Unwavering Focus: Why Your Circle Might Shrink

Dandapani is a former Hindu monk who has become a professional life coach, helping organizations and companies worldwide. He has a unique perspective on many areas of life. He shared his wisdom with former journalist-turned-Wall Street investor and now Main Street mogul, Codie Sanchez. Sanchez is a huge influencer on social media, attempting to create a million financially free investors through business ownership.

Dandapani’s advice to Sanchez—and to entrepreneurs as they struggle along their path towards greatness—centers on a napkin.

He told Sanchez to picture a napkin in the palm of your hand. In the top corner is your mother. Across from her in the other top corner are friends. In the bottom corner, below your mother, is your father—and across from him, more friends.

As you begin to become successful, the napkin begins to lift in the air, pulling you away from your family and friends. They feel you’ve become different, distant, and more focused on a purpose than your relationships. Your social interaction with each group becomes infrequent, the things you have in common are reduced, and everyone believes you’ve changed.

But what Dandapani explains to Sanchez is that as the napkin rises, our focus becomes greater—leaving behind those who don’t have the same commitment toward our goals. We haven’t changed. We have an Unwavering Focus.

In his book The Power of Unwavering Focus, Dandapani explains focus as intentional directed awareness. He asserts that either you’re directing your awareness—or your environment is.

When you let your environment direct your awareness, you’re distracted. When you direct your awareness, you’re focused.

Dandapani maintains that focus is about directing your awareness to the regions of your mind where you want it to go—and keeping it there for as long as you choose. People who raise the napkin are simply directing their awareness toward their goal, which is often hard for friends and family to understand.

Dandapani is a huge believer that energy follows awareness. Our energy naturally flows toward wherever our orb of awareness is placed. He says that everyone has spiritual energy flowing within them—and this energy flows toward whatever part of your mind you’re currently inhabiting with your orb of awareness. This happens whether you’re intentionally directing it—or letting your environment pull it while you’re distracted.

According to Dandapani, the energy that follows your awareness also nourishes and grows that region of your mind—making it stronger. He compares the regions of your brain to muscles that strengthen with exercise. Every time your orb of awareness directs energy into a specific region, it’s getting mental reps.

This is why being in a room without phones and internet can reshape your mind—and nourish it with more awareness and focus. The regions where you spend the most time with your awareness are the ones that grow the most.

This is why people who are told “that will never work” continue to fight through obstacles and raise the napkin. And when they’re surrounded by like minded people, they hear the words “keep going.” As the napkin continues to rise, eventually those around you begin to understand your dedication—and come along.

A focused life has many benefits. And all it takes is changing our environment—and thinking of the napkin heading into the air. Try it.

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