Quotes about Focus

Let the Kingdom be always before you, and believe with certainty and consistency the things that are yet unseen. Let nothing that is on this side of eternal life get inside you.

Christian shook his head. "No, I will not. I have laid my hand to the plough and will not look back." (No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. — Luke 9:62)

Now, he had not run far from his own door, but his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on, crying, Life! life! eternal life! [Luke 14:26] So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the plain. [Gen. 19:17]

Life is now in session. Are you present?

Comparing yourself to others is really just a needless distraction. The only one you should compare yourself to is you. Your mission is to become better today than you were yesterday. You do that by focusing on what you can do today to improve and grow.

You could use the 80/20 rule. Give 80 percent of your effort to the top 20 percent (most important) activities. Another way is to focus on exceptional opportunities that promise a huge return. It comes down to this: give your attention to the areas that bear fruit.

Nobody finishes well by accident.

An unintentional life accepts everything and does nothing. An intentional life embraces only the things that will add to the mission of significance.

Great minds have purposes; others have wishes. Little minds are subdued by misfortunes; but great minds rise above them.

The younger you are, the more likely you will give your attention to many things. That's good because if you're young you're still getting to know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses. If you focus your thinking on only one thing and your aspirations change, then you've wasted your best mental energy. As you get older and more experienced, the need to focus becomes more critical. The farther and higher you go, the more focused you can be—and need to be.

Today Matters People create success in their lives by focusing on today. It may sound trite, but today is the only time you have. It's too late for yesterday. And you can't depend on tomorrow. That's why today matters.

I strongly encourage you to find a place to think and to discipline yourself to pause and use it, because it has the potential to change your life. It can help you to figure out what's really important and what isn't. As writer and Catholic priest Henri J. M. Nouwen observed, "When you are able to create a lonely place in the middle of your actions and concerns, your successes and failures slowly can lose some of their power over you.