FOCUS ALIGNED
Looking far ahead is good, Vision is the most important. But there is something more urgent.
Let me take you to an emergency room:
A patient comes in from a road traffic accident and they have a dislocated shoulder, an open fracture on their tibia and wait, they are in shock.
The dislocated shoulder and tibia are very important- as a matter of fact because it is an open fracture it is classified as an emergency. But there is something more emergent and that is sustaining the life of this patient. In this particular case the patient is in hypovolemic shock due to excessive blood loss. After securing the spine, clearing the airway and assessing breathing put in at least two large bore cannulas and start fluid resuscitation on this patient while doing a GXM for blood to be transfused and stopping and visible bleeding .
Yes, the leg and shoulder are important- but they are not immediate.
In the previous post I wrote about writing down the vision on the scroll so that the herald may run with it. So, the next thing should obviously be- start running! Right?
Well yeah, that is if the vision is something that you can do immediately.
But the foolish trap we get in to with all this resolution, “new year new me” nonsense is that we tend to look at life as a sprint instead of a marathon. If we run with only a 100 meter mindset the next few kilometers are going to be more than a little tiresome and seemingly impossible to run.
So yes, get the vision and the right perspective, though that’s not your immediate next step. Though it does inform the patterns of your next step.
The vision shows direction and highlights what is important.
Then, what is immediate? The vision is on the scroll- what next before we run?
We need to get our focus in check.
Focus and vision are the same thing though right? Kabs did you just have nothing else to post today? Nah hun, these two are very different. Allow me to quote myself from my valedictorian speech:
“A vision is a goal that with intentionality and determination is eagerly pursued” – S.I. Kimani
Sawa doc, then how would you describe focus?
“Focus is a mindset that drives and maintains you on the path that eventually leads you towards that final goal (actualization of the vision)” – S.I Kimani
Focus gets you going on course and keeps you there, deterring you from distractions and deviations that will defer you from finally arriving at the eventual vision. Allow me to google the definitions as well kindly.
Vision- the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.
Focus- an act of concentrating interest or activity on something.
According to the Oxford dictionary (Personally I prefer my definitions, lol)
Vision is the overall picture, focus is the concentrated current activity. Vision is the then, Focus is the now.
So how do we then align our focus without maligning our vision. I find that doing an honest analysis through intentional questions helps bring clarity to focus. Here are a few questions:
What is your inlet?
Or more directly put: what/who is your source?
I will talk on strength another day, this isn’t it. Who is our origin and point of contact? I hated physics but it ended up being a subject I did all the way to A-levels, one of the major concepts I learned is about the conversion of energy. Energy can not be created but it can be converted. And also the equation of conversion from potential to kinetic energy P.E.=K.E. mgh=½mv². So, if there is no new energy and it is all being converted that means we all have an origin and source outside ourselves. Because if our only source is ourselves our source is limited. But I’ll get into that another time. How does source have a place in focus? Well because it determines the lenses through which we look through.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,” – Hebrews 12:2a
Looking through the lenses of our source brings clarity. It allows us to answer all the following questions with an acuity of vision that we otherwise wouldn’t have. Another thing that Fixing our eyes on Jesus does is gives you shelter and refuge- I’ve been reading Psalms this January and I love how when there is chaos around David is still pushing on ahead towards the vision because he knows that his Source is also His shelter and when he’s in the presence of problems he’s assured that it does not mean the absence of purpose.
Finally knowing your source and fixing your eyes on Jesus gives you a standard that will determine the pattern of how you run forward. It will give you a code of ethics and moral standing yes, but it will also give you a threshold that you cannot go under and that is the standard of excellence.
“ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” -Colossians 3:23
Because you are not focused on pleasing mere men but on pleasing your Lord. Because you are not working with lenses of now and a lateral obstructed perspective but operating from a vertical perspective you elevate everything that you do to meet the standard required of your source and you are determined in all you do because you fixed your focus.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
2. What is immediate?
Looking at the example of the patient “C” and “D” were important (Circulation and Disability). But the immediate thing as stated by the guidelines is that we should first address C before we move on to look at D- and this is not because of their alphabetical order. You may deal with the shoulder very well, clean the fracture site and have the X-rays done and have the patient be rushed into theatre but the patient would probably not even be accepted by the anesthetist because what good is it operating on a patient who is no longer with us. Supporting life is what is an immediate concern in this patient. Inserting at least two Cannulas and getting your NS or Ringers running and a GXM done, stopping any obvious blood loss, etc are your first priority. Get them out of shock because it is life threatening.
This conclusion is only drawn by thoroughly examining the patient first. If the due process in initial examination isn’t done important indicators may be missed and the due process of management disrupted.
What is the reality of where you are presently?
The first question asked in the bible and the first exam flunked by mankind: where are you?
Gen 3:9
You can only make an informed decision of what your immediate next step is by first addressing your current reality.
I did this reality check once I got home from seeing my folks. I did a life audit- a financial, social and spiritual reality check. I know where I want to be, but I also need to know where I presently am. Honestly, I didn’t like some of those realities but hun I have to face them because they mark my starting point.
