JohnRunchey.com

 No, I don't mean pay attention to me and what I have to say, although of course you'd be a fool not to and you know that already.
 
To succeed, you have to pay attention. Keeping your goals always at the forefront of your mind, and paying attention to what is happening in your life, is the key. If you let life just happen to you, without paying attention, your results will be similar to my lawn.
 
I live in a heavily wooded unincorporated area, the antithesis of the well manicured, gated community. Because of this I can get away with not paying attention to my lawn. My lawn looks like crap. I don't pay attention to it; I do the bare minimum to keep it from becoming a totally wild, weed infested jungle.
 
Everything else in life is no different - pay attention, no weeds. Don't pay attention at all, weeds completely take over. 
 
Saving money, now that I pay attention to. Every time I have an expense, I pay attention to it, thinking about how it will affect my savings. I know exactly how much I bring in each month, exactly what my monthly savings goal is. I pay attention, week after week and year after year, and as a result I have substantial savings. Very few weeds in this area of my life.
 
I've been married 14 years, quite happily I might add. I pay attention to what is important to my wife, to what will make her happy in the relationship. Why do so many couples pay no attention to their marriage and just let it go to hell? Marriage is more than just 2 people joining together; if you pay attention to the marriage, working on ways to improve it, ways to improve the way you communicate, then fewer weeds will crop up. 
 
Want to get in better physical shape? Pay attention. Pay attention to what you eat each day. Pay attention to how much exercise you are getting. Pay attention when you are presented the choice of stairs vs. elevator. I'm not a big fat slob but I could definitely improve in this area - I can easily turn off my attention when a chocolate long john is calling me! 
 
I believe it was Woody Allen who said, "90% of success is just showing up". I'd modify that slightly, to "...showing up and paying attention". Success isn't rocket science.
 
What areas of your life do you pay attention to, and how has that affected you?