Tony Robbins Quote on Focus and How Questions Are One Of The Most Powerful Tools To Utilize

“The most powerful way to control your focus is through the use of questions.”

Tony Robbins

Beyond the Quote (225/365)

Distracted? It’s because you’re asking yourself the wrong questions: Am I missing out on any new posts on the socials? I wonder what he/she is doing right now? I wonder how much it would cost to buy a new kayak? How come I always get so distracted? Why is life always so unfair to me? What am I going to eat for dinner? How can I get rich, quick? What shortcut can I take for better health? Why is my dog so cute? You get the idea.

That, or you just aren’t asking yourself any questions at all and you’re letting the monkey control your mind. You know, the out of control, wild animal that tosses around and jumbles up the most random and distracting thoughts your brain can possibly conceive? Or, I’m sure you’re familiar with the monkey mood that obsesses over the one or two thoughts that you just keep cycling through your brain and want nothing more than for them to get the hell out? You know what I’m talking about. Leave the monkey in control and you’re sure to be distracted.

The answer? Give your mind a question (the right question) to focus on. Your mind is like the internet. It’s too vast to comprehend in full. It needs to be consumed in small doses. This is where search engines come into play. Ask a search engine the right question and it will narrow down the ocean that is the internet into a few precise, tiny drops for you to explore. Questions are like the search engine of your mind.

They narrow the ocean of information into smaller, digestible parts. What you ask it to find, it will find—given that you’re serious about the question. If you ask yourself a question in passing, are being forced to ask a question, or are asking the question out of spite—it won’t work. It’s like trying to get a search engine to work that isn’t connected to the internet. Curiosity—desire—is your access to the internet. It’s the driving force, the energy if you will, behind the searching. Without that source of power, how will the engine search? Searching is an active process. Energy is required.

And so what are the right questions to focus on? Well, questions that are directly related to your work of course! But, maybe not so obviously, you should ask yourself the important questions that may guide you to a more productive working environment. Things like: How can I keep my mind off of social media for the next hour? What notifications/ sounds can I turn off on my phone/ tablet/ computer to prevent getting distracted? What’s the most important task I can do now? Where can I do my work that will have the least distracting environment? And so on.

This strategy doesn’t just stop with projects or work tasks. Questions are the vehicle that can help you focus and improve your life as a whole, too. The right question can completely shift the landscape of your mind in a way that an entire semester with the wrong teacher isn’t even able to dent. Some powerful questions to reflect on might be: Am I being good to myself? Who do I know that can help me with this? What am I preventing myself from feeling? Which areas of my life are in maintenance mode? Which areas are in growth mode? What am I avoiding just because the desired outcome would take longer than I’d like? What can I work on today that will continue working for me for years from now? And so on.

So, my questions to you are… what questions are you asking yourself right now? And, what questions might be better to ask? Good luck.

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