Undoubtedly, the teachings of Psycho-Cybernetics are timeless, because they are based on solid science and provide a prescription for thinking and acting that lead to quantifable results.

Although it was written in 1960, Dr Maltz's landmark best-seller is just as relevant today, more than six decades later.

No wonder, it's considered by countless motivational gurus, sports psychologists, self-help practitioners, and other experts in the field, to be the Grandfather of all self-help books.

I reckon Tony Robbins captures best the essence of Dr Maltz's teachings:

“Before the mind can work efficiently, we must develop our perception of the outcomes we expect to reach. Maxwell Maltz calls this Psycho-Cybernetics; when the mind has a defined target it can focus and direct and refocus and redirect until it reaches its intended goal.”

The foregoing preamble thus brings me to this post of mine, where I have gathered three astute observations of Dr Maltz, which to me truly accentuate the Power of Focus:

“You can have many goals, but concentrating on just one at a time will help you accomplish far more than attempting to focus on many at once. Get the fire of desire started within being single-minded about one goal and the flame will naturally spread to the others without you forcing it."

“Another cause of confusion, and the resulting feelings of nervousness, hurry, and anxiety, is the absurd habit of trying to do many things at one time.”

“You can do only one thing at a time. I simply tackle one problem and concentrate all efforts on what I am doing at the moment.”

Bravissimo, for leadership is also all about focus.

Leaders direct attention and resources through the power of focus. That starts with self-leadership and focusing your goals, and then it extends to leading others!

The bottom-line lesson for me is this: the ability to focus is an incredibly important skillset. And it’s one we need to practice to improve!

Yep! Where focus goes and flows, energy grows and intensifies!

WHAT'S THE SECRET TO BEING A SUCCESSFUL CEO?

I like what I am reading:

"... People always ask me, “What’s the secret to being a successful CEO?”

Sadly, there is no secret, but if there is one skill that stands out, it’s the ability to focus and make the best move when there are no good moves... "

~ Ben Horowitz, British-born American businessman, investor, blogger, and author; also, author of 'The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers';

AN INSPIRING QUOTE FROM STEVE JOBS

This is my personal way of remembering the late Steve Jobs, one of the foremost strategic thinkers in our lifetime, by gathering all his inspiring quotes... here's one more to share from my personal collection:

“People think focus means saying yes to all of the things you’ve got to focus on.

But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the 100 other good ideas that there are.

You have to pick carefully.

I’m actually as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done.”

FIRE IN THE BELLY: LESSONS FROM THE MOVIES

Last night, by chance while channel surfing, I made a choice to re-watch once again the adrenalin-pumping action drama, 'XXX' (2002),  on Max cable television in Ho Chi Minh City. In fact, I had re-watched the movie countless times on DVD before, including once in the movie theatre in Singapore.

The entertaining story centred on how Xander Cage (played by Vin Diesel), an extreme sports athlete with a very bad attitude, was recruited by a secret US government outfit, headed by Gibbons (played by Samuel Jackson)  on a special covert mission to gather intelligence on a Prague-based organization that wanted to  destroy the world, led by the crazy dude with a fancy name, Yorgi.

I really enjoyed rewatching the particular segment when he was finally coerced into accepting his unsolicited assignment to help Uncle Sam, as illustrated in the following fascinating dialogue from Gibbons: 

"... You ever watch lions at the zoo? You can always tell which ones were captured in the wild by the look in their eyes. The wild cat. She remembers running across the plain, the thrill of the hunt. Four hundred pounds of killing fury, locked in a box. 

But after a while, their eyes start to glaze over, and you can tell their soul has died. The same thing happens to a man. 

Leavenworth Federal Penetentiary is no joke. 

They'll take a wild man like you and throw him in solitary just for the fun of it. No more mountains to board, no more oceans to surf. Just a 6-by-8 cell with no window and only a bucket to shit in. You can avoid all of that by doing me this small favor... "

Somehow, this wonderful lesson from the movie resonates with another adrenalin-pumping action drama, 'Rocky III' (1982), which I had also re-watched numerous times on DVD.

In the particular movie, world champion boxer Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone) was knocked out by the arrogant Clubber Lang (played menacingly by Mr T).  As a result, nobody believed in Rocky anymore, except for one man, former world champion boxer Apollo Creed (played by Carl Weathers). 

The seemingly daunting challenge for Apollo was whether Rocky could regain that hunger in order to get back into the ring as a real fighter.

As Apollo attempted to stimulate Rocky's fighting spirit, and wanted the latter to be back in top-form quickly, the following memorable dialogue segments in the movie, fueled by an equally pulsating signature song/music from the Survivors,  summed up the motivation very well:

Apollo: "... Now, when we fought, you had that eye of the tiger, man; the edge! And now you gotta get it back, and the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning. You know what I mean?... "

Apollo: "... See that look in their eyes, Rock? You gotta get that look back, Rock. Eye of the tiger, man... "

Apollo: "... Damn, Rock, Come on! What's the matter with you?" 
Rocky: "Tomorrow. Let's do it tomorrow." 

Apollo: "There is no tomorrow! There is no tomorrow! There is no tomorrow!"
  

At the end of the movie, Rocky ultimately regained his former self  by  giving his former rival a really brutal lesson,  aptly exemplified by the real-world champion boxer Mike Tyson who once said:

" Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the face!"

The foregoing two insightful lessons somehow bring me back to the eighties to reminisce what senior statesman Lee Kuan Yew, while serving as Prime Minister, had grappled with the crucial issues of cabinet leadership renewal.

He was concerned that the new bunch of young PAP leaders-to-be did not have that "fire in the belly", because they did not go through the ‘baptism of fire’ during an election.

Unfortunately in recent years, to the chagrin of all Singaporean folks, the hot potato of unprecedented ministerial salaries had to a great extent altered the political equation in the country.

Nonetheless, against the backdrop of what I have been talking about in this post, just ask yourself:

"Do you have 'the look of the lion in the wild'"? or

"Do you have 'the eye of the tiger'"? or

"Do you have 'the fire in the belly'"?

For me, as a professional success coach, the three phenomenons basically accentuate the power of purposeful focus, from the tripartite perspectives of mind, body and spirit. 

In a nut shell, I hold the explicit view that it's the mandatory prime driving force for anyone wanting to pursue personal as well as professional excellence.

Think about it.