“You’re in a reality bubble,” she said.
Thinking it was an insult.
I took it as fact.
It was right after I told her I never pay attention to that stuff.
You know the things you’re “supposed” to pay attention to.
How some celebrity did this.
Lunatic did that.
Politician said…
Whatever, whatever
A question I keep hearing these days is—
With all that’s going on, how do you stay focused?
And it’s not just focus…
But how do you stay “optimistically” focused?
The best answer I have is—
Keep your attention on what you control.
I know that’s overly simplistic.
And I get some people see that as “narrow” minded.
Yet it also reflects the tale of two peoples you see right now.
Many people feeling stuck, are getting even more stuck in noise and distraction.
When everyone I’m close to is laser focused driving forward goals.
“Reality bubble”
A client recently used this phrase in a top performance context.
Talking about the documentary on Tiger Woods he said—
“Earlier in his career he had some winning streaks where he was absolutely unstoppable.”
It was 2006-2007 where Woods won 7 major tournaments in a row.
Not being a golf fan I asked him, “What’s it attributed to?”
“You saw it on his face,” he said.
“Nothing got to him, he was in his own reality bubble…
“Totally in his zone.”
The flow state
Having honed the elusive flow state for years that’s what he saw on Woods’ face.
Those times when you are completely in your zone.
You know the feeling, when the world fades away and you’re deeply immersed in what you’re doing.
You’re right there, everything’s just clicking.
To many people this is a rare occurrence.
Certainly they experience it watching TV or zombie scrolling.
But rarely do they use this deeply focused state for peak happiness and peak performance.
Whereas, using the methods we talked about here in Upgrade YOU, you can engineer your day for flowing this way.
Your sword and shield
This is how one of my trainers referred to his deeply focused state.
It describes exactly how you keep yourself focused right now.
“The shield part,” he says, “Is for blocking out that noise and distraction.”
A Star Wars geek he continues, “While the sword metaphor is for best driving your focus like a light saber into what matters you’re doing.”
This too fits the criteria the flow state demands—
Have a goal.
Cut out distractions.
Visualize where you’re headed.
Get absorbed.
Drive through.
Choose your reality bubble
Consider your day for a moment.
How would you describe your reality bubble?
What reality of the world are you making your reality?
How is this holding you back or driving you forward?
If you were to construct your ideal reality bubble right now, how would it be?
Where would you put your attention?
On what things would you stay focused?
How does it feel living inside this reality bubble you choose?