Focus can be a noun. The focus. That element which captures our attention. The centre of interest or activity. It can be that place you look at most in a painting from where all else derives. It can be the end goal, or the smaller intermediate goals, in an undertaking. It can be the nucleus of community or personal life.
Focus can be a verb. To focus. To pay particular attention to. To concentrate one’s efforts towards an endpoint. To put other things out of mind and operate in a single direction. It can be maintaining a sharpness of image. It can be what you do when you are determined to achieve a task.
When we are striving, we need to pinpoint the focus first. Then we need to focus to realise completion. The more determinedly we can do those two things the more successful our work will be. Sometimes the focus changes and, certainly, the intensity to which we focus can waver. The more clarity we can have about what and how, though, and our adaptability to any changes, makes our progress more satisfying and more likely to finish where we hope.
Focus, the noun, and focus, the verb, go hand in hand. I guess that’s why they are the same word. It is, however, good to think of them separately to ensure that both get their due.
Until later.
Kirsten
Everyday Thoughts of an Artist 
Another insightful, thought-provoking post
LikeLike
Thank you Liz!
LikeLike
No kidding Liz,
She’s churning them out so fast I can hardly keep up
LikeLike
This post about focus is so deep,
I’m still pondering it here, after more than a week!
I’m engaged and fascinated by the hand in hand idea,
And the “we are more likely to finish where we hope”, and I think without fear:
Maybe this kind of duality to focus, the noun with the verb,
Is how we’re moved outside of ourselves to hope, like a bird,
Flying on the air,
We can’t see is there:
Fully alive
With strive.
LikeLike
You are a thinker, my friend. Xx
LikeLike