Focus Your Energy Like a Lightsaber

May the Fourth Be With You 🙂

I’m a huge Star Wars fan. I have always liked the movies, ever since I was a little kid. Not too long ago, I watched the original Star Wars movie again, just for fun. One of my favorite parts of the movie happens near the beginning, when Obi-Wan Kenobi gives Luke Skywalker his father’s lightsaber. Luke is just beginning to discover who he is, and I enjoy watching his character develop.

There’s a great line in the movie where Obi-Wan explains to Luke what a lightsaber is.

The Weapon of a Jedi Knight

“Your father’s lightsaber. This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age. For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.”

Our Energy: Lightsaber or Blaster?

I think there’s a lesson here about how we focus our energy. Often in my life I feel like my energy is like a blaster. It’s random. I bounce around from project to project. I might spend a lot of energy and look busy, but I don’t accomplish much.

The alternative is to focus my energy like a lightsaber. If I’m able to focus all my energy on one thing, without distractions, I can accomplish quite a lot. And because I’m focused in one direction, my tasks build on each other and move me closer toward my overall goal.

2 Keys to Focus Our Energy Like a Lightsaber

I think there are two keys to focus our energy like a lightsaber:

1. Know the direction. Sometimes our energy is random because we don’t have a solid direction. If we don’t know where we are going, it’s difficult to focus our energy in a particular direction. It is helpful to set aside some time each day to plan out the most important tasks for the day. On a larger scale, it is valuable to spend some time each week, month, and year to determine the most important tasks for that time period. To focus your energy like a lightsaber, you have to know the direction.
2. Eliminate distractions. The other major problem that keeps our energy unfocused is distractions. Distractions such as email, social media, television, and random phone calls hurt our focus. If we want to keep our energy focused, we have to ruthlessly eliminate distractions. Schedule specific times to check email, browse social media, and watch television. Put your phone on silent and schedule a time to make phone calls. To focus your energy like a lightsaber, you have to eliminate distractions.

Discussion: When you think about your energy, is it random like a blaster or focused like a lightsaber? Do you know the direction you want to go? How are you doing at eliminating distractions?