Focus.

It’s one of the five main points to learn from The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel.

Especially the conscious focus that Mr. Haanel described in Point #28 of Week Fourteen of The Master Key System.

26. But the thought must be clear cut, steady, fixed, definite, unchangeable; you cannot take one step forward and two steps backward, neither can you spend twenty or thirty years of your life building up negative conditions as the result of negative thoughts, and then expect to see them all melt away as the result of fifteen or twenty minutes of right thinking.

Here are three simple techniques you can use to maintain focus.

They are pretty self-evident, but you’ll see them in a different light as you read them here.

Put these techniques into practice. Immediately.

You’ll be the better for it.

(1) Practice, man. Practice!

You must be consciously aware of your mental state at all times.

Take stock of why you’re feeling the way you are when/if you get down.

Get to the root of things.

It takes serious practice to do that.

The Master Key System is not a pop-psych book. It’s a serious philosophy that demands some serious effort. There are no shortcuts in this.

Practice is the key way to achieve this success.

(2) Get a better goal (or why)!

If you tend to lose focus, then maybe your goal isn’t a true goal; maybe it’s not a goal that you really want.

Use The Master Key Workbook to hone your goals so that they are what you really want. When you really want something, distractions just fade away.

Think of it this way: If you were submerged under water and held there, you would struggle with all your might to get to the surface so that you could breath again.

That’s a goal!

That impels you to keep reaching!

That’s focus: when you can think of nothing else but that which you desire.

As long as you truly desire the  goals you set for yourself — and you have compelling reasons why you want them — then the focus you need will be easy to attain — and maintain.

(3) Live up to it!

Too many people don’t live up to anything.

Too many people don’t have a compelling reason to want to be better.

Think of a stereotypical bachelor: His house (or apartment) is a mess … he’s slovenly … unkempt … unshaven.

Once he meets a girl he want to impress, though … He does a complete one-eighty!

He cleans himself up … he gets his act together … and tries to win the girl.

Why?

Because he found something he wants to live up to.

A leader wants to be the best leader so that she can gain the respect of their group.

A father wants to live up to being a hero in his son’s eyes.

A mother will do anything for her children and family.

That is what living up to something means.

Find or realize all the ways you can live up to things.

And then become that person.

As you maintain that image, you will maintain your focus.

Focus is something with which most people struggle

All too often, life interruptus rears its ugly head.

Life interruptus … That destroyer of time and waster of energy.

Ask yourself how much of your time is interrupted by …

… phone calls …

… people stopping by …

… or even yourself getting involved in one distraction or another.

Wastes of time.

Your time.

Your limited, sacred time.

If you make your plan and then stick to it, then you are increasing the chances of maintaining your desired focus and therefore achieving your goals.

David Rockefeller would maintain his schedule no matter what. If he scheduled that a meeting would last for one hour, then it would last for one hour. No more. His time was his own — and he did not waste it.

Eliminating life interruptus is difficult to do …

… but it must be done.

If you constantly find yourself depleting your energy on useless, unfocused tasks, then you will find yourself adrift, not getting to where you want to be.

Use these techniques to maintain your focus.

Your life becomes what you focus on.

Focus on the good things and the good things will come to you.

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You tend to focus better because of great books.