Any athlete who runs a race from a line other than the indicated starting line is immediately disqualified in the Olympics. The first thing that has to be aligned for your focus is your viewing point- get onto the starting line. Know where you are presently.
This will then show you what is immediate. For example, you may want to invest into a new business but currently you are two months late on your rent. Yes, your vision is to impact the business community but if your focus isn’t aligned first to your present reality you are going to be impacting them from the sidewalks of the city.
Is there an open vessel bleeding that needs to be clamped? Is there a pooling wound that needs to be packed? Is there an area in your life that needs resuscitation first just to remain alive? I know for quite a few people faith is the first thing that needs to be resuscitated in 2020.
So
Where are you?
Where are you financially? Where are you emotionally, how is your mental health? Where are you career wise? Where are you in terms of purpose and ministry? Where are you socially? How are your relationships? Where are you spiritually? How is your personal relationship with God? And now you know where you are in those areas of life and where you want to be eventually in the year and years to come you can make informed choices about your immediate next steps.
You can bring your goals closer to your lenses, because anything beyond a certain distance becomes blurry- typically our eyes are not made to see that far. But once things come a bit closer, we can see the signposts that lead us there.
3. What is irrelevant?
That is whatever is not attached to the vision.
Hustle harder right? Wrong- hustle smarter.
Let’s go back to the patient. I would need to do investigations on them in order to properly manage them but in emergency cases there is one thing that is not on your side: time. So, I am not going to be doing certain investigations unless I see an indication for them.
For instance, I am not going to order a urinalysis for them. But I am going to order a Full blood count and trauma series X-ray (basically X-ray all the other limbs, ribs, pelvis, spine and skull) to rule out any other broken bones. If there is an indication, I may end up requesting a urinalysis, but that is not a priority test in this case. Imagine asking for TFT’s, LFT’s and CA125 levels in a RTA patient- apart from wasting money what you’ve also done is waste time in the immediate management. In the present state of the patient those are irrelevant.
I learnt this lesson in June 2019. I realized that I had wasted an entire month working hard and dumb. Yeah I said it. I was out all day most days until about 10 pm getting things done. Whenever I was at home I was always busy, locking myself in my room and requesting no interruptions. But friend if you asked me one thing that bore permanent fruit out of that period? I can barely list any. Yet, I was exhausted from daily tiring myself out.
You yield no enduring fruit from hard dumb work. It’s hard smart work that counts.
That is what I did in my last month in China (the country I studied in).
In that month I prayed a prayer I wish I did at the beginning of the year: God shut every doorway that needs to be shut. Doorways of distraction and deviation. Not every opportunity is from God, sometimes it’s the devil simply wasting your time, energy and resources. Learning to identify that and cut out everything unnecessary has been such a burden lifter for me because now I do less of what I don’t need to and have more time energy and resources to focus on what I do.
The irrelevant will exhaust you because it will demand a lot from you, it will come in a package of necessity and opportunity when in reality it is just a drain. That is what irrelevant things in your life are- a drain.
Please note here that I have deliberately not mentioned people because personally I do not believe that people are irrelevant and cutting people off because they have no present benefit to you says more about your personal character than where either of you are going, hmm- I may discuss friendship sometime in 2020 but I digress.
I have lost money investing in businesses that I really didn’t care for, I have lost sleep working on projects that were honestly purposeless, I have wasted time doing things that other people could do better, more efficiently and more willingly than me but just because I am stubborn and didn’t want to let go of an opportunity I stubbornly did it and tired myself out in the process. Last year I actually participated in a whole committee that I honestly had no energy to be part of nor was I in a position to be.
I’m so glad that I’ve learnt to say no and stick to it. If it is not relevant to the vision, growth, life, purpose I’m sorry I don’t have time for it.
Basically, set your priorities in life and stick to them. This will allow you to concentrate your efforts and maximize the use of all of you.
"Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." - Hebrews 12:1b
4. What needs to be more intentional?
I posted on my WhatsApp status recently on Quality> Quantity.
Allow me to recycle some of my own words.
I remember going to a conference that was powerful and impactful that talked about more. That we want more in every area of our life. I got a lot from that conference and really do agree with that statement, but I realized that sometimes more is not better, but better is better. Allow me to use the illustration I had shared.
My mum had dressed me with some items from her closet two weeks ago and I loved the look- the Jacket I was wearing was thirty years old and at the time a bit costly- but better a slightly more expensive jacket that you can pull out of your closet three decades later in good condition than five different jackets that would barely last the year let alone the month, one ends up wasting more money like that. I have literally had five different new pumps (flat shoes) get broken in the same month. The combined price of those would have got me two pumps that would have lasted me many years. Quality over quantity every time.
How to apply this principle to our lives?
The key thing over quantity and having more is “strengthening your stakes.”
"Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.” Isaiah 54:2
We often focus solely on the beginning of this verse which is about enlarging but the truth is a larger building needs a deeper foundation. I love how the Berean Study Bible puts it:
“Enlarge the site of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not hold back. Lengthen your ropes and drive your stakes deep.” Isaiah 54:2
Our stakes need to go deeper so that we can go wider.
