Your focus...needs more focus

When Julie was in fourth grade, she participated in the spelling bee at her school. She was nervous. In our conversations leading up to the big day, she would often say she just didn't want to get out on her first word.

She studied the words and prepared as best she could. Unbeknownst to me, her anxiety about being the first one out was pretty substantial. She was focused on two things...not misspelling her first word, and not being the first student to get out. She even prayed about this, pleading with God to prevent those two things from happening to her.

The spelling bee came. I came to school to watch, cheering her on. The first few kids came up to the microphone and spelled everything perfectly. It was Julie's turn next. She walked to the microphone and waited for her first word. I scarcely breathed as she slowly spelled it out...wrong.

The OOF! bell rang, and Julie's face fell. Her eyes filled with bitter tears as she hustled off the stage. She wouldn't make eye contact with me. Her nightmare had occurred! She spelled her first word wrong, and she was the first kid out of the spelling bee.

I didn't realize until she came home that day how extensive the devastation truly was. Her heart was broken, and her perfect faith in God was shattered. It was a hard couple of weeks.

Julie and the rest of the spelling bee participants

Last year, we found ourselves having a little bit more time together than normal. We decided to try mountain biking...er, trail biking here in Texas. We looked up some local trails and just went for it.

We were having so much fun! We loved the trails, but I was having a bit of trouble. There are lots of tree roots on the trail, and some of them were really big! I noticed that I was hitting every. single. one. I wasn't trying to bike over them, but somehow I could not avoid them. Unfortunately, I was running over rocks and smacking into trees as well. Ouch. By the end of our first ride, I was pretty confident I was not doing it right.

I texted my brothers, both of whom are actual mountain bikers. I asked if you are supposed to be hitting all the rocks and tree roots? I admitted that I could see the obstacles, and would try to avoid them, but I hit them instead.

Jeff texted me back and said this:

"Your bike will follow your eyes. If you look at a root trying not to hit it, you'll hit it. Look where you want to go. If you want to hit a gap between two rocks, look at the gap."

Oh man. What great advice he gave! While I'm still a beginner, my trail rides became much more fun, and easier on my bike, too.

Don't mind our sweaty, red faces. Summer in Texas is HOT, y'all.

Julie's spelling bee disaster and my trail riding escapades both illustrate the problem with focusing on what you don't want to happen; the result you were trying to avoid is the result you get. Instead, focus on what you want to happen and where you want to go! Then, take the steps you need to get there. It makes sense, right?

In 2010, a remake of The Karate Kid was released. At one point, Mr. Han hilariously teaches the young Dre Parker that his focus needs more focus. It's a great scene.

If you are hitting a lot of tree roots right now, maybe your focus just needs more focus.