We have spent a significant amount of effort in past articles describing the key ingredients to achieving success.  In this article we will review a key factor that leads to just the opposite effect, that is, distraction from achieving success.  It’s been said many times in the past that success is a journey and not a destination.  But it is a common mistake to set goals, work hard to achieve them, but then not have a plan for what happens after the goals is reached, letting yourself lose focus.  This typically results in setbacks, and is one of the main distractions to lack of sustainable success.  Let’s take a closer look at this common distraction to success.

Loss of Focus

Loss of focus is perhaps the most common reason for not achieving success or experiencing relapses or setbacks on previously achieved goals.  Maintaining focus is absolutely critical, but it can be easier said than done, especially when it involves intense mental strain.

One example that clearly illustrates how lack of focus distracts from success is the challenge associated with maintaining weight loss.  Thomas Wadden, director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, says that the fact that celebrities like Kirstie Alley and Oprah Winfrey, who have financial resources not available to most Americans, still can’t keep the weight off is an indication of the formidable challenges of this popular goal.  He described his sentiment in a recent USA Today article:

“Keeping weight off is one of the most significant accomplishments you can do in modern America.”

Given the magnitude of this challenge, it is fitting to look at weight loss maintenance as a case study for what distracts people from success.  In this case, as in many other aspects of achievement, success requires constant effort and vigilance.  You are fighting natural biological tendencies, the abundance of food, and food related messages all around us.  Disappointments are quite common in the field of weight loss due to unrealistic expectations and the desire to achieve instance gratification which is not likely to occur in a weight loss effort.

So if you ask people that have experienced difficulty in either achieving their weight loss goal or maintaining their weight loss after achieving a desired weight target, why that is the case, the one common element you will hear in their response is that they lost focus on their weight loss effort as other aspects of life demanded more of their attention and energy.

Mary Gavila, of Ocala, Florida who weighed 133 pounds a few years ago but now weighs more than her desired weight succinctly describes the problem:

“I lose my focus.  It’s the same thing with Kirstie Alley.  She lost her focus”

When describing her troubles with fluctuating weight, Oprah Winfrey explained in her magazine that she gained weight because her work-focused life lost balance.  In other words, her focus shifted from weight loss maintenance to other elements of her life that, for whatever reason, took higher priority.

Keeping focused on your goals requires concentration and motivation.  When you start getting off track it is absolutely critical that, first of all, you recognize the problem and not let it go unchecked.  With all the other issues in life fighting for your attention it is very tempting to want to “let go” of your goal and effort.  But the price you pay later is not worth the temporary psychological relief that you may feel at the time.

The key to maintaining focus is staying motivated.  Only you know what your source of inspiration and motivation is.  So the moment you start getting off track, seek that source.  Even an occasional break is OK, as long as it is a conscious effort to give yourself a rest that will not take you too far off track and that will have a definite beginning and an end.  Once that rest period id over, you must get back on track and start focusing on the goal at hand again.

In your success journey you will likely lose focus occasionally.  Don’t worry too much about it – it happens to everyone.  What is important is to recognize when you have lost focus, and to quickly get back on the road to success.