The Focused Mind – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

How to focus your attention on what you truly want

Photo by Kyran Aldworth on Unsplash

Knowing our abilities and potential shows us how much we can build in tune with our passions and the big aspirations we carry inside. One kind of noise, though, drains a lot of that potential: a busy mind, crowded with thoughts. We only get so much time in a year and in a lifetime, so here’s how to spot that noise, let it go and make room for a mind focused on what you want to achieve.

Many of our thoughts circle around things that have never happened and never will. We tend to get stuck between past and future, and either way our attention drifts to what could hurt us, leaving little for everything we could accomplish. The gap between those two outlooks is huge. The future is mostly there to inspire us, to give us visions that light the way and fill us with passion, and above all to move us toward a better state in the present.

Many other thoughts circle around beliefs that hold back our growth. They come back again and again, we take them for granted and we’ve rarely tested them ourselves. They run deep, yet once we name them there’s real satisfaction in seeing how easy the obstacle was to tackle, and a new perspective opens up, one that frees us from noise we don’t need.

Fear also wears down our ability to focus. Someone who moves through the world driven by fear, or lives in an atmosphere of dread, burns enormous energy on the way to their goals. That fear often comes from spending time in places that clash with our values or with our Life Purpose. There, people are busy surviving, and every goal comes second.

A focused mind means finding the path that lets us live our own mission, our Life Purpose. Focusing our thoughts also comes from practices that help regulate them, like meditation. Keeping our mind on what’s actually in our hands, on what’s happening here and now, and staying close to whatever makes us better people is what opens the door to a fuller life, with more wellbeing, compassion and gratitude.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. This week’s VELA:

• What I’ve been Viewing: Enactus Judge. This week I was once again invited to judge the Enactus Social Enterprise Summit 2020. I saw a large number of projects from Enactus chapters across Guatemala, with real social, environmental and economic impact. I’m proud of the work Enactus does, and it means a lot to me to do my small part whenever they ask. Congratulations, and keep going.
• What I’ve been Listening to: Los estados de ánimo (Moods). How do we respond to life’s challenges? Through the way we see ourselves. A great interview with Mario Alonso Puig. One line stayed with me: "Every human being has an intrinsic ability, and our mission is to try to discover and understand their world".
• What I’ve been Reading: Estados Unidos: La historia. Like James Joyce’s Ulysses, this book has taken up a lot of my time and thinking. The early days and the venture of colonizing the region have sent me into the most notes and side searches, especially relations between France and Spain. One striking fact: the deal with France (Napoleon Bonaparte, specifically) for the Louisiana Purchase. How that negotiation played out is fascinating and full of historical detail.
• What I’ve been Learning: Agile. I’m deep into organizing my thoughts, ideas and concepts around an agile approach to project management.

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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