By Jean Baptiste Ndabananiye
The rarest currency—in a world overflowing with information, opportunities, distractions, and seemingly indomitable adversities— is not talent, intelligence, or even motivation; it is the ability to direct your attention with precision.
“The first skill you must master (most people ignore this),” argues Team Tony Robbins, is not a complex strategy but a simple yet life-defining discipline: focus. Because in every moment, your life is being quietly transformed by what you choose to concentrate on, whether you realize it or not. Focus governs what you feel, what you pursue, and ultimately what you become. Without it, even the most brilliant mind scatters into confusion; with it, ordinary effort changes into extraordinary achievement.
The skill you have to put first: focus
“Why do some people reach huge milestones while others struggle year after year? It’s not just about having the right plan. It’s not about intelligence, talent, or even hard work. The biggest difference? FOCUS. Because where focus goes, energy flows. If you can control your focus, you can shape your future. And if you don’t? Distraction. Overload. Hesitation. If you want to create a powerful future, the first thing you must develop is focus. Every moment of every day, you are making one critical choice: WHAT AM I FOCUSING ON? Because whatever you focus on—you FEEL,” says Team Tony Robbins.
“If you focus on problems, stress rises. If you focus on what’s missing, frustration builds. But if you focus on what you CAN control, confidence grows. This is why two people can face the same challenge and one will rise while the other falls. It’s not their circumstances that define them—it’s their focus.”
Robbins is extensively recognized as a self-made billionaire, climbing from an extremely modest background as broke janitor. This American has been molded by intense hardships that have strengthened him to attain inconceivable success. For more on him and the adversities, click on Who would have guessed that this decision would bring me to such an incredible moment?” Robbins. Never give up and Tony Robbins’ hardships: proof that with adversity, you are on the right path to incredible success and transformation.
Robbins owns a globally recognized personal-development empire. Behind it, is Team Tony Robbins — a broad network of personnel in charge of implementing the empire’s programs and communications.
As far as focus is concerned, Team Tony Robbins recommends you three ways to build unshakeable focus and stop wasting potential. The first step includes cutting out the noise. “Don’t mindlessly scroll social media. Don’t wake up and review the news first thing. Don’t let outside influences hijack your energy. Instead, start your day with a powerful priming ritual. Visualize your goals, express gratitude, and set your intentions. Train your mind to focus on what moves you forward.”
The second step involves strengthening your mind like an athlete. “High achievers don’t wake up hoping to stay focused—they build momentum daily. Focus is like a muscle. If you don’t train it, it weakens. Focus gets stronger when you push your current conditioning. How to sharpen it: spend 5 minutes every morning asking: what am I grateful for? What’s the most important thing I can accomplish at this time? What’s ONE step I will take to make progress? Your brain follows the patterns you train it for. Train it for growth.”
The last step entails taking a bold movement. “Clarity comes from doing—not from overthinking. Don’t wait for the right moment. Don’t hesitate. Don’t think about what you ‘should’ do—and just DO IT. Your future is shaped by what you focus on and the steps you take.”
Embracing a challenge often forms the turning point which transforms an ordinary life into an extraordinary one. It forces a person to move beyond comfort, develop new strengths, and discover abilities they never knew they held. Without a challenge, growth remains limited; with it, life gains direction, resilience, and true transformation. Team Tony Robbins thus encourages you to adopt a challenge and pursuit it until it is realized. “Your challenge this week: what are you focusing on improving?
Your mindset? Your business? Your health? Your relationships? Your finances? Choose. Commit. Follow through. Because if you don’t take control of your focus, someone else will. Focus gives you power. But when you focus on something extraordinary, you become unstoppable. Learn why small goals drain energy—and bold ones create it.”
Meanwhile, Robbins strongly recommends you to become the master of your mind, discovering how to hold control of your internal world and watch your external world shift in powerful ways. “You’ve got to realize that you must take conscious control of running your own mind; otherwise, you’re going to be at the mercy of whatever happens around you.”
Theron Q. Dumont emphasizes upon Team Tony Robbins’ point
The Power of Concentration is a work authored by Theron Q. Dumont- the penname of the late William Walker Atkinson about whom you can know more by clicking on With one supreme effort, can you revolutionize your life? Discover the answer.
