• “Words that Change... Focus” - by Scott V. Black, CEO
• New Leadership Adventure Dates...
• Making a Difference - Jason Jacobs, Team 532
• Empower U International is Looking for Committed People to Join the Renaissance
• My Word Coach - Food and Toys...

“Words that Change... Focus”

By Scott V. Black

Hello Empower U Leadership Team!

Life is so incredible, there is so much going on. Today we are continuing in the series, “Words that Change.” Today we are going to be talking about Focus.

A lot of our successes or “lessons” in life are the bi-product of our focus. In real estate they say the key to making money is three simple points; Location, Location, Location. Let me suggest that one of the keys to your successes in life, relationships, business, your spiritual life is the location, location, location… of your focus. Focused in the right direction, you can change the world. When you live life like it Maters... It Does!

Notice the focus. When you live life like you are “on purpose,’ like it is a gift, you can inspire others to live a better life. You positively alter other peoples' lives.

However, to do any of those listed above you must be in the driver’s seat of your focus. Most successful people can focus, well, in at least one area of their life.

Focus is NOT Accidental

Did you know, the number one cause for accidents on the job sight is ‘lack of focus?’ The lack of focus causes pain, suffering, lost productivity… lost opportunity!

Think about the lack of focus in our personal lives and the consequence of such “shortsightedness.” Lack of focus might also be the number cause for lives that were lived “off mark”… so many people, “Missing the Mark!”

We come home from a long day at work, and everything our family does frustrates us and we snap… That is a lack of focus, of what “really matters.” We have a great marriage and we are going through some tough times, so we focus on how tough it is and how he/she doesn’t treat us as good as he/she does…

The quality of your focus dictates the quality of your activities, which ultimately dictates… who you become in this world. When you live your life like it matters, it will… Depending on your focus, Life Matters, so you act “as if,” and you make it so.

Focus Magnifies Your Efforts

When we were little kids we would take a magnifying glass and we would focus the sunlight through the glass and direct the energy to the ground. When the circle of “energy” on the ground was large, it lacked focus, nothing happened. When the “energy” on the ground was focused into a fine point… burn, baby, burn!

Imagine the power of that focus in our lives. What are you focused on? Is your focus on auto pilot, or are you in the driver’s seat? Where is the majority of your energy, thoughts and activities directed?

Answer that question and you will know what your primary focus is. The Good Lord put the eyes in the front of our faces. So we move in the direction we are looking and look in the direction we are moving. My focus, dictates my direction!

You can either be focused on living your mission, great opportunities and lessons to be learned or you can focus on the troubles of the world and the ways and times you have been wronged. Life is not fair! Get used to it.

Read any good book, written from the truth and it will tell you life is not fair… sometimes to our advantage and sometimes to our detriment! Sometimes, life is unfair in our favor… sometimes not.

Usually we have no control over those things, but we can control our focus no matter the outcome. John Maxwell says, ”You can’t control what happens ‘to’ you, but you can control what happens ‘in’ you!” If you think about it… it is a focus issue.

Transitions Help Us Focus

Just recently Dennis Huff and Empower U ended our working relationship. I wish Dennis well in whatever he does.

The reason for the departure really came down to focus. We were focused on different things, different values, and different missions… a different focus. It was like having two people on different busses pretending to be on the same bus.

Before my focus was on “this not working.” Now my focus is on the benefits of the short term relationship. It was a great learning experience and, if this was part of what it takes to go to the next level, then it was a great learning.

Where is my focus? It is a conscious choice to focus on the benefits of the relationship and not “the other stuff.”

Focus Gives Us Choices

If you think about it we all have a choice on what we focus on.

If you might allow me to over-simplify things, basically we have two choices. We can focus on moving forward and doing something today that will reap some rewards for tomorrow. Or we can focus on all the things that you can’t change, that you can’t control…  what others did to us, oil prices and the economy, life’s not fair…

Where are your thoughts, energies, desires… where are they focused? Where you direct that energy, in other words, ‘what you do,’ that ultimately it dictates who you are.

In Leadership Adventure we introduce you to the 3 R’s of Survival; Resentment, Resistance, and Regret! Take the focus of “survival” and stir in the human emotion that runs amok in our lives, “FEAR,” and you have a life that cannot be ‘purpose driven.’ A life of worry, excuses and missed opportunities comes from this focus, or shall I say lack of focus?

