I was recently wasting some time on my favorite iphone game, unblockme, and having some serious difficulty passing a level… one of those ones that nags at you, and you just can’t stop till you get it. The simple object of the game is to free the blocked in red block from the puzzle by sliding it across through the opening.

Constantly moving the other pieces around focused on freeing up that red block was beginning to create some frustration. I was intent on passing this level, and my focus was on nothing else.

I seemed to be unable to figure out the ‘trick’ to this level… Till I realized my FOCUS was on the wrong thing, I needed to shift my concentration from the red block to another piece of the puzzle that was causing all the interference. Once I figured that out, I passed the level in a few second! Yay.

There is a point to this. Life sometimes requires us to shift our focus. We may have a particular objective, or even be clear on our goal, yet resolution may not be possible unless we shift our focus to what surrounds us. I have a tendency to get tunnel vision, I’m sure it’s got its pros and cons. As an example I can be sitting at my computer typing this post, and be completely unaware of my surroundings (perhaps my daughter tries to get my attention and I don’t even hear her till the fifth or sixth time!). Being able to multi-task and focus on more than a single thing at a time is a quality I really need to develop.

What about you? Have you ever had your focus on something that may have seemed right or noble, yet it was distracting you from accomplishing your goals?