In this book, he has stated “Man is a wonderful creature, but he must be trained and developed to be useful. A great work can be accomplished by every man if he can be awakened to do his very best. But the greatest man would not accomplish much if he lacked concentration and effort.
Dwarfs can often do the work of giants when they are transformed by the almost magic power of great mental concentration. But giants will only do the work of dwarfs when they lack this power. We accomplish more by concentration than by fitness; the man that is apparently best suited for a place does not always fill it best. It is the man that concentrates on its every possibility that makes an art of both his work and his life.”
The focus, advanced by Team Tony Robbins, doesn’t actually diverge from the concentration popularized by the late Atkinson. He has underscored “All your real advancement must come from your individual effort. The will alone decides the issue. A man by one supreme effort of the will may change his whole career and almost accomplish miracles. You may be that man. You can be if you Will to be, for Will can find a way or make one.”
“I know that every man that is willing to pay the price can be a success. The price is not in money, but in effort. The first essential quality for success is the desire to do–to be something. The next thing is to learn how to do it; the next to carry it into execution. The man that is the best able to accomplish anything is the one with a broad mind; the man that has acquired knowledge, that may, it is true, be foreign to this particular case, but is, nevertheless, of some value in all cases. So the man that wants to be successful must be liberal; he must acquire all the knowledge that he can; he must be well posted not only in one branch of his business but in every part of it. Such a man achieves success.”
The late Atkinson has affirmed that every person, with the right conditions, can achieve success. “It is my opinion that with the right kind of training every man could be a success. It is really a shame that so many men and women, rich in ability and talent, are allowed to go to waste, so to speak. Someday I hope to see a millionaire philanthropist start a school for the training of failures.
I am sure he could not put his money to a better use. In a year’s time the science of practical psychology could do wonders for him. He could have agencies on the lookout for men that had lost their grip on themselves; that had through indisposition weakened their will; that through some sorrow or misfortune had become discouraged. At first all they need is a little help to get them back on their feet, but usually they get a knock downwards instead.”
He had said that the result is that the talented persons’ latent powers never develop and that both they and the world are the losers. “All they need to be shown is that there is within them an omnipotent source that is ready to aid them, providing they will make use of it. Their minds only have to be turned from despair to hope to make them regain their hold. When a man loses his grip today, he must win his redemption by his own will. He will get little encouragement or advice of an inspiring nature.
He must usually regain the right road alone. He must stop dissipating his energies and turn his attention to building a useful career. Today we must conquer our weakening tendencies alone. Don’t expect anyone to help you. Just take one big brace, make firm resolutions, and resolve to conquer your weaknesses and vices. Really none can do this for you. They can encourage you; that is all.”
In response to his hope of someone that would heed the opportunity of using some of their millions to arouse people having begun to falter, some people are already executing the opportunity. Those include Robbins who has helped millions of individuals across the world, to awaken their giants within so that these individuals have accomplished exceedingly great success.
The power of determination against impossible odds
Obstacles do not define human potential. Great victories usually emanate from great struggles. Men and women who have refused to yield to apparently unsurmountable challenges have eventually overcome them and achieved unimaginable achievements. In brief, no obstacle is greater than resolute courage. Such courage is inseparable from focus — a concentration of power resembling a laser beam, a narrow and intensely concentrated ray of light produced by a special machine. According to the Collins Dictionary, lasers are used for cutting extremely hard materials and in advanced technical fields such as surgery and telecommunications. A determined person employs this kind of concentration, to cut through the challenges and then pass.
Meanwhile, the late Atkinson has argued that the only sector can be a justifiable reason for a person’s failure. “I can think of nothing, but lack of health, that should interfere with one becoming successful. There is no other handicap that you should not be able to overcome. To overcome a handicap, all that it is necessary to do is to use more determination and grit and will. The man with grit and will, may be poor today and wealthy in a few years; will power is a better asset than money; Will will carry you over chasms of failure, if you but give it the chance.”
Nevertheless, there are even individuals who have defied health oddities, achieving what is usually deemed impossible. One of them is Brenda Michaels, as you can find it in this article. Even the renowned physician, Dr. Jeffrey Rediger in this article affirms that it is possible to challenge fatal medical conditions. For more on him, click on Once a skeptic of spiritual healing, a prominent physician is now its fervent promoter or Spiritual health, thoroughly explained for you to deeply understand it. “Western medicine has it all wrong”.
