Editorial 1 September

What we focus on we get in the end

My cousin and I were learning to ride her new bike. We formulated a strategy to maximise our chances of success and minimise our chances of injuring ourselves. The thinking was that we would launch at the top of a gentle, grassy slope, thus eliminating the need to peddle and freeing ourselves to concentrate on staying upright and avoiding the only obstacle, a large strainer post at the bottom of the hill. We figured this shouldn’t be a problem as there was plenty of room and we could go either side of the post, the fence having been taken down long ago. Being the oldest, and dutiful groundbreaker, I went first. Of course, I took off, gathered speed and crashed into the strainer post. A couple of years later I saw history repeat itself when a friend rode a bike for the first time across a very large lawn and hit a rotary clothesline, the only obstacle in her way.

Learning to ride a bike was a worthwhile goal, we had a good plan (utilising risk management principles), we had the right equipment, the desire and physical capability; so what went wrong? It was the focus that was wrong. The last thing I wanted to do was damage my cousin’s brand new bike or hurt myself and I focused on this threat (literally represented by the strainer post) instead of choosing a route either side of the post and focusing on that.

This dynamic operates everywhere. What we focus on (think about a lot), we get in the end. Thinking about a negative outcome, or what could go wrong, prevents us from thinking about the positive process of following our plan. We’ll probably also begin to talk about the negative and then we have a ‘double whammy’ effect. This is because words have very powerful creative or destructive properties and will eventually shape our beliefs and behaviour. Check out Talia Mana’s article Affirmations for Weight Loss where she contends that diets don’t work. This is because they are essentially negative and about prohibitions and deprivation, rather than the positive process of making good food choices and developing lifelong, healthy eating habits. It’s amazing how starting to speak affirmatively to ourselves helps us to take positive action and keep doing it.

Does this mean we should ignore all problems and obstacles, pretending they aren’t there? No, it means giving the problem only enough recognition to plan a way around it and then shifting our focus onto that. (Driving instructors teach this as the way to respond to unexpected hazards: look for a route around them and then look at the route rather than the hazard itself.) If the problem refuses to go away there will usually still be something positive we can do to progress our plan. At worst, we can stand still and steadfastly refuse to abandon our goal. The situation will eventually change. As Cheryl Megchelse says in her Transition article, it’s all about your perspective when handling the challenges of life. Focusing on the threat to our lifestyle leads to panic, but looking out for the opportunities that are beginning to appear and talking about those instead is exciting and energising.