Focus

Where should be point our focus?

I was doing Swiss ball passes the other day. It’s an exercise that involves the passing of a Swiss ball, aka a stability ball, between your hands and your feet as you lie on the ground in a hollow body position. During the movement I noticed that my attention was on the movement of my legs and arms, and not the ball. And, for the first time, this seemed odd to me, so I adjusted and tracked the ball.

Immediately after I locked onto the ball with my eyes I noticed that my form improved. Even as the ball went out of sight above my head, my form stayed dialed in. It turns out that the location of the ball is far more important in this exercise than where I, and how I, move my arms and legs. Knowing where the ball was fed my brain the information it needed to figure out the best position to put my body in. Trying to move my arms and legs correctly, and following their movement, was actually a distraction.

When I observe something like this, it makes me wonder where else in my life this type of behavior might be occurring, and causing more strain than it should. Where else in my life can I use this same logic to improve? Where else in my life am I being distracted while thinking I’m paying attention? Where else in my life could correcting my focus help put me in a better position to succeed? What minor adjustment could I make that would help get things done more efficiently with less effort and better results?