I remember seeing my wonderful view of the beach get obstructed by the current practical skills laboratory at my previous university. It used to be a basketball court, after clearing what was there, they came in with trucks, drills and cement and they dug deep holes and filled each with cement. I later learnt that when building the depth of the foundation is determined by the height of the building. So, if you want to go further you must first dig deeper.
Let me apply this practically.
I do want to spend more time with God, but I first want the time that I already do spend with Him to be worthwhile. Because multiplying anything by zero equals zero. Before trying to increase add value to what already exists. Not just mindlessly reading huge portions of scripture but meditating on and digesting smaller portions and extrapolating what Gods timeless word is presently saying to me.
My sister said it best the other night (Sorry I’m stealing your words Wamz)
“I don’t want more friendships but deeper friendships with my people”
Honey I’m stealing that. I don’t want to add people to my disfunction before making it functional. People in my circle get ready because this year we are going deeper than before, being realer than ever before. If you have five people you consider close friends but you truly can’t share with them any of your reality, you can’t wake them up to pray with you, you can’t not be okay in front of them and you want to solve this by getting five more friends is that really helping the situation? No, this year I am going deep before going wide.
Am I opposed to ‘new friends’? Honestly no- but I am more inclined to better, richer and more meaningful relationships.
Before I get more money I want to be a better manager of the money that I already have, yes a better manager of what is presently there because if I get more I’m just going to end up wasting more. I want to apply wisdom on the less so I know the more will not magically disappear from my bank account.
Before I get more responsibility in life e.g a relationship (with a human and not food, though food is forever bae) kids (both physical and spiritual), I want to be a good steward of myself now. Is my house in order before I have to build and run an entire household?
Aligning our focus allows us to be faithful in little before we can be entrusted with more.
"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” – Luke 16:10 NIV
5. What is most important?
After going to the correct starting line, removing unnecessary obstacles, focusing your time energy and resources correctly – we need to move! I have correctly examined the patient but if I don’t intervene all my efforts are worthless. Fixing your focus also encapsulates determined movement.
Take the step with near signposts. Doing what is presently important first in order to achieve and arrive at what is of eventual importance.
Don’t loose your ultimate vision in the process. But go through the process to achieve it- Do what your next signpost says. Signposts dear, what are you on about?
After adjusting your perspective to your current position align your next steps accordingly.
If you are two months behind on rent, have no job or savings and want to impact the business community- the SMART thing to do is to first get a job and pay off your rent as you plan and save for whatever business you intend on opening. Not going onto KCB lions den and pitching your non researched and solely on paper idea.
Or going back to our patient we don’t just end on “C” but we have to address the important dislocated shoulder and also the open fracture. As the Medical Officer in casualty you will have to prepare the patient for theater, the patient needs the stages of management to be followed. This patient will probably need an ORIF (medical jargon, I’m sorry people), followed by observation and then a repeat X-ray done etc. basically there are stages of management before we finally arrive at our end goal and that is a completely healthy patient.
So, plan your important next moves after resuscitation. Let these next moves be SMART
Specific- not general “ I want to be to every area of your life in accordance with your vision.
Measurable – so progress can be quantified and easily recognized
Attainable- have an unrealistic beyond you vision but achievable current step
Relevant- to the vision and God given purpose
Time bound- short term limits is more beneficial for focus but with a long term objective
I said don’t write out vague, repeated, short sighted resolutions this year- but I never said that you should plan for it. For the vision to be achieved there must be God guided planning done.
The game changer is that you are not seeing December 2020 but life 20XX Depending on how long it will take for the vision to be finally realized and your next steps in the year 2020 are heavy with purpose and your plan is with an ultimate direction.
A change in plan is unremarkable but a change in mindset is life altering. Change your midset, Align your focus in 2020.
Even as your focus is aligned:
Don’t get stuck
So stuck in where you are that when God says move you don’t. Don’t loose the ultimate vision while focusing on the now execution. David didn’t reject the palace when he got comfortable with his people in a cave. Ladies don’t get so stuck in singleness that when a guy comes along you’re too busy in your season. Don’t reject the next stage God wants to take you to- be spiritually alert.
Don’t be stubborn
In letting go. One of my biggest mistakes last year is that I refused to let go of something I knew was not for me. Actually, several things and in that I wasted so much and all of it was still taken at the end. Save yourself the time trouble and hassle. Just let go boo.
Don’t be stingy
With yourself just because you are being focused. Knowing your people is not an excuse to be rude to the new people who want to be around you. Knowing your calling doesn’t mean you reject every offer of service every invitation and solely do things that only align with the vision.
That makes you two things- the first is calculative that is you place value on people and things only on the basis on mutual benefit and finally that makes you stingy. You never know where some places, people and areas of service will take you and what God wants to do in and through you in them. Seek His will first, don’t be stingy- it is hard for God to use stingy people.
Don’t forget to start
Ready set go!
Where to? Follow the last instruction God gave diligently while making steps to where he is calling you.
27/366 already done- 2020 let's get it!
