You Get What You Focus On

I attended classes at the Institute (religious church classes) this week and was reminded a few times by the teacher, Brother Edmonds, about searching for the principle. He told us that merely reading a story in the Old Testament or one of Jesus's parables in the New Testament is nice. However, it has been recorded for scripture because of the principle - not the story. We're not meant to chastise the Pharisees or anyone else; it is written for us to use for our benefit.

With that in mind, I met up today with my mentor Chris Mattis. His favorite quote is at the top of his blog page: "You never get what you want out of life, you only get what you focus on." I think I am finally understanding the principle behind that from the story he recounted. It was about a woman who complained to Zig Ziglar (a motivational speaker, personal development expert, and top salesman) about hating everything & not liking one thing about her work. He asked her if she liked getting paid (yes) and a number of other things. Going through this process with her, they developed a list of 22 things she liked about her job. He promised her that if she focused on them for the next 60 days, she would like her work better. She didn't believe that simply changing her focus could be so powerful, but it worked. She couldn't believe how every coworker, her spouse, her children, and her friends all became better people! In reality, what changed was her and the way she saw all of them. 

Listening to that story, I was prompted to apply it to my life. When I had heard the story before, I quickly passed it off saying "I don't have that problem. My life is great!" WRONG! I was oblivious to the hidden negativity that I had! I don't complain much, but it happens a few times on a daily basis! I realized my mental attitude for school had really been taking a hit. I talked today for more than one hour about not being enthusiastic about it. AHHHHHH!!! Because I am constantly shown the greatness about other things I spend my time doing (Church, TEAM, Fraternity, Housemates, friends, etc), I easily pass over what I like about school. Because I focus on what I'm missing out on that I'd rather be doing, I constantly am thinking about "I don't want to be here." or "This class is not interesting." or "Could I do ANYTHING else?!!?" And I am wondering why I don't enjoy it... I was literally looking for an excuse to be disinterested or frustrated! I even looked up the fee refund schedule for this quarter to drop out... (passed the 90% refund point. Only 50% for the next couple days before it is less. Not financially worth it). I am pretty certain that you do not become more motivated for success by engaging in those habits... haha. 

However, I talked for ~3 minutes today (in the middle of complaining) about what I liked about Civil Engineering and the role it could potentially have in my future. I am SUPER SUPER passionate about building communities. I love people. I love helping them learn about themselves and get what they want out of life. I also have learned how pivotal space and environment plays in assisting the gathering of people. People cannot come together very easily if the forum doesn't exist! Therefore, I became enthusiastic about designing spaces for people to come together. The next step for me is to make a list of all the things that I love about school so that I can focus on that. By changing what I focus on, believing it will happen, and taking action towards it... positive changes will occur!! :) Whoot!