Today we’re going to talk about focus or the lack thereof—so many people come up to me and they go, “Bo, I can’t do what you’re asking me to do because I don’t have your kind of focus. I don’t have your discipline.” People decide they don’t have focus and discipline and that’s just how their life is. And then I'll hear, “Bo, how do you get all that focus? How do you get all that discipline to keep things going for 20 or 40 years?”
The fact of the matter is I don’t have any more focus than you do. I don’t have any more discipline than you do. This is what stops people. This is why people’s dreams don’t get to come true and it’s one word: shame. It’s shame because they’re focused on their dream for a few moments or an hour or a day and then they fall off the horse, right? So they get off track and they’re so ashamed of themselves for falling off track and losing focus that they don’t get back on the horse so their dream just dissipates.
It’s shame that stops you from living your dreams. That’s the only difference between you and I. I’m not ashamed of being off course. I know that it’s part of the game. I was taught when I was young by a mentor who said, “Look, you’re going to have these dreams—and these dreams are big, right? So you’re going to be off course 99 percent of the time. And I had to accept that.
When I was 9 years old I drew up a plan where my dream was to be the best safety in the whole world in 20 years. So 99 percent of that time, of those 20 years, I was off course. My job is to right the ship and get back on course. Well, here’s the problem that most people have, once they get off course, they feel shame and don’t trust themselves anymore so they don’t get back on course. They stay off course.
This is the only difference. I don’t have any more focus than you. I’ve got no more discipline than you. The only difference with me is I know I’m off course 99 percent of the time. I also know my only job is to get back on course.
Think of it like this: Say we chartered a jet to go to Maui. We take off from Los Angeles and go to Maui. The whole way over the Pacific Ocean, the pilots put that jet on automatic pilot and eat their lunch or do whatever else they want to do. It’s on automatic pilot so that jet is off course 99 percent of the time its on the way to Maui. The self-righting mechanism is just righting that ship, that jet in this case, all the way to Maui. When the plane gets to Maui, it lands on the exact spot it’s supposed to.
It’s no different than your dreams. You’ve just got to get used to the fact that you’re going to be off course. You’re only job, minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, and day-to-day, is that you get your butt back on course. You’re always going to be off course. Surrender to it. Don’t be ashamed of it. Certainly don’t beat yourself up over it.
People beat themselves up and think, “I just don’t have focus” or “I just don’t have discipline”, because they fell off the horse—everyone falls off the horse. Your job: Get back on. Keep riding. You’re off, then you’re on. You’re off, then you’re on. I hope that gives you some freedom and some permission because now you have the same focus I do. You have the same discipline I do. And therefore, you can follow your dreams for 10 years, for 15 years, for 20 years, knowing you’re going to be off course. And it’s okay. Just get back on.
Share the things that distract you the most in the comments below.
