Lessons From a Tightrope Act
Written by: The Success Professor – Follow me on TWITTER!
A few years ago I was at an event where I had the privilege of seeing the “Flying Wallenda’s” and hear their story. The “Flying Wallenda’s” are a hire wire tight-rope act. Their performance is breathtaking and scary, even to watch. One of the things that they shared is an important lesson for life and business as well. In explaining how they do their tight-rope walking, they shared how they would walk with their focus on something out ahead of them, and they would then move slowly towards that point. They would not look down, not even at the wire. They would only focus on the one point straight ahead of them – the point they wanted to walk towards. As trained professionals, they would always get where they were aiming for.
This principle can easily translate into our businesses and the rest of our lives – whatever we focus on is what we will move towards. This is always true, and works clearly in our lives and business. Where you are today is primarily a result of what you have focused on in the past. If you focus on failure, chances are that you will fail more than you will succeed. If you focus on the next step towards your goals, you will move in that direction.
What you focus on also will determine which of your goals you make progress towards. If you focus on how you can be a better parent, then you will make progress towards that goal. You will leave work in good time and do what it takes to spend time with your children. If your main focus is advancing in your career then you will likely make progress towards that goal. You likely will stay late at work, take work home with you, and do what you can to make your boss happy.
This isn’t magic and it isn’t something that happens all at once. It is just good success psychology. I see this principle all of the time in my job. As a professor, I interact with a wide variety of students with different goals and maturity levels. It is clear the ones who focus on the social side of their college experience – they will take the steps towards more social interaction. What they may neglect is their school work and their marks. On the other hand, the ones focused on achieving excellence in their studies will likely do well on their assignments. This doesn’t mean that they will all get A’s. While many will, some will score B’s and C’s. Because they focused on pursing excellence, they will no doubt do better than they will otherwise. They may not be the best, but they will all move towards the goal they are focusing on.
This principle is a major reason why more people are not successful in their business. They get distracted and look away from their goal. These distractions can come in many forms. You may get distracted by your work, by your family, or by entertainment. Certainly many of these can be good things. They are not things you want to neglect. You need to ask are they taking you away from focusing on your goal.
The starting point for this process is, of course, your goal. Before the “Flying Wallenda’s” even stepped on to the tight-rope they picked their goal – the spot they would focus on. They clearly fixed that spot in their mind and in their sight. In business and in life, you must know your goal and it must be clear. You must be able to picture your goal in your mind and be able to clearly articulate your goal in an instant. That way, when you step out into your day you always can have your goal in mind. By focusing on your goal in this way you will always be doing things to move towards it. If you look to your goal throughout the day, you will not miss opportunities to move towards your goal.
Once you have your goal you need to step out and move toward your goal. Do this even if there is fear. I imagine the “Flying Wallenda’s” still have fear when they step out onto the tightrope. Moving toward every significant goal will require moving past fear and out of your comfort zone. When moving through fear it is extra important to keep your eye focused clearly on your goal.
Just like the “Flying Wallenda’s” we are moving towards what we focus on, whether we realize it or not. Once you realize this you can move towards goals that YOU chose.
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Tags: flying wallendas, Goals, Personal Development, success, tightrope
