Well hello there! Welcome back to the redefining Bold podcast. You're listening to episode number 13 and I'm your host Gwen Whitfield from theboldabode.com, where I guide warm-hearted women in their quest for a more organized, cleaner home and a more productive and vibrant life.

Today on Redefining Bold, we're talking about the two F Words you need
in your life. The good news is that, yes, you can say them out loud in front
of the kiddos. In fact, I encourage you to make them a staple in your
everyday life, with whatever you want to do!

So, these most important and life-changing F-Words are:
FOCUS and FOLLOW THROUGH.

Ok, so that's actually three words, one of which begins with a 'T', but
there's no such thing as the alphabet police, so let's go with it.

Seriously, though. I have gone about my entire human existence plagued
by the dastardly "Shiny Object Syndrome". I could never decide what to
do, where to go, or how to do it. Now that I am a student of the Enneagram, it makes total sense. Nines tend to have less clarity and struggle with knowing themselves. And that has been the long-winded and winding story of my life!

I particularly struggled when it was time to declare my major in college. I really thought I wanted to study Math and be
a Math Teacher, then I took Calculus from a native German speaker, couldn't
understand a word he said and so decided that Math wasn't for me. That was the first time I switched to Music out of sheer desperation. Then I decided to major in Pre-pharmacy because I really didn't want to be scraping the bottom of the barrel for a slice of bread. That one allllmost stuck, but then came second semester of organic chemistry.

I got a 'C' on my first test and Yeah. I gave up.

I thought about French, Business, and so many other paths, but just couldn’t commit. I was like a 17 year old playa distracted by the bling.

I finally gave in and got my degree in Music Education (even
though I hated the thought of teaching music). But since I could sing, and
my voice teacher thought I'd be an opera star, I went with it. I just
wanted to finish college and not have wasted four- er- five years of my life
and thousands of my parents hard earned dollars.

I didn't have a clue, and I didn't know what to do. I graduated and was lost
as a Mack-daddy truckload of geese. I knew I had a handful of brain cells and could never understand why I couldn't decide on a path that inspired and excited me and stick with it.

Fast forward to 2019 and the blessed Enneagram. I discovered that this was truly an aspect of my personality, and learned what truly drives and motivated me. And that by tapping into my deep desire to be of service, I could move forward in a very positive way. The mechanism, so to speak, didn’t really matter so much as long as I was connecting with my inner purpose.

But…

What IS important is that I choose to focus on my current path with my
whole being and follow through with every ounce of energy and power that
I have right now.

(BTW, I'm so glad I'm not standing behind a counter counting pills today.)
John Lee Dumas, from the popular podcast, Entrepreneur on Fire, has a
great acronym for FOCUS.

Follow One Course Until Success

You can't ever be a success if you don't give yourself the opportunity to
stay the course.

If you are constantly changing your mind, switching directions, never
allowing yourself to reach your full potential, you will never experience the
truest and sweetest fruits of your labor. You'll never know how far you can
go and how many lives you can touch in the process.

You'll paddle upstream until your arms are limp, wet noodles, exhausted by the struggle. Don't worry if you still don't quite get it. I didn't. I listened John say this for months and months and, though I understood it in my head, I couldn't quite get it with my heart.

God will send you the message over and over again until you do. A few years ago, I stumbled across the book, The One Thing by Gary Keller. I’ll be sure to link to that in the show notes.

Reading this book, I finally got it. I figured it out, and I realized I was onto
something.

There are so many little details that pull at you during the day over the
course of the week. By knowing your One Big Thing, you can ask yourself
how each little thing contributes to the big goal and figure out if it's driving
you there or if it's just another time-waster, sidetracking you.

It's all about Focus.

But you can't just know what you want and sit staring at your vision board
waiting for it to happen.

You have to take action and make it happen. You have to follow through
with what you know will take you closer to accomplishing your One Thing.
It's the getting up everyday, eating the right stuff everyday or making those
calls everyday or practicing those moves over and over everyday until it
becomes real and right.

You can't wait for the gold in the mountains to come rolling toward
you. You have to get out there with your pickaxe, mine it and refine it.

What my focus right now? Writing and producing this podcast, Redefining Bold. How do I follow through? I use my bullet journal to keep track of everything I need to do and set aside time each week to write. It’s a simple as that.

For each little task, I just put the blinders on and get really present in what I’m doing. Nothing else in the world exists for those moments I’m immersed in what I’m doing.

It's just me and my iPad and my thoughts, following through on this
calling to encourage and serve with these words that my bright, sparkly
muse sends.

If you struggle with focus. I get it. I still want to do stuff that has nothing to
do with my big thing. I still get sidetracked, but it does get easier.

So when that shiny object comes to distract you, making you think that
maybe you are on the wrong path (which is probably your fear-mind talking)
just put those blinders on, and focus on focusing.

It's the answer to the question of why things aren't the way you want them
to be. You deserve to have your best, most ideal life. Be kind to yourself,
taking one day at a time, being present in what you are doing, and you will
not fail.

Now, it's time to take some action! Email me at [email protected] and let me know what is your ONE BIG THING!

Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next episode!