Stay in Your Lane
At the beginning of the year, I joined my friend and her church in its practice of a 21-day corporate fast to have a fresh start and clarity for the year to come. For 21 days, I refrained from consuming all meats such as pork, beef, and chicken. If you know me, you know that I LOVE food so this was a sacrifice but one that I was willing to make for the benefits that come with fasting and praying. I began the fast wanting answers to questions I had, direction on how and where I should be spending my time this year, and overall closeness to God. My fast was such a blessing; God generously gave me clarity, correction, and comfort.
Following the fast, I was overflowing with hope and excitement. I was ready to take off, launch, dive deep, and whatever other phrase that communicates being all in! I looked around and saw the same energy and observed the new projects and goals that others had set and suddenly I found myself consumed with what was going on in their lives and neglecting what God had just spoken into my life. I began to abandon what I knew to do and became distracted by what was going on around me. My focus was off and I was filling my time up with things that were not beneficial to me instead of focusing on what I knew to do. I was spending my time and energy in lanes that were not meant for me.
In the middle of my fast, I prayed for God to give me a phrase, scripture, or single word that I could use as a reference point throughout the year, and the word He gave was perfect; FOCUS. The word focus was timely and fitting for the year following 2020. I found it ironic that in 2020 everything was about having a 20/20 vision whether in life, career, relationships, etc. The year 2020 surely helped me to truly see things as they were. But what good is the vision if you cannot see clearly and focus? He said, In 2020 I gave you vision, and this year I want you to focus.
This year it’s critical that we do not lose our focus, it’s too valuable and is essential to our movement in getting where we want to be. It’s easy to lose focus when we are uncertain of what should have our focus on or when we don’t value what we DO know to do. As we continue to move throughout the year stay focused!!! Don’t be distracted by what you see and keep your focus on God and yourself. Here are a few tips on staying focused.
Pray daily- Seriously, pray. The moment we ask God for his help, we can be confident and sure that the Holy Spirit is with us to focus on what we need to focus on. And your prayer doesn’t have to be fancy, if you’re at a loss for words say this “God thank you for what you have given me to do, be, etc. Help me to use my time wisely and to focus on what’s in front of me and not what is behind me or what surrounds me.”
Get organized and create a routine- To stay on track, being organized is a MUST!! Planners and journals are extremely helpful in keeping things in your view and show you when and if you are getting off track. Writing things out is extremely helpful for me because I get everything out of my head and onto something that I can see. The more organized you are the better your focus can be.
Give Yourself Grace- This is critical in reaching your goals. Understand that there will be times when you will become distracted and go off track. It sounds cliche but that’s how you know that you are making progress. That’s ok and it’s normal, the closer you get to your goals, you will face some sort of opposition or setback. Give yourself room to be human and have mishaps and whatever you do, learn from it and keep moving forward!
Take a Break!!- This may sound strange but as important as it is to remain focused on the tasks at hand, it is just as important to take breaks. Have you ever noticed how long drives can drain you? You the driver had to keep extreme focus to arrive at your destination safely. We often think of the only form of rest as sleeping but mental breaks are important as well! As you make progress towards your goals make sure to give yourself a break! Take a walk, stretch, watch your favorite show, or just rest in silence. The choice is yours in whatever you decide, just make sure you take a BREAK!