Focus Keeps Us On Track

The Good Lord put the eyes in the front of our faces. That means we move in the direction we are looking and look in the direction we are moving. My focus dictates my direction! If I am worried all the time and focused on all the wrong things, what type of activity, energy, emotions come from that focus?

As you know I am learning Spanish. The word for “Worry” in Spanish is “Preocupado.” When you worry you are “preoccupied.”

I hit the synonym button on my computer for “preoccupied” and here are the words it gave me:

• distant
• lost in thought
• in a world of your own
• worried

Tell me anything great and lasting that has been built with those words? If your life matched, or matches, those words, let me suggest you have a location, location, location problem. In other words… the location of your thoughts is not good…

The good news is the solution to your problem is an easy one! Change the location, location, location! If you don’t like the results change the approach… change your focus.

Going from Good to Great

I just finished listening to the audio book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins. It is an outstanding book and one of the most famous parts of the book has to do with a metaphor about a bus. He talks about getting the right people in the right seats on the bus.

In the past I realize I have been lackadaisically focused on just getting people on the bus, somebody please. Jim Collins tells us, that we need to get the ‘right people” on the bus.

The bus metaphor is a powerful one, because it is about all of us moving in the same direction. We move in the direction we are looking and look in the direction we are moving.

Being on the same bus is a metaphor for the team focused on the mission, the underlying direction of the organization. As a High Performance team, our focus dictates our direction!

Where are you headed individually, with your teams? Are you on course… do you know where you are going? Take a look at your focus.

Focusing vs. Worrying

One of my favorite quotes on worry is by an unknown source. It says, “Worrying is like paying interest payments on a debt you might NOT owe.”

I once heard someone say that the bible tells us almost 400 times to “Not Worry” to “Not Fear.” I can’t speak for God, but I know when you hear me say the same thing over and over… it is because I think you haven’t heard me yet. There was a reason God needs to remind us almost 400 times, not to worry.

Luke 12:22-31 is a great set of scripture on the issue of worry: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life...”

When we worry and become preoccupied with things that we can’t control, nor change… we miss the mark. We become the magnifying glass that transmits light, but does not create fire.

The Good Lord put the eyes in the front of our faces. So we move in the direction we are looking and look in the direction we are moving. My focus, dictates my direction! When I focus on what matters, what’s important, my mission… I set myself on fire. As the old saying goes, “Set yourself on fire with Enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn!”

Focus Controls Direction

Where is your focus? Are you in control, or are you on auto pilot… just surviving? One of the key ways to know is the last question. If you are not “consciously” setting your focus, then it is probably not as sharp as it can be.

I can’t prove this scientifically, but, I know I experience this in my life. When I let my focus go on auto pilot it usually goes negative. I can’t explain it; I just have noticed that pattern in my life.

That is one of the reasons why I like the Spanish word for focus, “Enfoque.” Enfoque is a better illustrator of the use of the word focus. Enfoque… or, “in focus.” When something is “in focus” it is sharper, cleaner, it is livelier… it is more active! The results of your life will be sharper, clearer, more impactful when you are consciously in control of your focus.

At Empower U we help people to focus and to refocus though our training. We do that through activities and processes, but we also do that through the many questions that we have you ask yourself. Questions like;

• Who are you?
• Why are you here?
• Where are you now?
• Where are you going?
• What will it take to get there?
• How long will it take?
• If today was your last day on this planet, did it matter?
• How do you want to be remembered when you are no longer on this planet?
• What is your purpose?

We are helping you to focus, or refocus on those things that will stir you up emotionally. That focus allows you to become emotionally involved in your life, which intensifies your focus on what you want and what is important.

That change in focus or getting you, “in focus,” causes you to do things differently… which cause a chain reaction of positive events and outcomes… That is how a changed life becomes changed… a change of focus!

The Key to Focusing

One of the key points about focus is that it guides your heart. Where you put your focus… your heart will gravitate. Where you focus, there you will find your heart. From your heart comes your passion.

That leads us into our sixth and final word for next time, Passion. Your passion is your treasure. In that same story in the book of Luke where Jesus calls us to ‘not worry,’ he ends the encouragement with a word about our focus. That part of the lesson is in Luke 12-31-34.

Consciously place your focus… then, your heart starts going there, then… activity starts going there, then… you create your life’s work, your life’s value… your treasure FROM YOUR LIFE.