The late Atkinson further stated that men that rose to the highest positions usually first had to gain their victories against big odds. “Think of the hardships many of our inventors have gone through before they became a success. Usually they have been very much misunderstood by relatives and friends. Very often they did not have the bare necessities of life, yet, by sheer determination and resolute courage, they managed to exist somehow until they perfected their inventions, which afterwards greatly helped in bettering the condition of others.”
“Everyone really wants to do something, but there are few that will put forward the needed effort to make the necessary sacrifice to secure it. There is only one way to accomplish anything and that is to go ahead and do it. A man may accomplish almost anything today, if he just sets his heart on doing it and lets nothing interfere with his progress. Obstacles are quickly overcome by the man that sets out to accomplish his heart’s desire. The ‘bigger’ the man, the smaller the obstacle appears. The ‘smaller’ the man the greater the obstacle appears. Always look at the advantage you gain by overcoming obstacles, and it will give you the needed courage for their conquest.”
Jack Ma himself has also faced the issue of stern opposition. This substantiates the late Atkinson’s statement that several of our inventors have first been battered by sheer adversities—such as being misunderstood by their relatives and friends, and lacking the bare necessities of life. According to the late Atkinson, these inventors have been saved only by their sheer/complete/absolute determination and resolute courage— the same resource which has saved Ma and even the Wright Brothers who have invented an airplane.
In this respect, if you meet Ma, he won’t tell you that you will experience easy sailing. A person, who would have approached the Wright Brothers about the same point, couldn’t have obtained the answer that sailing stands easy. That’s why the late Atkinson has also advised us not to expect that we will always perform easy sailing. “Parts of your journey are likely to be rough. Don’t let the rough places put you out of commission.
Keep on with the journey. Just the way you weather the storm shows what material you are made of. Never sit down and complain of the rough places, but think how nice the pleasant stretches were. View with delight the smooth plains that are in front of you. Do not let a setback stop you. Think of it as a mere incident that has to be overcome before you can reach your goal.”
The silent inner force which results in outstanding human achievement
Extraordinary achievement starts with the Will to Do. The Will to Do constitutes the force that unleashes the laser beam of concentrated effort. The late famous music artist, Bob Marley, once declared “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.”
In the book, the late Atkinson provides an example that corroborates this statement by the famous singer; which underlines that all humans are certainly endowed with extraordinary power. Unfortunately, this incredibly colossal power stays latent within us. The author, stressing the Will to Do, has said that the Will to Do is the greatest power in the world which is concerned with human accomplishment. He has highlighted that the things that we accomplish now would have been a few years ago impossibilities. Today the safe maxim, according to him, is “All things are possible.”
He explains “You probably know of cases where people have shown wonderful strength under some excitement, similar to the following: the house of a farmer’s wife caught on fire. No one was around to help her move anything. She was a frail woman, and ordinarily was considered weak. On this occasion she removed things from the house that it later took three men to handle.
It was the ‘Will to Do’ that she used to accomplish her task. Study yourself carefully. Find out your greatest weakness and then use your will power to overcome it. In this way eradicate your faults, one by one, until you have built up a strong character and personality,” he explained. “Every time you allow your determination to be broken you weaken it. Don’t forget this. Just, the instant you notice your determination beginning to weaken, concentrate on it and by sheer Will Power make it continue on the ‘job.’”
The ‘will to do” can also be called the unyielding inner force compelling and enabling a person to act, regardless of an incapacitating environment — it amounts to the sheer or absolute energy from the willpower which will keep you in action. Willpower is the unquenchable inner drive that compels disciplined action. The writer has contended that it is more important to learn to use your will than to develop your intellect.
He’s added that the man that has not learned how to use his will rarely decides things for himself, but allows his resolutions to be changed by others. “He fluctuates from one opinion to another, and of course does not accomplish anything out of the ordinary, while his brother with the trained will takes his place among the world’s leaders,” the late Atkinson has said. “You can so intently desire a thing that you can exclude all distracting thoughts. When you practice this singleness of concentration until you attain the end sought, you have developed a Will capable of accomplishing whatever you wish.”
