Set the alarm on your mobile 'phone or your laptop for a couple of hours from now. When it rings, ask yourself:

"Is what I've just been doing the best thing that I could be doing, at that moment in time, given what I want to achieve?"

We all need to keep ourselves on a tight rein because we so easily drift.

A DAY ABOUT DOING

A salutory tale! I recently read an article about how French car salespeople treat potential customers - the writer reported how people on the verge of signing up for a new car were told to come back after the all-important lunch-break - not an uncommon occurance in France.

When we moved house a couple of years back, we visited a furniture shop. In mid discussion with the shop's owner about the various pieces we wanted to buy, she announced: "It's ten to twelve - let's continue this discussion mid-afternoon". We didn't.

But I drove past her shop this morning which is closed down and boarded up!

Sporting analogies are often used to describe how best we should focus. And, when it comes to team performance in an organization, the temptation for such analogies is almost irresistible! But, if you think about it, the analgy breaks down pretty quickly. If you're a professional sports person, you have clearly defined goals and objectives - long-term, short-term and in the moment; you know exactly why you are performing a specific task or doing a particular training task. And, when you play to win, you know that that is what you're doing; you know that you have to focus for a finite amount of time.

Everyday life is not like this. You have to focus for more than the time it takes to swim 200 metres, kick a field goal or penalty, serve in tennis or hit a tee shot. You're not sure if you're playing to win or if your team colleagues are on the same side. And you probably have no big picture - like winning the league, cup or medal - that guides you in everything that you do. In everyday life, you may not even know what sport you're supposed to be playing!

That is why it so much more difficult to focus in everyday life than it is for ninety minutes, two halves, four quarters or a couple of sets of tennis, rounds of golf or lengths of a swimming pool. Life is an all-day, everyday sport - and we often aren't quite sure why we're playing it.

Until you're sure, you cannot play the game of life to the best of your ability. You need to be sure what turns you on, what you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it. You need to know what your priorities are, the difference between important and urgent. Above all, you need to have a goal that you're passionate about. Without passion, there is no real living. You need to be clear in your mind what it would look and feel like to achieve what you want to achieve. If you don't have that clarity, how are you going to achieve what you don't know you want?