What Happens With Focus

Hey there - it’s Don.

I hope you had a great Labor Day!

If you are new to the newsletter, my name is Don LaTorre. I’m a husband, dad of 3, and I own Layman’s Fitness, which is a company that helps Christian guys lose weight and build strength at home.

Every Friday I release a newsletter called “Fit Tip Friday”.

Periodically on Tuesdays I’ll share either an announcement or a thought.

And on this Tuesday, I have both.

🔈 Announcement: Changes to “Fit Tip Friday”

Starting this Friday, my goal is to give you even more value in the newsletter.

Since January of this year I’ve been working 1/1 with Christian guys to help them lose weight and build strength at home.

Which means I’ve now seen the same type of thing in different contexts.

So, as a way for me to document what I’m learning and give you even more value, I’m going to start formalizing those lessons into my newsletter.

So every Friday, here’s what you will receive from me:

• Tips: 3 very practical tips or lessons that I’ve seen work for guys to lose weight and build strength.

• Finds: 7-10 fitness finds that help you lose weight and build strength (I plan on including more of these since the click through rates here are so high).

• Thought: 1 reflection or thought I have when thinking through fitness from a Christian worldview.

This does mean I won’t be sharing a story of strength every Friday (sad face). These were so fun to put together.

The primary reason I’m shifting away from the story is focus. As a small business owner, each hour of my week counts, and in the growth stage of the business there are other things on the business side that I need to devote those additional hours to.

But every now and then on a Tuesday I will release a story, and you’ll see it in your inbox.

I mean, I still have 3 more Narnia books to go through with my kids, so there are plenty of goodies left to be uncovered…

💭 Thought: What Happens With Focus

Read the following post on the Layman’s Fitness website if that’s preferable for you.

I’ve been thinking a lot about focus recently. And I’m starting to believe two things about it.

1. Focus costs something.

2. Focus brings consistency.

To illustrate this, let me share a story of when I severely lacked focus.

Lacking Focus, Lacking Consistency

One year ago, right before my 3rd daughter was born, my family was drowning in activity. At the time, we had 4 side hustles, I was working 50+ hour weeks at my full-time job, I was really involved in our local church, and we were getting ready for kid #3.

My lack of focus caused a lot of disorganization for my family, and it made doing anything consistently a challenge.

Especially family devotions.

Leading my family spiritually was something I knew I should do, but I just couldn’t seem to bring myself to consistently make family devotions happen.

I would do family devotions in spurts. One day here, one week here, then before you knew it, three months had passed and we hadn’t done anything. This was my pattern for over 8 years.

So, as busy as we were as a family last year, I didn’t think we were busy with the main things we needed to be busy with. And that was my fault.

So in October of last year, I started taking inventory of things that needed to go and things that needed to stay. I cut out a lot of our activity and trimmed down our side hustles.

The Cost and Consistency of Focus

The decision to focus cost me three things:

1. My finances. There were actual $’s lost in terms of sunk costs from our side businesses

2. My laziness. It forced me to admit I was being lazy in some areas

3. My pride. It forced me to admit that I actually needed to change

But it brought more consistency to my life than I thought was possible.

I started focusing on doing regular family devotions. They were not great at first… awkward even, but we started gaining traction.

Now, almost a year later, we are almost done reading through the Bible together as a family. And for our family, it’s one of the sweetest times we spend together each day. Praise God.

Focus has a way of bringing consistency to something you’re working on.

And the word I think is similar to this kind of focus is working heartily (Colossians 3:23). This is a wholehearted, vigorous, and enthusiastic labor for the Lord and not for man.

But this type of working heartily costs something. This is not a lazy-man’s effort. This effort is more like the ant’s diligence from Proverbs 6, one where she’s making the choice to work while the sluggard snoozes away. It requires work, and it requires change.

Focus and Fitness

Working heartily and focus have huge implications for fitness.

What would happen if you focused on your specific fitness goal? What if you took inventory on things that needed to go and things that needed to stay so you could focus on fitness? And you worked at it heartily?

And I’m not suggesting a half-hearted focus… like a “oh yeah, I probably should eat healthier/lift more/go to bed earlier” type sentiment… one that inevitably leads to spurts of activity one week here, another week there, then three months later you’re wondering where fitness went.

I’m talking about a heartily focus.

One that’s full of vigor, effort, and enthusiasm. One that is wholehearted and sincere. And one that actually costs you something and requires change… where you are Eustace the dragon staring down Aslan’s claws.

What would happen?

Well, I bet if you worked at it heartily, gave it your focus and accepted the cost… consistency would follow.

👍 Thanks for reading!

I’ll see you on Friday.

Be strong,

Don

P.S… If you want to lose weight and build strength without going to the gym, check out the Kettlebell Strength System, which is my program that helps Christian guys lose weight and build strength at home.