He has clarified his statement as follows. “But just as quick as you surpass others by even comparatively small measure, you are classed as one of life’s successes. So, if you wish to emerge into prominence, you must accomplish something more than the ordinary man or woman. It is easy to do this if you will but concentrate on what you desire, and put forth your best effort. It is not the runner with the longest legs or the strongest muscles that wins the race, but the one that can put forth the greatest desire force.
You can best understand this by thinking of an engine. The engine starts up slowly, the engineer gradually extending the throttle to the top notch. It is then keyed up to its maximum speed. The same is true of two runners. They start off together and gradually they increase their desire to go faster. The one that has the greatest intensity of desire will win. He may outdistance the other by only a fraction of an inch, yet he gets the laurels.”
He has additionally said that men classified as the world’s successes are not always men of great physical power. Nor at the start did they seem very well adapted to the conditions which encompassed them, he’s added. “In the beginning they were not considered men of superior genius, but they won their success by their resolution to achieve results in their undertakings by permitting no set-back to dishearten them; no difficulties to daunt them.
Nothing could turn them or influence them against their determination. They never lost sight of their goal. In all of us there is this silent force of wonderful power. If developed, it can overcome conditions that would seem insurmountable. It is constantly urging us on to greater achievement. The more we become acquainted with it the better strategists we become, the more courage we develop and the greater the desire within us for self-expression in activity along many lines.”
He has emphasized “No one will ever be a failure if he becomes conscious of this silent force within that controls his destiny. But without the consciousness of this inner force, you will not have a clear vision, and external conditions will not yield to the power of your mind. It is the mental resolve that makes achievement possible. Once this has been formed it should never be allowed to cease to press its claim until its object is attained. To make plans work out it will, at times, be necessary to use every power of your mind.
Patience, perseverance and all the indomitable forces within one will have to be mustered [gathered/marshalled] and used with the greatest effectiveness. Perseverance is the first element of success. In order to persevere, you must be ceaseless in your application. It requires you to concentrate your thoughts upon your undertaking and bring every energy to bear upon keeping them focused upon it until you have accomplished your aim. To quit short of this is to weaken all future efforts.”
To respond to why people often do not get what they concentrate on, the late Atkinson has said “Because they sit down in hopeless despair and expect it to come to them. But if they will just reach out for it with their biggest effort, they will find it is within their reach. No one limits us but ourselves. We are what we are today as the result of internal conditions. We can control the external conditions. They are subject to our will.”
Awakening the sleeping power within
What Robbins has said in his book “Awaken the Giant Within” perfectly matches what the late Atkinson has said. A single decision resolutely implemented can transform an entire life. The concentration of power lies behind extraordinary transformation which you see among some individuals.
Robbins has written “We all have dreams… We all want to believe deep down in our souls that we have a special gift, that we can make a difference, that we can touch others in a special way, and that we can make the world a better place. At one time in our lives, we all had a vision for the quality of life that we desire and deserve. Yet, for many of us, those dreams have become so shrouded [hidden /buried] in the frustrations and routines of daily life that we no longer even make an effort to accomplish them.
For far too many, the dream has dissipated—and with it, so has the will to shape our destinies. Many have lost that sense of certainty that creates the winner’s edge. My life’s quest has been to restore the dream and to make it real, to get each of us to remember and use the unlimited power that lies sleeping within us all. I’ve written this book to challenge you to awaken the giant power of decision and to claim the birthright of unlimited power, radiant vitality, and joyous passion that is yours!”
He underlines “You must know that you can make a new decision right now that will immediately change your life—a decision about a habit you’ll change or a skill that you’ll master, or how you’ll treat people, or a call that you’ll now make to someone you haven’t spoken to in years. Maybe there’s someone you should contact to take your career to the next level. Maybe you could make a decision right now to enjoy and cultivate the most positive emotions that you deserve to experience daily.
I learned to harness the principle I now call concentration of power. Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all of our resources on mastering a single area of our lives. Controlled focus is like a laser beam that can cut through anything that seems to be stopping you. When we focus consistently on improvement in any area, we develop unique distinctions on how to make that area better. One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.”
