How to find your focus when it seems lost

What do you do when your get up and go has got up and gone?

Understanding the Importance of Focus and Purpose

There have been several times in my life when I’ve felt I’ve hit all my goals and I would be lost for a bit, as I determined my next steps. I don’t do well with status quo. We, as human beings are designed to keep BEing, to have a lifeblood that continues to stir us forward and I know for a fact that people who have purpose live longer, are happier and inspire those around them to do the same. I find myself intuitively trying to find my focus if I feel derailed for any reason. I’m not happy unless I have one. 

That sense of purpose gives you your “get up and go” in the morning, it inspires you to move about your days with ease,  and these are the people who truly make the world go around. Whether you’re focused on raising your children, providing for your family, caring for an aging parent, or launching a new enterprise, having a focus and a purpose is key to leading a happy and healthy life.

But what if you find yourself lost for a bit? What if all that get up and go, got up and went?

I see it everyday – in clients who come to me after losing their job, in mothers whose children have headed off to school or moved out, in young people who have graduated high school or university and are lost as to what to do next, and in professionals mid-life who have lost their spark for their work.

Techniques to Regain Focus When You Feel Lost

Beyond the “walk in the snow” (a reference to former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s “walk in the snow” before his decision to step down from running for office again) it seems time to pull out my own process that I developed years ago – and currently teach to my private and retreat-attending clients:

The Alignment Equation:

Part fact, part thought, part intuition, part coaching, the Alignment Equation was designed to support myself, and then clients, on their journey to uncovering their best next steps. The original idea of having an equation for your life stemmed from my own experience, as a career-ambitious young mother who was looking for guidance on what was the optimal amount of time you should spend raising your children. I had worked hard for my career and I also found the pull of motherhood extremely strong. 

Maintaining Long-Term Motivation and Drive

I was confused. How could I marry my desire to be the best Mom I could be with the continued success of my corporate career? I didn’t have any role models for this, growing up in small town Canada with a stay-at-home Mom and lots of family around to keep a young child company.

And so the idea of an equation was born – how much time was optimal for a child’s development? How much time did I need to spend at work? Unfortunately, my original equation idea was flawed as I forgot myself in the midst of all this, only thinking of those I wanted to serve – or please – around me.

The new and improved Alignment Equation includes:

Your Values + Your Goals + Your Hopes & Dreams = Your Alignment Equation

And most importantly YOU – you are at the centre of your Alignment Equation. 

I created a free resource for you to help you create your own Alignment Equation and to walk you through some of these tough decisions. You can find it here.

Values
The key secret in this equation development is being sure of your values.  Once you have those locked down, you can easily make decisions from there, knowing what’s most important to you. The real challenge comes when those values conflict with each other. This can be hard – really hard. 
I help you walk through this in the free workbook I have attached to this blog post. 

Priorities
This is almost easy – you probably have a long list of these – things you’d like to do, things you “have” to do, the people you love to serve, the job you have to go to, the tasks on your “to do” list.  I rarely have to work on this for long with my clients. They know what’s on this list. 

Hopes & Dreams
This is where your future comes in. It’s not your present. It’s your future. What do you hope for? What’s your longing? What do you hope to achieve, be, travel to or become some day? These often take time. They take courage; they take commitment, and they’re not easy. That’s why they’re called hopes and dreams. They’re not your every day. There’s space for those too, in your Alignment Equation worksheet.

Setting Clear and Achievable Goals

Most importantly – and this can be really hard for many – you need to quiet your mind. Get connected with your thoughts and become resonant with your choices. I can give you all the worksheets in the world, but if you can’t quiet your mind and guide yourself to these answers, you could probably use the help of a coach, friend or really good questioner who can also listen – to what’s not being said.

The Alignment Equation – it’s the core of all the work I do with my clients, whether executive, leadership, business or personal – once you get to the root of the answers to these questions, you can make decisions for life.

If you’d like to learn more, let’s set up a chat. 

And in the meantime, I’ll leave you with these words.

If you are aligned to yourself – you are aligned to all aspects of your life. Here’s to Aligned Decision-Making. It will make finding your focus so much easier.

To your success,