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STRONG NATION 5 I lived on the streets and was addicted... degree. But in the past, his situation was quite in life and walked this path for a long different. Still very young, he became embroiled H e is a football player. And it was in this sport that the 37-yearold Santista Carlos Rubens found motivation to change his pace of life and stay well balanced. In his childhood, Carlos had no idea that he would be an athlete in the future. His great dream at the time was to be a naval engineer. Today, he trains 60 hours a month. He managed to lose 30 pounds and feel stronger, agile, fearless and ready to conquer the world, literally. The change that has taken place in his life is observed by all his relatives. He went back to school. He is a graduate and holds a law Are you someone who lacks focus? A study conducted by the US Harvard Business Review with 35,000 leaders from more than 100 countries shows that lack of focus is a “stone in the shoe” of many people: 67% of respondents describe that their minds are confused and filled with many thoughts and lack clear priorities. Another 65% reported that they could not complete their tasks because of other people’s demands (26%), competing priorities (25%) and general distractions (13%). Financial coach Dalton Henrique Thomaz Ferreira explains that “many tasks are not performed because of the excess of ‘important things’ to be done.” Therefore, for projects to get out of the role, it is necessary to construct “relevant, challenging goals with clear but also flexible steps”. He further notes that “focus is on being fully connected to what you are doing without pushing. It’s planning a task with beginning, middle and end.” Ferreira says that it is more important to have self-knowledge and know how to direct attention to what you want to achieve than to have many skills and not focus. “The unfocused employee has low productivity,” he says. “Every time a task is interrupted there is energy consumption and waste of valuable time to start over from the point where it stopped.” The entrepreneur must also keep the focus both in situations that bring success and difficulties. “I often say there is no failure, there is feedback. If anything in your life is not coming off as expected then there is something to learn. Often, the difficulties are a blessing, because they will get you out of the comfort zone and put you in motion, “he says. For Bishop Leno, faith and focus go hand in hand. According to him, one must be very determined, to have faith in the Word of God and in oneself. He believes that the lack of focus is always accompanied by the absence of perseverance and leads to withdrawal. He assesses that faith is fundamental for this not to happen. “Faith is the absolute certainty that the Word of God will be fulfilled in your life.” Join us every Monday to learn the qualities of an overcomer. bad company and stopped studying. Shortly thereafter, he became acquainted with the addictions: drinking, going to parties, marijuana and cocaine. To feed the addiction, Carlos began to steal. At first, only the people at home had their goods stolen. Then other relatives became his victims. It was not long At the age of 16 he lived on the streets, then in shelters - but soon he was expelled for stealing from the nearest people. before his mother kicked him out of the house. He says he had no prospect of As it is often the case with people, when Jacy found herself at the bottom of the pit that she sought help from Universal. There, she found the doors open, love and, most importantly, she learned the right way to use her faith. “The change I noticed in my wife was so real that the next day I also walked through the doors of Universal and was treated with great dignity. I call treatment because there really is no other word to use. I got rid of the addictions, the bitterness and unhappy against problems, adversities and defeats. A man who was exuberant and strong but because of an uncertain future was dominated by addictions. A person who looked forward without seeing a horizon, who hid behind dreams and made suffer all that were around him. ‘‘ Today, he is an example of a husband, father and grandfather. A dedicated athlete who can only see a promising future. He sought help in the right place, so he found the solution. (his lifemate time. When he met Jacy for 18 years), they soon moved in together. At first, everything seemed wonderful, until she discovered that she was being betrayed. “I started using drugs every day, I no longer had control of the addiction and I ended up leaving the house. My wife was depressed and I realized that I had become a man’s trash. I was making suffer the only person who gave me value.” life. And I was prepared for a new life, full of accomplishments. Today my smile is real.” Carlos says that his inner strength is much greater, for he has learned to arm himself by faith that is always active, thus becoming revolted

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