“The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus”, once stated the late Bruce Lee immensely known for his martial arts skills, among others. For further details, on him, you can read The power of laser-like focus— how precision and discipline certainly drive success.
The following words by Robbins also corroborate that your concentration of power will certainly be rewarding. “I´ll never forget the day it really hit me that I was truly living my dream. I was flying my jet helicopter from a business meeting in Los Angeles, traveling to Orange County on the way to one of my seminars. As I flew over the city of Glendale, I suddenly recognized a large building, and I stopped the helicopter and hovered above it. As I looked down, I realized this was the building that I’d worked in as a janitor a mere twelve years ago! In those days, I had been concerned whether my 1960 Volkswagen would hang together for the 30-minute trip to work, my life had been focused on how I was going to survive; I had felt fearful and alone.
But that day, as I hovered there in the sky, I thought, ‘What a difference a decade can make!’ I did have dreams back then, but at the time, it seemed they’d never be realized. Today, though, I’ve come to believe that all my past failure and frustration were actually laying the foundation for the understandings that have created the new level of living I now enjoy.”
He explains that the seminar transformed into a memorable event. “Although we had expected approximately 2,000 attendees, I was facing a crowd of 7,000—in an auditorium that would hold only 5,000! When I walked into the arena from the landing pad, I was surrounded by hundreds of people who wanted to give me a hug or tell me how my work had positively impacted their lives. I was touched so deeply by the emotions in that room that I got choked6 up, and at first I couldn’t speak.
As I looked out on my audience and saw 5,000 smiling, cheering, loving faces, in that moment I realized that I am living my dream! What a feeling to know that beyond a shadow of a doubt I had the information, strategies, philosophies, and skills that could assist any one of these people in empowering themselves to make the changes they desired most!”
Robbins’ incredible transformation indicates that moments of this transformation are often born from the deepest points of inner struggle— where a person feels overwhelmed by life yet quietly begins to question their own limits. It is in such moments of emotional collapse that the seeds of a decisive inner turning point are often planted, reshaping the entire direction of a life. “A flood of images and emotions flowed over me [during the seminar]. I began to remember an experience I’d had only a few years before, sitting in my 400-square-foot bachelor apartment in Venice, California, all alone and crying as I listened to the lyrics of a Neil Diamond song: ‘I am, I said, to no one there. And no one heard at all, not even the chair. I am, I cried. I am, said I. And I am lost, and I can’t even say why, leavin’ me lonely still.’
I remembered feeling like my life didn’t matter, as if the events of the world were controlling me. I also remember the moment my life changed, the moment I finally said, ‘I’ve had it! I know I’m much more than I’m demonstrating mentally, emotionally, and physically in my life.’ I made a decision in that moment which was to alter my life forever. I decided to change virtually every aspect of my life. I decided I would never again settle for less than I could be. Who would have guessed that this decision would bring me to such an incredible moment?”
This experience energized Robbins to the maximal extent in the seminar. “I gave my all at the seminar that night, and when I left the auditorium, crowds of people followed me to the helicopter to see me off. A tear slid down my cheek as I thanked my Creator for these wonderful gifts.
Could this be real? Am I the same guy who eight years ago was struggling, frustrated, feeling alone and incapable of making my life work? Fat, broke, and wondering if I could even survive? How could a young kid like me, with nothing but a high school education, have created such dramatic changes?”
Across the globe, Robbins has so far empowered more than 50 million people in more than 100 countries — from members of Congress, Chief Executive Officers, managers, mothers, salespeople, accountants, lawyers, doctors, psychiatrists, counselors, and professional athletes to presidents of companies and even nations. He has accomplished it through his live seminars, books, and audio programs over the past four decades.
The list is not confined to those positions. “I’ve worked with phobics, the clinically depressed, people with multiple personalities, and those who thought they had no personality. Now I have the unique good fortune of sharing the best of what I’ve learned with you, and for that opportunity I am truly grateful and excited. Through it all, I’ve continued to recognize the power individuals have to change virtually anything and everything in their lives in an instant.
I’ve learned that the resources we need to turn our dreams into reality are within us, merely waiting for the day when we decide to wake up and claim our birthright. I wrote this book for one reason: to be a wake-up call that will challenge those who are committed to living and being more to tap their God-given power.”