ll give a few examples here to work with:
My own long term aspiration is to gain an academic research position in astrophysics, which has a lo of stepping stones to reach.
A common one is to travel, for a long period of time or to a distant place, which is perhaps impractical at best in the short term.
Another one many people have is starting up their own business, which certainly takes a lot of work and planning.
So, once you find your aspiration, how do you find your focus?
For me, after my straight line path took a large detour in 2015, I had to find a new way to achieve my aspiration. There was one lone Masters course that would accept me with the grades I would likely finish up with, and so my focus was that by 2016, I would have a place on that course. This needed 2 things
Though the rules have since changed, a the time student finance wouldn’t cover the style of course I was applying for, and so my first focus became to find a job and minimise spending in order to save the money for tuition. Once I had a job, I could work out through my budgeting how long it would take to save enough. This gave me an idea of which application cycle I should apply for, which than gave me a timeline for my second focus: writing a successful application.
My current focus is achieving a first-class Masters degree, in order to allow me to apply confidently for PhD positions in the next 2 years.
For someone who wanted to travel, their focus might also be money; To pay off debts or build savings to make their aspirations more achievable. Or it might be to seek out a more flexible job, one that can be doe remotely or gives more holiday time.
Someone looking to start their own business might look for experience in the area, look to build connections, or put a plan in place to build stock to begin their own store.
Whatever the aspiration, pick a single step that if successful would mean tangible progress towards your aspiration. Then your focus is on successfully making that step.
Because it informs everything else you do. When I was looking to build money up for my tuition, I had to say no to friend lunches or nights out if they went past my budget, even though I had all that money sitting in a savings account. Having a clear focus on taking a step towards my aspirations helped me say no. Helped coping with short-term discomfort for long-term happiness and fulfilment.
Even now, I might want to go shopping with my mum whenever she asks me, or stay in bed until noon because I’m not bound to a strict timetable by my flexible course, but doing does damage to me in the long term. Having my focus on the step I want to make can help me push through in the short-term, so I can be happy long-term.
So what are your aspirations? What step can you take this year to help you make them reality?
