By Emeka Oparah

Just before our Christmas or End of Year party, I spent five minutes speaking to my boys, the wonderful tailors at Ethelberts Clothing, on how, I think, we will take our game to the next level in 2020. The theme of my remark was CONCENTRATION.

Perhaps, one of the most vital attributes of most successful people, aside their talents, skills, experience and grace of God, is concentration. I very readily drew their attention to two of the world’s greatest soccer players alive, Messi and Ronaldo. I could see how their faces lit up to the names. I actually know how to choose my examples, even if I say so myself. Young people love music and sports; so, I might as well take it to their comfort zone, you know.

So, what about Messi and Ronaldo (in that particular order) and concentration? To answer truly, wisely and directly: have you ever paid close attention to them as soon as they get hold of the ball? Now, this is a typical Nigerian way of answering a question with another question. Seriously, the single-minded objective of both stars clearly is to put the ball past the goalkeeper and firmly in the back of the net, no VAR, no debates!!!

The multiple award winning players simply focus on the objective right from their very next move. They either make a solo, oft daring, run or commence a string of passes while heading towards the goal (pun fully intended). If you sometimes rewind a typical Messi or Ronaldo goal, you will see they have it all worked out in their heads and worked at it until the ball gets into the net, sometimes in great style-even in the tensed split seconds! That is the power of concentration.

So, for the tailors, the fabric has been cut and the design agreed. What’s left is to concentrate on finishing the top or pants according to the style within the specified time-and make it even better and in faster time than the previous one! When you stop work to join a discussion, watch a song on TV or take a call or two, you could make mistakes or miss the deadline. Concentration is very important. Stay on the machine until you “kill it”, I said to them. They all nodded in comprehension and appreciation.

I know a player, who was even more skillful than Messi and Ronaldo but he had the tendency to lose concentration. He played most of the time to the gallery. He got carried away by the applause. He held on to the ball for too long, dribbled excessively, played selfishly and rested on the glory of earlier goals he scored. He lost many balls, therefore, and missed many goal-scoring opportunities. Sometimes he appeared to have started thinking of the backflip or somersault to celebrate even before he scored the goal. And so he didn’t become great!

Concentration, very often, separates great finishers and poor finishers, not only on the field of play but in field of human endeavors, even in za ozza room. I plead the 5th and so will NOT go into details here, but suffice it to say that lack of concentration can lead to poor finishing and, of course, poor results. It could even be something as difficult as losing weight or dropping a bad habit.

This New Year, take sometime to reflect on those moments you haven’t done as well as you should and how and why you lost concentration. Then, tell yourself you’ll always start and finish any project you embark upon, as long as it make sense and will make you a fortune or fame or both or more.

Cambridge Dictionary defines concentration as “the ability to think carefully about something you are doing and nothing else.” There you have it! Form the habit of thinking carefully about what you’re doing, making a workable plan and avoiding distractions till you finish. And to paraphrase CNN’s Richard Quest would say, “whatever you’re doing, make sure it’s profitable!”

“Concentration is the root of higher abilities in the man.”-Bruce Lee

Have a successful and truly blessed 2020 with 20:20 vision!!!