When I say the outside world can’t control you, what do I mean? Well, how often do you hear someone complaining about something outside? You know, “My work is stressful, it’s overwhelming me.” Or “My husband or my wife frustrates me.” Or “My business partner drives me nuts.” I hear this all the time as a coach, but also just as a friend of so many people who reach out to me.
Just recently I was taking care of my sick wife and child. Now, this is to me it’s something I’m actually really enjoyed, I’m grateful that I have the ability to do that. I’ve created a lifestyle for myself and for my family where I don’t have to work if I don’t want to. It’s complete freedom, and part of that comes to a responsibility as a husband and as a parent. When those times come, when both my child and my wife are sick at the same time, for me to step up and step into that role. Well, of course, they got better, which I was so happy to see, but it was my turn. I fell down and I got sick.
Contrary to popular belief, the key to creativity is actually focus. I know a lot of creatives are going to be like, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don’t like rigidity. I don’t like this out there. I want to be creative. I want to be in flow.” Well, you can’t be in flow if you’re constantly being interrupted. In today’s age, we have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, social media galore going right at us. We have chats coming up on our computer, email coming in, people talking to us left and right, so many distractions that it’s almost impossible to be in a flow state unless you actually create it by being focused.
Late last year, I was fixated on one of our companies making $600,000 in recurring revenue each month. I was tunnel visioned into this outcome, and we had designed, my business partner and I had designed a product to bring to the marketplace that we thought was exceptional. We were so focused on this product that we actually missed so many other opportunities because we were focused on the expectation or the outcome of what we were doing.
The fear of what might happen. I don’t know about you but I have definitely been in a situation where I feared what could happen rather than focusing on the here and now and the possibilities.
