Change Your Focus and Change Your Results

The first online game I played at a high level was Ghost Recon which was an early First Person Shooter released around 2001. It all started with a free demo that included just one map of the game which was the Castle Map.

I must have played that map and game thousands of times. So much so that to this day I could draw the entire map from memory with great detail.

Around this time I ran into a player in the game that was outrageously good. I was better than average but this guy was phenomenal!

In fact, everyone was sure he was a cheater because he was always the top killer, often by a margin of two or three times as many kills as anyone else.

After a game one day I had a discussion with him about how he got so good at the game and strangely 15 years later I still remember what he said.

His answer was "Become Obsessed with Ghost Recon because that's how you become great at anything in life."

Now this was probably some teen-aged kid who spent 8 hours a day playing the game, and didn't really understand the importance of his revelation. But no matter, it stuck with me.

When I look back on it now, it makes more sense to me than it did back then.

Tiger Woods was obsessed with Golf. Arnold Schwarzenegger was obsessed first with Bodybuilding. And Isaac Newton (possibly the smartest person in the last 1,000 years) dedicated every waking moment to understanding the world around him.

But what is Obsession?

Some would say it's a "Driving Desire to do or achieve something," but I think that's over complicating the whole thing. I've found that the better answer is that Obsession is simply "Sustained Focus."

Whether the Obsession is purposeful or even healthy, it is what that person focuses on and thinks about the majority of the time.

At this point you may be saying: "Hold on Abbadon... Are you trying to tell me I should become obsessed with EVE Online?"

No, of course not. But by looking at the extremes we can discover tools that can help us to achieve our goals.

The lesson we can take from this is that Sustained Focus directs your action and propels you toward whatever it is you want.

This doesn't have to be all consuming focus, but a constant awareness.

Think of it as tuning your brain to the right radio station every once in a while. You can use your focus to give your brain commands, control your motivation, and get better results.

Let me give you an example...

You're probably reading this right now because you want to improve your PVP skills, so we'll use that as an example.

The best way to improve once you have the necessary tools (The PVP Guides on the site) is to practice, study, and watch as much PVP as you can.

The more PVP Videos you look at, articles you read, fittings you study, and most importantly the more fights you have under your belt win or lose, the better you will be.

By focusing on these things you will start craving it. You will start wanting to do the work because you know it will make you better.

Finally, if you want to test this out, just watch a PVP Video here on this website or YouTube. I can guarantee that after you've seen it you will get an urge to go do some PVP...

A perfect example of Focus Driving Action.

About the author

In 2010 Abbadon21 was the first person to create Narrated Instructional PVP videos for EVE Online. This started a new era of EVE Online and opened up high level "PRO" PVP to everyone. Abbadon21 is also the Founder of EVEProGuides.com, which is EVE Online's oldest and most trusted source for high quality PRO Guides.