relax focus success

Yes, these things all work together to make you more successful.

Chances are you, you don't think of these activities together -- You don't see them as being related to one another.  Perhaps Focus and Success.  But Relaxation?

The Philosophy

My premise is simple but powerful:  I believe the fundamental keys to success are Focus, Hard Work, and Balance.  "Success literature" is full of Focus and Hard Work but shy on emphasizing Balance.

Without Relaxation, without balance, work cannot be successful.  You cannot be successful without balance.  Sometimes you have tonot work.  Sometimes you have to give yourself the gift of enjoying your life.  And when you do this, consciously aware that you're giving yourself this gift, then you achieveclarity:  Your Focus becomes sharper, your work more meaningful, and your Success that much closer.

I placeRelaxfirst because it is the most important and most neglected element.  Only when you learn to relax and bring balance to your life will you be truly successful.

Focusis second because it is the driving force in everything we do and everything we achieve.  If you focus on watching television, you master watching television; if you focus on your children you will be an excellent parent; if you focus on money you will attain money; if you focus on being a better person, you become a better person.

And if you want to be an excellent parent with enough money to send your kids to college and retire without worrying about paying the bills?  Then we're back to Balance -- learning to relax and bring the competing elements of your life together in harmony.

The unspoken element isHard Work.  This is not in the title because it's the one element everyone should know about.  I say "should."  Unsuccessful people think they can attain their goals without working.  They believe they can get rich quick, read a book and straighten out their relationships in an afternoon, or lose weight by taking a sugar pill.  I suspect these are the same people who buy hair in a spray can and order diet cola with their super-sized Mondo Burger.

The final element isSuccess.  Success is not money, although having money is one kind of success on which we frequently focus.  Success is attainingyour goals.  Money is often a means to attaining goals, but reflection will tell us that money is never a goal unto itself.  Money helps us take vacations, buy toys, enjoy our hobbies, lavish gifts on the people we love, take time for ourselves, contribute to our communities, and attain our goals. 

It takes relaxation -- and focus -- to create and understand the balance in our lives.  Relaxation and Focus are absolutely essential to the process of defining, seeking, and attaining our goals.  In other words, without relaxation and focus there is no success.