Riding Your Bike & Living Your Life: Don’t focus on the obstacles

Do you remember when you were learning how to ride a bike? I remember a very helpful and fascinating piece of advice my dad gave me. He said I should focus on where I want my bike to go and NOT where I didn’t want it to go. He told me NOT to concentrate on the rock or stick I was trying to avoid because the bicycle will go where I look.

Really? I found that advice counter-intuitive. If I wanted to avoid hitting a big rock and getting knocked off balance, I should look somewhere else? My instinct was to stare at the obstacle so I could keep track of it.

Yet, when I tested his advice, I was amazed at his wisdom. It was true! I soon learned that the trick was to focus on the part of the path I wanted to travel; between any sticks or stones or ruts. Have you noticed this phenomenon, too?

I was reminded of this experience during a recent event where my daughter and I had the great fortune to hear Dean Graziosi, Tony Robbins, and other life-changing speakers. Dean was telling us how we need to know where we want to go in our careers and our lives. AND that we need to focus on this clear vision and how we’re going to get there. He said that most people focus on what they don’t want and all the obstacles that are preventing them from achieving their dreams.

It’s incredibly similar to the bike analogy. It seems easy to worry about things that could become obstacles, that could knock us off our bike or our path; when we should be giving our time and energy to our vision, the path that leads us to what we want in our lives. As Tony Robbins says,

“Where focus goes, energy flows.”

What “potential” obstacles are you wasting your energy on? How can you shift your focus to the path you want to travel?