Latest / From Chad / Focusing #1196

Transcript

Focusing #1196 · From Chad

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  How well can you focus? There's a story behind that.
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  This is your daily message from Chad #1196 to upgrade your
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  mental game today by telling yourself a better story.
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  Because the most important story you hear is the story you tell
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  yourself. This message is dedicated to
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  David Gonzalves. You can get a free copy of my
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  book, The Most Powerful Story in the World by going to from
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  chad.gumroad.com. The transcript of this message
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  and hundreds of others are always available at
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  www.fromchad.com. Here's the upgrade You think
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  focus means paying more attention.
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  But upgraded thinking understands focus means paying
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  attention to the right thing. Here's the story.
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  Suppose you live in a big city like New York, Chicago, or Los
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  Angeles. Maybe you visited or even lived
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  in one of those cities. And suppose you drive a bus.
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  Pulling up to the first stop, 10 people get on the bus.
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  At the second stop, eight people get on.
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  At the third stop, 6 people get on and two get off.
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  OK, are you following this? There's one more stop, but pay
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  close attention because I'm going to try to get you to focus
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  on the wrong thing. At the fourth stop, four people
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  get on and four get off. Now here's the question.
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  How old is the bus driver? Maybe you were counting
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  passengers 22, right? I actually gave you the answer
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  at the beginning. You drive a bus.
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  Do you know how old you are? Well, that's the answer.
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  You are the bus driver. Most people miss it.
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  Not because they weren't paying attention, they were paying
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  close attention to the wrong thing.
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  Losing focus on a silly Riddle cost you nothing.
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  Losing focus on your life costs you a lot.
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  Have you gotten focused on the wrong thing?
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  Here's one thing you can start doing today.
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  Stop focusing on results and start focusing on effort.
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  Long before Diana Nyad swam from Cuba to Florida, she swam across
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  Lake Ontario from north to South.
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  She swam over 18 hours, hour after hour, in cold, dark water.
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  Her mind started to drift. She knew swimmers who lost
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  concentration and ended up swimming in tiny circles.
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  So she stopped thinking about the far shore and started
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  counting. She said, quote, if 600 strokes
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  makes a mile, 1800 strokes makes 3 miles, And if singing row,
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  row, row your boat completes 8 strokes, then 75 row, row, row
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  your boats make a mile. I found that simple counting
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  goals for each hour kept me close enough to total
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  concentration that I could proceed indefinitely.
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  She made it across. If you focus on results, you'll
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  get stressed. If you focus on effort, you'll
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  get results. Count the strokes you can
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  control. Some people go go their whole
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  lives counting passengers and never noticed they've been in
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  the driver's seat the entire time.
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  In a world of infinite distraction, focus can be your
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  superpower. The better story to tell
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  yourself is I'm the driver. I focus on my effort and the
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  results will follow. Tell me a story of a time you
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  were focused on the wrong thing to from chadsmith@gmail.com.
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  Tell someone the bus driver Riddle and see if they get it
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  today.