Why can’t you focus?

In the early 1900s, Clyde Beatty went from a small town boy from Ohio to the most daring circus performer of the century. He’d let loose lions, tigers, hyenas and cougars into the circus ring and tame them with nothing but a whip and a chair.

The whip would get all the attention, but it was the chair that did the most important work. When Beatty held the chair to the lion’s face, it would try to focus on all four legs at the same time. With its attention divided, the lion would freeze in indecision instead of attacking.

Like the lion, our attention suffers when we’re faced with too many options. We feel like we can’t focus, and so we take less action.

I’ve struggled with this in my own life.

I love reading. But I had trouble finishing the books I started. Insatiably curious, my mind would jump from subject to subject never settling for long on one book. At one point, I was juggling 8 books at the same time. As a result, I gained a superficial understanding of many subjects rather than the deep knowledge that comes from careful reading.

I thought I had trouble concentrating. But the real reason I made little progress was because I had trouble deciding what to concentrate on.

Once I committed to studying one book at a time, I saw my life improve because I could finally internalize and apply what I read.

We all have the ability to focus, but only if we commit to what’s important to us.

Take the first step to committing to one thing, and trust yourself to figure out the next step.