Focus is a brutal thing. Or, it can be. When things have been going consistently wrong for a while, and you feel like you’ve been beaten, it’s easy to focus on the negative because you’re surrounded with it. I know. I’ve been there.
But like Michael Hyatt says, “The way to improve your marriage is cultivate and expand what’s working instead of dwelling on what’s not.”
I realize not all problems stem from marriage, but the premise holds true for anything. But marriage is an excellent setting to give examples because it offers so many robust options.
If husband and wife cannot connect in one area, focus on the area you do connect and cultivate that. Make it a strength. You’ll build a sense of camraderie and loyalty and faithfulness and teamwork that will give you a stronger foundation for everything else.
In other areas of your life, it’s easy to see the chaos or the incompleted tasks and feel overwhelmed. Failure lurks at the door waiting to pounce. But by focusing on what IS going well, and by doing it even better, you find the encouragement to take on new tasks.
I’ve found that after I’ve achieved a positive can-do attitude, accomplishing small tasks builds momentum.
- Focus on what’s going right, no matter how small
- Foster a positive can-do attitude
- Look at small, incomplete tasks surrounding you
- Pick a small task and complete it
- Rinse and repeat
- Develop a sense of accomplishment from closure
These six steps are simple. You do one small thing at a time. Even if the task you complete isn’t a big one, the initial point is just getting something done.
You have no momentum and you need to get the snowball rolling. This will get you started.