Be Careful What You Focus On
Posted by Jerry on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Just the other day I created a video on a private blog for my Level 2 students and one of the things I talked about was focus. Or more specifically using the natural power of focus.
Flashback…
…to a job I had over 30 years ago. I mowed the fairways of the country club golf course. I always hated to mow on Tuesdays because it was “Ladies Day”. That was the day I always had to dodge several balls that came flying my way. If the ball didn’t hit me or the tractor I would usually run over it with the mower and tear it to shreds. Not good for customer relations.
I had to ask myself…
Are women that much worse shots than men? No! I don’t think so! I do, however, think they were more concerned about hitting me than most men. Therefore, their focus was more on me than down the middle of the fairway. Naturally, the balls followed their focus and headed right towards me.
So many times we focus on where we don’t want to go, instead of where we do want to go and wind up exactly where we didn’t want to be in the first place.
I don’t know about you but that sounds a lot like our horsemanship journey at times. The results we’ve been looking for and working towards seem to get further away, without realizing it we are focusing on the wrong thing and as a result we wind up exactly where we didn’t want to be.
Remember, we determine our focus and as an outcome we determine our results.
Please leave a comment about how focus has affected your results.
Filed in My Parelli World,Parelli Self Improvement | 3 responses so far
Kathy Craigon 21 May 2009 at 12:48 am 1Hi Jerry!
You certainly have a way of making me think…and think deeper than I normally would or have in the past!
I have a long way to go in being consistent in my focus. When I first began my horsemanship journey I was VERY scattered and so was my poor horse. I think I drove him nuts!! Poor thing never knew what to expect from me as I was NOT consistent and had no focus on the ground or in the saddle. It was akin to driving my vehicle, if I focused I could keep it between the lines but look to the right or left and that’s where my vehicle went! It was the same for my horse, if I kept my focus we went there and if I lost my focus everything fell apart and we were like a ship without a sail blowing about the arena.
I have gotten better as time goes on but because I was so unfocused and inconsistent for so long, I taught my horse I was not reliable and not to be trusted as a leader. Being a LBE, this was the worst thing I could have done for him since as a LB’er he really doesn’t need a leader. Now I have to work a lot harder to undo the assumptions I taught him but with the power of focus we are making progress and I’m working to keep it between the lines!!
Kathy C.
Helenmarie Espinosaon 29 May 2009 at 9:24 pm 2the Power of Focus
Years ago I did a clinic with Neil Pye in Albuquerque, NM around 1997
That day I learned the power of focus and have never forgotten it – and
use it daily in everything I do.
My horse took me out of the arena and through cow stalls and other areas
to get back to his stall buddy. Everything I did, I couldn’t get that horse
to do anything but be glued to his equine friend.
Finally, Neil realized I was missing and sees me in the distance(considering
an arena can be a pretty big place.)! He calls to me over the intercom system and softly spoke to me – “Focus, Helen, look where you want to go!” After talking me through this – about 20 mins. later we were able to get back to the rest of the clinic in the arena. It was a turning point in my work with horses – focus is a very important factor in riding and even in ground work.
Helen Espinosa
ROSIE STEELon 19 Sep 2009 at 4:07 am 3I have very slowly and with much caution been learning to focus on my natural horsemanship….and my focus isn’t where it should be…after reading your wise words I can see just how far I have to go. I’m a RBI my 12 yr. old Arab is definitely left brained. Soooo I mainly go on my calm and nearly 30 yr. old Thoroughbred. I am not afraid to ride him, but always seem to run out of time before doing much with my Arab. It’s a fear factor but also I haven’t learned to focus well so see this as a real eye opener. I’m not a kid; I’m 65 years old with 1 new knee and another needed so focus comes after fear. I feel inspired to work on focus tomorrow and will give you a report if I have something good to say.
Thanks so much Jerry for your help via the computer….Rosie Steel Mahaska, Kansas.