Focus

I was at the casino the other day playing poker (no limit holdem). Within fifteen minutes, I made $240. In the next five hours, I made a total of $340. My strategy was to stay focus, play smart, calculate risk, and play only solid hands. After five hours, I was feeling tired, my ego was high from winning, I felt like I was playing with free money, and that’s when everything went down hill.

I played 90% of my hands dealt. I played really loose. I was making stupid calls, stupid bluffs, and stupid bets. Overall, I was playing stupid. I wasn’t focused anymore. After about one hour, I lost everything. I was bummed out, hating myself, and filled with regrets. The good thing is that I almost always win money in the first two hours of playing poker because I’m a very conservative player. But I almost always start to loose money as soon as I loose focus.

I found this lesson to be so universal in everything else we set off to do. Whether it’s loosing weight, starting a business, finding ways to make money, getting rid of bad habits, or doing something productive for the next hour. There are so many things that we let get in the way. If I set my mind on something, I have to focus, be on top, and go all the way. If I make excuses, I loose momentum, loose focus, and everything halts from there.

I believe now that the real secret to success is to stick with it and focus. I think most of us have a good chance of reaching whatever we want, but loosing focus along the way is what makes us fall off track. Stay focus.

Raymond

Raymond is the co-founder and co-author of AwfulMind!