Redefining Your Focus

Hi there, you're listening to the Shift To Your Bliss podcast series. If you're in your 30s and beyond, with some life experience, and you're looking indeed searching for more in your life, your work and your career, then you're in the right place. In this podcast series, we will show you how to shift to your bliss. My name is Dr. Sheila Jaggard. I'm a world traveler from Machu Picchu, to the pyramids of Egypt. I've studied alongside Thomas Leonard, Bob Proctor, Dean, Grazi, OC, and Deepak Chopra. And after five decades, I created my very own formula to help you shift to your bliss. Welcome to the podcast series shift to your bliss. Are you ready? Let's dive in.

Hello, again, this is Dr. Sheila. And we're going to continue our journey and our conversation around shift to your bliss. So far, we've talked about your story, and what is the story that has been holding you back. And we talked about how we can alter that story, how we can heal ourselves and move forward in a new story. And taking a look at what the journey is for us. So that we can move forward and really make the story work for us not service but work for us. Going forward. We also talked about visualization and imagine it all that we were going to be able to do to to not only alter the story, but actually give the story, a new life a new way of being. And in the visualization. It was what you really truly want and what you truly want to do. And then we had a wonderful visit from Jonathan and his story. And you heard how he actually took that story and shifted it into a whole new business for himself. Today, what we're going to talk about his focus. And in this particular segment, what I'd like you to do is think about focus not as Oh, you have to focus, but focus as what is it you would like to focus on in the story that is going to not serve you but work for you. So what is the focus that you're looking for? This focus, by the way, is really about going through the journey in a way that you probably haven't before. This focus is about saying, Alright, well, if this is what I want, then this is where I need to go. And so in my story, the focus was going to school after my mentor said, You can do this, and the support and the belief that she had gave me a focus to go to school. The interesting thing was, when I went to school, I didn't have the the intention, really, at the end of school to use that education. I just wanted to prove to myself that I could go to school and I could graduate. And as I went through my programs, and as I learned more, I realized that the work that I could do had expanded tenfold, from what I was doing prior to going to school. So part of this is my focus wasn't there until I graduated with my doctorate. And then I said, and then I went to focus and said, What can I do? Well, my own business at that point in time, was coaching. And what I was able to then do is expand to consulting, and expand a consulting because I had the knowledge, I had the theory and I had the capability of doing some of those things that I couldn't do before at least I didn't think I could do and I didn't have the education to do them anyway.

When I finished school, what I was able to say is here's what I can offer to a client base. Here's how I can expand my business. My focus then became the business expansion. Yes, I taught at two universities. And by the way, that opened up more doors because students came to the courses and students appreciated what I was doing. And the other thing that happened was that while I was doing that, I was also working as a chief operating officer for an organization. And I was found literally found by one of the directors from Canadian Management Center, who said you need to come work with us. So I started doing workshops for them. I started developing their curriculum. I started doing some of the things that helped me to understand Oh, yes, remember, you were in a swimming instructor you can teach and create not only the school, the work plan Know the plan for the course. But you can create the curriculum, because now you have the knowledge and the capability. So the focus then became, what is it that I can teach? What is it that I can do? Interestingly enough, my focus in my business has shifted somewhat not a lot, but it has shifted somewhat into different things that I can do. So my background, being in leadership, and change, and HR has helped me to really take my consulting business to a whole new place. And I can serve different communities, different organizations, different ways of looking at work along the line, as you build your business, you start to develop a colleague relationship with people that are already in the business that are already focused on what it is that they're doing. That focus helped me to focus. And so when I actually got to the place where I thought, well, I really need to figure out where I'm gonna go next, I ended up going to a workshop. And in that workshop was where I met Jonathan, actually, it was a three day

