Jesus knew His purpose and He knew how to live according to God’s great purpose. He also understood that one of the most important skills to practice in life is focus.

Luke 9:51
And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem…

Jesus’ mission was to be the obedient servant God needed for His grand plan of saving the world to work. Jesus needed to get to Jerusalem, which was a very important part of the plan, so He “steadfastly set his face” to reaching His destination and His goal.

That’s what it takes to accomplish anything worthwhile in life – focus. There will always be a thousand distractions trying to pull you away from your purpose, but the people who are able to ignore those time-thieves are the ones who do great things.

Three Week Focus Challenge

Here’s a plan that I’ve found to be very helpful in steadfastly setting my face to get something useful done – I call it my Three-Week-Focus Challenge.

Step One
Take a look at the six things you wrote down earlier: three things you like to do and three important life skills you want to get better at.

Step Two
Pick the one that really stands out as something you are excited about getting to right away. Let’s say you choose learning to cook.

Step Three
Be specific about what you want to learn or do by coming up with a “learning‑to‑cook” project. Example: I will learn the best ingredients and how to cook Eggs Benedict for breakfasts, Reuben sandwiches for lunches, and Beef Wellington for dinners. (Yum, sounds good.)

Step Four
Define and write down how your project will add value to the world around you. Example: Learning to cook these delicious dishes will bless my family and friends when they eat them, and also give me the beginnings of a valuable new skill for a possible part‑time job or full‑time career in the future.

Step Five
Steadfastly set your face to work hard on your project for three weeks, six days a week, in every spare hour of each day. Make it deep work, where you have no distractions—no phone, no social media, no TV, etc. You focus on completing your project until it’s done. You think about it, you dream about it, you make it your everything for three weeks, six days a week.

It Works If You Work It

When you work on your three week project, you have to have a quiet, private place to work with no distractions for 1-3 hours. When you’re in your work space set a timer for 30-50 minutes and focus completely on the tasks that will get you to completion of your three week project. After the 30-50 minutes of complete focus, take a 10 minute break, then do another 30-50 minute session. If you do 3-5 sessions like this, six days a week, you will be astonished at how much you will get done.

Depending on how involved your project is, you may complete it before the three weeks is over, or you may have to take a couple of days off, and start a new three week period on that project and work it until it’s done.

This doesn’t mean you ignore your other necessary tasks and responsibilities. It means you really set you mind to finishing a project in an area of your life that you have set as important and meaningful.

I hope you find this focus method useful, I came up with it and use it in my own life because I was having trouble really focusing on one thing at a time and this has helped me a lot. You should try it and make any changes you want in order to fit with your own life and goals.

Captain Elias set out across the open sea with a heart full of purpose. Ever since he was young, he dreamed of exploring uncharted waters, mapping hidden islands, and discovering new wonders that could help sailors travel safely. His ship, The Northwind, carried tools, journals, and a crew who believed in the mission. Every sunrise felt like a fresh invitation from the ocean itself. Elias wasn’t chasing treasure—he was chasing understanding. And with every mile, he felt more certain that his journey mattered, not just for himself but for everyone who would follow the maps he created.

Not far behind him sailed a very different kind of captain—a pirate named Brack. Brack didn’t care about discovery or helping anyone. He wanted gold, power, and fear. His ship, The Black Fang, cut through the waves like a hungry shark, always searching for someone weaker to take from. While Elias studied the stars and currents, Brack studied opportunities to grab whatever he could.

Set Sail

When sailing the seas of your life, it’s important to have goals—but what’s more important is to combine your values with your goals. Being a successful thieving pirate is as much a goal as being a successful explorer—but there’s a difference, isn’t there?

What you do isn’t as important as who you are while you’re doing it. So definitely set some long‑range and short‑term goals for your life, but keep in mind that those goals may change over time.

The kind of person you choose to be should remain at the center of all of your goals and achievements in life. Don’t be Pirate Brack; be Explorer Elias.

Have A Guiding Mission

Write out a short mission statement for yourself and refer to it often, every day is best. Your mission statement will be your compass as you sail the sea of life. It will keep you focused on the kind of person you work to become.

Here’s mine. Yours will be yours alone, so this is just an example:

To live in the presence of God, to bear His image to the world around me, and to add value to His creation.

To do my best to follow the example of Jesus Christ in character and action, to look every day for His return and the resurrection of the dead, the rescue of creation, and our glorious eternal life together with Him and His people.

To never stop learning, exploring, and developing myself in skill and wisdom.

To do hard things.

To question and challenge the comfortable status quo, starting with myself.

To wage war against darkness, hopelessness, and nihilism.

To help others in my family, faith, and community to have great hope, be well taken care of, secure, inspired, and challenged.

Luke chapter 2 recounts when Jesus was twelve years old and traveled with His family to Jerusalem for Passover—something they did every year. But this time was different. When the group started heading home, Mary and Joseph assumed Jesus was with relatives. After a full day of traveling, they realized He was missing.

They rushed back to Jerusalem and searched for Him everywhere. Finally, they found Him in the Temple, calmly sitting with the teachers, asking questions, answering theirs, and amazing everyone with His understanding. When His parents asked why He had stayed behind, Jesus said something both simple and huge: “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?”

About Your Father’s Business

Jesus started at twelve years old by learning the Scriptures, by being curious, by putting God first, and by daring to push the limits in order to understand the deeper things of God and life.

Make your heavenly Father’s business your business, and follow the example of Jesus. Jesus showed us what God’s business is.

2 Corinthians 5:19a
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself…

God’s business plan is to bring His creation and His people all the way back to Him, and Jesus kept busy doing exactly that. Wherever He went He taught people about God’s love and purposes. He healed the sick, forgave sinners, fed the hungry, shined light in darkness, and brought hope to the poor and needy.

Grow, Learn, Develop

Even though Jesus knew His Father’s business early in His life, He didn’t stay in the Temple forever, He went back home with Mary and Joseph and obeyed them, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” That means Jesus grew mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially.

He learned and developed character and wisdom. If you want to know what you are supposed to be doing in your own life, remember these two things;

1. Your calling and purpose in life are not about what you do; they’re about what kind of person you choose to be.
2. As you continue to learn, grow, and develop in the knowledge of God and the world around you amazing paths will open up for you.

Next, we’ll talk more about rumbling through the world.