What Life Requires
By Dr. Glenn Mollette
Willingness to try and to learn new skills is imperative to navigating life. There is always more to learn.
Learning happens in school, through trial and error, personal research and time spent with others who already know what you need to learn.
You can learn a lot from listening to others. Listening is one of the greatest tools of financial and life security. If you will listen you will know what you know plus what you are hearing.
The ability to listen and focus in a class is essential for a student's success. Listening to your workplace boss, or someone who is training you is imperative. When someone is telling you how to do something you have potential to grow as a person. Someone is giving you knowledge that will provide you with the ability to perform a task.
A major detriment to the success of learning from teachers, mentors and trainers is distraction. Many people struggle with this problem naturally. Attention Deficit, Hyperactivity Disorder plagues millions of America's children and adults. Too often school children are never diagnosed and struggle all through school. Adults carry this problem with them in different ways for years and sometimes most of their lives. Understanding that you, a family member or someone you work with has this problem at least gives you a better perspective. Diagnosis by a trained professional can be extremely helpful to the individual, family, teachers and those impacted in the workplace. Everyone has a chance of dealing with what they know.
New forms of distraction have come on the scene in recent years. Spam telephone calls seem to come at me ten or more times a day. Unwanted text messages, spam email and social media distraction bombard us. Too many times we have heard of auto accidents because someone was trying to read or send a text message will driving. Cars now have bigger screens, wi-fi, telephones, hundreds of radio stations. There's a lot to distract us.
While distraction is a major source of some of our problems, focus is the key to solving many of our problems. The problem with focus is that we can't focus on everything. Determining our priorities is essential and sometimes that's where life is difficult. Too often we have a list of many priorities. The only way to really accomplish and succeed is to determine what is most important and to put our energy and minds into making the "most important" successful.
Family, school, career, sports, business, hobbies and more provide us with many choices to make every day. You have to decide which is most important and put your heart and strength into it. Whatever it is will work out better.
Jesus understood this. He told his followers the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. That is focus. Focus is what anything worth doing normally requires.
Dr. Glenn Mollette is a graduate of numerous schools including Georgetown College, Southern and Lexington Seminaries in Kentucky. He is the author of 13 books including Uncommon Sense, Grandpa's Store, Minister's Guidebook insights from a fellow minister. His column is published weekly in over 600 publications in all 50 states.