The competency of focusing on a goal and harnessing your energy in order to meet that goal – a balance between the components of:

Focus – The ability to identify an important goal or vision and to channel efforts at specific targets that support that goal or vision.

Drive – The ability to persevere, sacrifice (when necessary), and expend high degrees of energy to reach high levels of performance.

It involves looking at the big picture, and where one wants to be in 10 years. It involves finishing what you started – complete the degree; complete the house; make decisions regarding relationships.

This “Lesson for success #07: Focus and Drive” is republished with permission from the original author:

“I have been working with relatively young people (below 40 years of age) and in my interactions with them, I have found 10 skills that prevent many of them from becoming a beacon of professionalism. Skills not formally taught in school yet so vital. Skills that would transform a young professional into a ‘hot cake’ for inclusion in successful enterprises.”

Dr. William Roy Mayega, a Lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, a the School of Public Health Makerere University Kampala

Links to Dr. Mayega’s other nine lessons:

• #01: Pay Attention to Detail
• #02: Systems Thinking
• #03: Reliability & Consistency
• #04: Communication and Presentation
• #05: Creativity
• #06: Emotional Intelligence and Maturity
• #08: Patience and Resilience
• #09: Financial Intelligence
• #10: Reverence and Decency

“Building healthy communities” is the overall objective of CPAR Uganda. Our mission is “to engage in educational and scientific activities to stimulate the development, dissemination and widespread application of technologies suitable and adaptable to the social, cultural and economic conditions of developing countries.”