Focus Gabriel, Focus

Focused strength can accomplish things that might otherwise seem impossible. I remember when I was staying the summer at my cousins’ house in North Carolina I was given the chore of cleaning the stove top. I was more than happy to oblige and wiped the stove top clean, removing the spaghetti and sauce stains with a clean rag. Upon inspection by my Uncle after a shouted “I’m done” I was disappointed to find out that there were stains on the stove top that I hadn’t noticed. (You see, I was losing valuable play time doing this menial chore.)

My Uncle pointed out jagged circles of the burnt down, carbonized, petrified, substance that surrounded each burner on the glass surface of the electrical stove top. I couldn’t believe that my Uncle wanted me to clean that. I had already “scrubbed” them and they refused to come off. I had run my fingernail over the top of them and they were hardly noticeable. So I reached for a butter knife to scrap the stubborn things off, but my Uncle told me I couldn’t use it would scratch the glass surface. Now I felt like Daniel San when Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid told him “man who catch fly with chopstick, can do anything”.

So I scrubbed the rings with the rag and some soap. The rings wouldn’t budge. I wrapped my finger and then my fist, I sweated, and grunted and those rings sat and mocking me. I looked up at the clock in the kitchen and realized that a whole five minutes had been lost in this struggle against the impossible. I threw in the towel and informed my Uncle of how impossible it was to remove the rings.

“Focus your efforts, Gabriel.” He said. “You can do it if you focus.” I envisioned myself with my fingers on my temples staring hard at the stove top “focusing” and I couldn’t see how that would work. He chuckled imagining how I had interpreted his words. So he took my rag and folded it to a point. Placing the point under his finger he rubbed a section of one of the circles and “miraculously” the stain gave way.

Focused Strength

I followed his example and although it still wasn’t easy I was able to complete the chore, without too much lost play time.

As a Police officer I was asked over my career to help several people break into their cars to retrieve their keys that hung safely from the ignition in their locked vehicles. I won’t forget one occasion in particular. It was cold outside and the owner was anxious to get home. So my partner and I used our PR24 (a nightstick) and hammered on the rear side window. The window didn’t budge. Not even a crack could be seen. So my much stronger partner punched at the glass window, and the window still did not break. After repeating both methods unsuccessfully I remembered something I had seen in the trunk of our patrol car. I pulled out the snow/ice scrapper out and saw what I had remembered. On the side of the scrapper was a steel cone. It was perhaps half an inch in diameter and came to a very sharp point. I placed it against the window of the car and applied some force. The window shattered.

We can see this in other areas of our life. Did you ever use a magnifying glass to focus the light of the sun into a burning spot of light? The quarterback on the football team can shut out all distractions and focus on the receiver running down the field. The mother of the new born can hear the baby cry in its’ crib from across the house. The stock broker on the floor can buy and sell over the deafening din of other shouting their orders. The focused strength of the repressed water in a dam turns huge hydroelectric turbines.

I am sure we have already used this principle in our lives in one way, shape or fashion. But now that we have identified it we should purposefully use it. Take inventory of your life and the activities you currently are involved in. Are they taking longer than you had expected? Do you finish your daily chores? When you go shopping, do you leave the store with things you never knew you needed? When you watch TV, does the one-hour program extend to the entire night?

Learn to focus your thoughts, ideas, and strength to become more effective and rise above mediocrity.