The Question for Today

Today, you need to know the answer to this one question: Where is your focus? Where do you spend your thoughts, your time and your money? Are you building up treasures by living your life like it matters? Those treasures will last an eternity! Are your focused on where you have been, or where you are going? Are you focused on what you can do today to make a better day tomorrow? Or are you focused on what’s not right, what’s not working, what’s not fair?

We are all working perfectly. We are getting the results that we have programmed ourselves to get…  we are moving in the direction of our focus. If you don’t like the results, then change your focus. When you change your focus you can change your attitude, your activity, and your direction.

Who are you… why are you here… what do you want… how do you want to be eulogized when your time on this planet is over… will the world be at a loss when God calls you home… will you be remembered for your time on this earth by what you did… or by what you could have done?

These are important questions that allow for great possibilities… Depending on your focus, will it build or destroy? Burden or blessing, ‘have to’ or ‘get to,’ half full or half empty… 

Where is your focus? If it is not getting you what you want, then change your focus and remember…

When you live your life like it matters… It Does!

With Passion-HBS,

Scott V. Black
The Empower U International Leadership Team

New Leadership Adventure Dates

The Time is Now to Complete the Leadership Experience

We have new dates for Leadership Adventure. If you've been through Leadership Awakening, this is a perfect opportunity to finish the process of taking your leadership skills from 25 to 100.

“The feeling I have today after completing Adventure is difficult for me verbalize because words seem to be so much less extraordinary than the feeling itself.

“I feel as though I am “stretched” with my feet firmly planted in the most extremely rooted, power stance I have ever stood, my soul is soaring the universe, all the while my mind is fixated, focused on myself, my family, coworkers, community and my world at large. And even more than Awakening this feeling has the possibility of lasting a lifetime.

“My desire for building a future NOW has a plan, materials & a crew of skilled builders with a powerful and fearless leader.

Brandy Holmes
Air Systems of Sacramento

All Leadership Adventure classes take place on a beautiful ranch in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. The next scheduled dates are:

July 25-27 - Friday through Saturday - Spaces still available!

September 11-13 - Friday through Saturday

Call today to reserve your spot and get ready for the adventure of your lifetime! Complete the process you started in Awakening. Contact the Dallas office to enroll - (817) 478-1858.

Making a Difference - Jason Jacobs, Team 532

The training has made a difference in my life and more importantly in my marriage.

My wife and I have struggled during the last few months. Yesterday for the first time in a long time my wife looked at me and told me that I make her happy. Words I have wanted to hear for far too long.

It’s funny all I had to do was stop and actually listen to what she wanted instead of doing what I assumed she needed. She went on to tell me that she has really seen a change in how I treat her and more importantly my son.

A marriage that once saw fights everyday has now seen a whole new level of communication.

Empower U International is Looking for Committed People to Join the Renaissance

Make an Even Bigger Difference

If you'd like to make a powerful difference in the world, we may have the opportunity for you. We're looking for people to fill two positions:

1. Enrollment Officer in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to help prospective students understand more about our classes by answering their questions and helping them enrolled in class. You'll learn a time-tested and highly effective sales process as well as work with motivated and empowered people helping make the world a better place one person at a time.
2. We're also looking for part-time trainers who will commit to one weekend a month in exchange for becoming a powerful trainer using our proprietary teaching techniques. You'll learn by doing in actual class situations and be part of making a powerful difference in the lives of those in class.

If you're ready to step over the line and join the Empower U International Renaissance, call the Dallas office at (817) 478-1858.

My Word Coach

Can you figure it out?

We commonly use words and phrases that have old meanings. Often we aren't even aware of where those words came from.

Twice a month we'll be giving you a hint about word and a phrase and ask you to guess what the word or phrase is. Of course we'll be giving you the answers, but do yourself a favor and see if you can get the answer before clicking on the link.

Have fun!

Question #1: English Earl, John Montague loved to gamble. In fact, he couldn't be bothered to leave the tables even for meals. As a result he had his meat served to him between two slices of bread. Other people saw this and adopted the practice. The food he invented was named after him (or more specifically, his title of nobility). What is the food?

Question #2: President Theodore Roosevelt liked to hunt. On one expedition the people hunting with him held a cub to the ground so he would be sure to not miss the shot. Being a sporting man, Roosevelt refused to shoot the cub and when the word got around a toymaker created a special stuffed toy in his honor. What is the name of that toy? 

See the answers by clicking here.