I think it was four days, in Palm Springs, of course, you have to go somewhere warm in the winter. And what I learned was, I may be able to teach, I may be able to do curriculum, I may be able to coach, but I certainly know nothing about technology, I certainly know nothing about how I put this all together, and go online. I also had another mentor, Eric LePhone, who really was all about sales and business. And he was the one that said to me, you know, you need to be doing webinars you live because that's what you do, you can do this online. Well, it terrified me to tell it tell you the truth, because I don't know how to do that. Remember, this is the old story, you don't know how to do it. So therefore you can't do it. And you see how it comes back years later, in a very different way. So my focus then became, okay, who can help me with the technology while there was Jonathan. And Jonathan helped me along in my social media and technology and being able to do some of these things. And as I look forward, now, I know that my focus is going to shift a bit more to webinars, it's going to shift more to really retreats, having people come together, but having the event that I really wanted to have. And now after COVID, as you all probably know, everybody's having an event that can be virtual, as well as in person, I really want to have the in person, because for shift to your bliss, the idea is we're going to dive deeper into those other stories. So focus for me, has really shifted from where I was, in the beginning of of actually realizing that I could teach and I had all this education, to now where am I going to take my business? And what am I going to do? So you see, the focus that you have for your story may not be focused for 235 years out, it may be what do I need to do immediately. So I can recognize when the story is playing again, and actually put it in a stop place, so that when you stop it, you can go to the new picture. And that's focus. The journey to focus is all about being able to say, here's where I am, here's where I want to be. That gap in the middle, is what I want to make sure that I focus on. So focusing on the gap, focusing on the journey is the piece that we're going to talk about today. What is it that you need to do to focus where you are now to where you want to be? The steps to focus are really pretty simple. Figure out where you are now, figure out where you want to be. And then the steps in between are baby steps. There, you know, the micro steps that you take to get to the finale, if you will. And in doing this focus work, what you're going to be able to do is set it up so that every time the story starts to rear its head again, you can save the story. Thank you so very much. I really do appreciate that you're there and you've been helping me with this. But honestly, now I'm ready to move on. And here's my next step that I'm going to take. So, in my focus time, what I decided was I was going to teach Yes. And I was going to teach at the university. And then I was asked to teach at one of the colleges and then I was asked to to work with CMC. One of the things I want to mention about focus is that if you dream it, it does happen. So remember when we went through visualization and I said you You need a picture where you're going to be, what is it you're going to do? The focus now becomes Okay, break it down, Break it down, Break it down. And as you focus on that it appears. I know that sounds magical and woowoo. To you, I know that. But the truth of the matter is, you've put your intention out. When you put your intention out, you get the feedback of what you need. Did I know about CMC prior to them, approaching me? No, no idea. Didn't even know who they were. I didn't even know the college that asked me to work with them. I say this, humbly. Because I really do believe that if you put your intention out there, miracles happen. Things come into your life that you would never, ever have imagined could happen. You know, when I left the chief operating officer position and, and really dove into my own business and did a lot of work with CMC,

I have to say that I thought that's where I was going to be. And then I was asked by CMC to go and work with a First Nation. For those of you who are not from Canada that are First Nation, people are indigenous people. And they have communities. And I was asked to go and do some leadership training through CMC, which was perfect. I've never worked specifically in a First Nation for that long, I've done a lot of workshops in the US and in Canada, at first nations. And I actually had spent some time on the West Coast doing some workshops with First Nations, but I've never really been, they're doing a whole series on leadership. And so I did the series on leadership. And it went very well. And one of the people that was in that leadership series, ended up becoming a CEO of a First Nation. And he invited me to come out and help him with leadership in the first nation that he had become the CEO. And so I went there, with the intention of being a very short period of time was there for three years. You see, I didn't see that coming. And just as I was finishing up with that first nation, another First Nation came forward and said, Could you do some work with us, please? I say this, because sometimes your vision, your focus, the way in which you're going to move forward, has some great new ideas that are going to come into it. The focus that I had was I'm going to teach, and then it was I'm going to teach and I'm going to do some things in my business that is going to expand my business. Never did I think that I was going to have the blessing of working with First Nations. Now, my focus is back on how can I do technology to bring this to more people? How can I in fact, help more people? And in helping more people? How is it that they can live the life that they should have? So that as I've said before, you don't spend 30 years trying to find where it is you want to be? I've said this before, and I'll say it again, if anyone had told me back in those days when I was a lifeguard and swimming instructor that I'd be doing what I'm doing now, I would have laughed at them. I would have told them That's an impossibility. Remember the story? I can't do that. Now, what I've really realized is, if I really want to do something and put my mind to it, I can do it. I learned that when I was doing my doctorate, actually, I completed my doctorate in two and a half years. I know you're all going really was that a real school? Yes, it was. But what I did was I focused myself, I'm asking you to do the same focus. Once you focus yourself and you know exactly the steps you want to take, it will all come together. So your homework, what I really like you to do is I'd like you to take where you are now. And then in the vision where you want it to be. And I want you to figure out what the gap is and what your steps are going to be so that you can move forward to that place where you want to be. The gap is the work. That gap is the journey. The gap is the challenge. And I know you're up for it because we've gone through this so far, and you're doing a great job. So I'll see you next week. Right back here. And I really want to thank you for continuing the work on yourself. It's the gift to you Remember, life is a journey. And we're all on it. And this is Dr. Sheila saying thanks so much for tuning in and get out there shifters, figure out that gap. Figure out the steps. I'll see you next time. Bye bye.