I have a question for all of you out there today. The question is, “where do you primarily focus your energy?”
Let me share with you why I am asking this question. I was talking to someone last week and she was complaining about her former partners of which she hasn’t worked with for six months. A wife was sharing with me on how her husband who was a little bit rough around the edges would watch CNN (Constant Negative News Channel) the first thing every morning. On social media, you see it all the time, some giving thumbs up and supporting our president, some giving thumbs down and ditching our president. Worst of all they combat back and forth on who’s right and who’s wrong.
These activities simply don’t serve you or anyone around you. Be clear that time is your most valuable asset, however, I believe our second most valuable asset is our energy, the energy we bring to the table day in and day out. We produce this energy based on what we focus on. We focus on the positive we produce positive energy. We focus on the negative we produce negative energy.
Take this point if you are a leader or manager of an organization. Unfortunately, you have a habit of focusing on all the little things your team is doing wrong, worse yet, you belabor the issue. Ask yourself a question, are they going to be productive? Are they going to feel good about themselves? Are you going to feel good about yourself engaging in this activity? I think not.
Now on the other hand, you are consistently praising your team by finding all the little things they’re doing right. Telling them about the good job they’re doing and taking it one step further to talk about as they continue to make these upward shifts of how they can rise to the next level in their performance. As you praise your team, this will actually increase their confidence, they will increase their productivity, they will begin producing better results. As your team increase their productivity and results it will actually inspire and empower you which will increase your positive energy of which in turn you’ll create a self-fulfilling prophecy of forwarding momentum. Simply, everybody wins.
What you think, how you speak, the words you use all makes a difference. What you watch or don’t watch, what you read or don’t read, what you listen to or don’t listen to. All this makes a difference in how it produces the right energy in the right place.
Get really conscious on where you focus your energy. Focus it in a place that serves you, your team, your organization, your clients, your community, and most importantly your family. If it doesn’t serve any of these aspects of your life, don’t bother with it.
Focus on what you can bring to the table, focus on being the absolute best that you can possibly be, reaching for your maximum potential. Because when we are focusing on that, we will be thinking all the right things, saying all the right things, doing all the right things and that energy will produce outward, the people around you will get the same effect and they will produce more also.
Make a personal commitment to focus on the right things and let your energy work for you instead of your energy working against you.
