Over the years, time and time again, research has confirmed how we make life difficult for ourselves. All the way back in the 1930s, research confirmed that our subconscious mind always - not sometimes, always - gets in the way of what we are consciously and deliberately trying to do. Again, research has established that, if you try to achieve something that is contrary to your own beliefs about yourself, you have no chance of succeeding. And, most recently, neuroscience has established that there is a significant difference in the brain power used by a focused person compared to someone who, operating from a normal unfocused state of mind, is trying to perform the same task... the focused person uses far less brain power!

A couple of questions arise. Why do we make life difficult for ourselves? What is focus and how can we develop it?

The human brain has evolved to run on automatic - it's how we muddle through the day. Automaticity requires direction and that is provided for us by our stored knowledge - what we "know" about the world and ourselves - stuff that we learned, through formative experience, in our childhood. Our stored knowledge may be correct or incorrect but, either way, it has little to do with our adult life today - it distances us from the reality of the moment and prevents our being able to focus. Focus is, simply, paying full attention to what you're doing - an impossible task for a mind automatically diverted by stored knowledge. Focus is directed by what we want of the current moment - and, once again, our wants are filtered through how we feel about ourselves based on our stored knowledge.

It's not difficult to understand that focus doesn't come naturally - yet it is something that we can all learn with relative ease. Research has established that meditation not only develops focus but enables the mind coordinate itself to ensure that you do just what you need to do, in the very best way, to get you to where you want to go. Operating in this way, life - regardless of the challenge - becomes relatively effortless. Meditation will make your life so much easier.

Around this time of year, many years ago, myself and my wife, Lisa, spend a most enjoyable night at a fancy dress party... something that is particularly seasonal with Holloween upon us. We were particularly struck by how some of the partygoers behaved differently when in disguise. One lady - normally very quiet, almost afraid of her own shadow - was completely uninhibited as she pranced around the room issuing orders to people. For the record, this was before the alcohol kicked in!!!

It was - and, to this day, still is - a stand out example of how adopting a persona, in this case, quite literally, wearing a mask, "enables" us or, perhaps, liberates us from our own misgivings about ourselves.

This Holloween, however, I have a challenge for you: if you're invited to a fancy dress party, go as yourself! In fact, never mind Halloween - when you go into work tomorrow, go as yourself - when you stand up to make that all important presentation, be yourself - when you attempt to motviate and inspire others, do it as yourself.

Your Self - the one that's been hiding behind a lifetime's mask - will not just enable you achieve the apparently unachievable - it will empower those around you too. Armed with such a recipe for success, who can fail?