A Lesson on How to Focus Better

It was a cool, fall day when my husband and I traveled a few hours to House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin. We tend to stick close to home – we are sort of home bodies – so this excursion was extra special.

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Even the two hour trip in the car was fun as we savored the alone time to talk as we drove through the palette of colors splashed on the trees by our Creator. We spent the last part of our trip praying for each of our children and grandchildren. Yes, we are richly blessed.

The excursion impacted me more than I realized when I reflected on our time going through all the collections that are contained in the House on the Rock. Let me give you a little background first.

The House on the Rock is an amazing museum that started out with Alex Jordan’s vision to build a house on a huge rock that he fell in love with as a child.

Once he reached adulthood, the property went up for sale and he was able to purchase it with the help of his parents.

It started out as just an unusual house built on a rock, but it later morphed into a museum that includes all of Alex’s collections, musical instruments he created, lot of memorabilia from years of yesterday, and much, much more. It was awe-inspiring.

But what really impacted me the most was the thousands of pieces of artwork in every display that I soon became numb to. 

I was feeling “wow” at every turn, but then would continue in sort of a nonchalant state around the next turn and the next “wow.”

One of the exhibits that stood out to me was full of intricate dollhouses.  There seemed to be hundreds of them. Trying to look at each one of them and seeing their delicate beauty during the ten minutes or so that we walked through there was mind-boggling.

My brain was definitely on overload.

Beauty. Details. Creativity. Tiny pieces. Art. Hours and hours of intricate details.

Everything I saw was swallowed whole by me and the other visitors in a few ticks of the minute hand on our watches.

Hours of labor representing years of design were gobbled up in one swoop by my finite mind and my tendency to keep in motion.

I lacked focus that day.

But it is only through focus that we can go deeper.

In our culture, we want bigger and better and more. Keep moving. Take in more. It can actually steal our future.

While all along, what we need is to learn how to focus better.

Actually, kids tend to be better at this than adults. Kids often do take time to smell the flowers while we want to hurry them along to the park. Isn’t that true?

What I want to remind you of today is the importance of taking time to focus on what is the most important thing to accomplish each day…each hour…each minute even.

We all have a lot of good things going on – lots of things to be involved in. Every day we have to choose – we have to choose between the good and the best. And we have to be diligent to avoid all the distractions that try to steal our focus away.

Here is a simple idea on how to focus better:

Take a piece of paper and across the top, list five categories of themes in your life – the five most important things that you are passionate about – that you are called to do. Then add one more category: “other.”

My five are:

1. Personal (spiritual, physical, mental) 

2. Family&Friends (includes ministry)

3. Business  (for me, it is Shaklee)

4. Writing

5. Marketing (social media, videos)

and then the addition of Other.

As I decide what to do each day/hour, it is important that the choice fits into one of these categories. These categories serve as a filter for me.

Ideally, 95% of my time should be in the five main categories.

The “other” category which would include social media interactions, watching videos/webinars, and other such discretionary options, should only take up 5% of my time. In a perfect world. And my world is not perfect yet!

But I am working on it and this resource is helping me learn to focus better.

Just like how the bombardment to my brain of the exquisite dollhouses paralyzed me and numbed me to the intricate beauty, so all the myriad of resources, advice, important things to do, fantastic things to watch, etc. can keep me from successfully accomplishing anything other than a great big juggling act.

We live in a sped up society with more information available to us in a nano second than ever before.

It is imperative that we take action to focus on the most important thing and shield ourselves from being sucked into the constant distractions.

Lysa TerKeurst says in The Best Yes, “If you live in the stress of an overwhelmed schedule, you will often ache with the sadness of the underwhelmed soul.”

In Luke 10:42, when speaking with Martha about Mary not helping her in the kitchen, Jesus said: “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Learn to focus on the best that God has for you. In His plan, you have a part to play. That is what you want to focus on.

What has helped you learn how to focus better?

P.S. I received an email from Casey Hicks who recommended the book The One Thing. I checked it out because I am very eager to hone in on focusing better in my life.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, but there is no additional charge to you.

First published: November 2013

Updated: September 2018