Focus Please

Today I had to wonderful experience of finding new eyeglasses. This is something I hate because your frames can make you look like a dork or make you look like a superstar. Well, maybe not a superstar, but at least not a dork. I always bring my wife along to help me choose because one of the problems with shopping for glasses is that you must take off your frames to try on others...and without my own glasses on I cannot actually see the new frames.

This process reminds me of some basics taught in skills training courses as well as knowledge I just gained from a book I read last week, Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton. That may seem like a stretch, but think of it this way...

  1. If I chose to go it alone to pick out my glasses, I would never be able to see the frames.
  2. If I took along an entire team of people, we would waste a lot of time choosing frames.
  3. If I took the wrong person with me, I could be talked into glasses that fit their fashion rather than mine.
  4. If I took along an enemy, I would most likely be wearing goofy looking glasses for the next couple of years.
  5. If I tried to determine my own prescription rather than take advice from the professionals, I could miss some important information on the health of my eyes and most likely I will not get the right prescription.
  6. If I try to make my own lenses rather than using a pro, I would have coke-shaped lenses that still do not work properly.
  7. If I... there are probably many more.
You must learn to use our skills and focus on your strengths as well as put people around you that have skills and strengths that are needed for your ministry, job, etc. Keep your focus on the right things (and the right person) and you will be much better able to complete the tasks in front of you.

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