I had a revelation recently. Over the last few weeks, I have been writing and thinking a lot on narrowing my focus, bringing more energy to a single effort. However, in the last couple days, I have read a couple other blog posts that have stopped me dead in my tracks.
The first one was by Leo Babauta over at Zen Habits. I heard a podcast interview he gave. I wish I could find the reference to put in, but I have forgotten. Sorry.
Leo said something in passing that really hit home with me. He said one of the more important things to narrowing the focus is to be aware of everything that is outside the focus. Concentrating on one thing leaves a lot of other things outside that used to enjoy the inner attention. They won’t just go easily into the night. They have to be addressed. If that means consciously dismissing them, so be it. But it must be a deliberate action or they will creep back in.
Let’s supposed I have five hobbies I enjoy. (My wife is laughing here, because I have way more than five.) If I decide to focus on just one, I have to deal with the other four. Am I giving myself permission to actually ignore those four? What about the tools/materials/paraphernalia that goes with the other four? Several years ago, I put all my model shipbuilding kits and tools aside to focus on woodworking. However, every time I go in my closet, I see kits on the shelf and think I want to get back into that someday. I am creating an open loop that my mind seizes on like a hungry dog and subconsciously begins to bring it up every now and then, adding stress and noise where I don’t want it.
The obvious solution would be to get rid of the kits and the tools. Perhaps that is the right thing to do. However, I might want to get back to that hobby some day in the future and I don’t want to waste the significant investment. And then I wonder if I really will get back to it. Could I use the money somewhere else? Should I sell it? These are the kinds of questions that run around in my mind at least once a week when I see the boxes on the top shelf. In one paragraph, I have managed to tie myself in knots. Imagine what is going on in the brain subconsciously on a daily basis?
The second article popped up on my Twitter account tonight, courtesy of Augusto Pinaud (@apinaud). He pointed to this article by Merlin Mann over at 43 Folders. Merlin writes in order to truly focus on one thing, you first have to care intensely about it. “Specifically, if you discover, in frustration, that you’re pathologically incapable of doing one thing at a time, consider the possibility that you’ve been unknowingly trying to “focus” on two, twenty, or twenty thousand disparate things that you don’t really care that much about. Just consider it.”
That quote just about knocked me off my chair. Over the past few weeks, I have really struggled focusing on one thing at a time. a multitude of distractions keep crowding my thoughts. I thought it was because I was tired or it was due to stress. While those things may be a factor, I hadn’t entertained the thought it could be due to my desire to focus on too many things.
And what about the last part – the “things that you don’t really care that much about” part? That is the part that gave me the jolt. Do I really care about building model ships anymore? If I didn’t do another ship, would I be missing something? I have admit I wouldn’t miss it at all. After all, I haven’t touched a kit in nearly ten years. The next thought I had was to ask myself why I did I do it in the first place? What motivated me to focus on it in the first place? Are those desires still valid today? What satisfaction would I get today if I were to again focus my energy there? Is it valuable enough for me to keep the reminders close at hand?
I don’t have the answers to all those questions just yet. The key concept, though, is this question: Does the thing I want to focus on mean enough to me to NOT focus on other things? I have collected a lot of things I want to focus on over the years, but I have never decided I am NOT focusing on any thing else yet. I have ended up like the kid in a candy store, completely paralyzed by all the choices, unable to choose anything.
This is a powerful realization for me. I have to think on this some more, but I have a feeling there may be some model sailing ship kits going on sale pretty soon.
My fascination with focus started a few months ago when I was talking with a coworker. She and I were commiserating on how difficult it seemed to get anything done at work. We both agreed that we were pulled in so many directions all day long, that it was nearly impossible to focus on any one thing for any length of time. She confided that even when she had a block of time in which she could work, she found it very difficult to concentrate and found herself doing things she hadn’t intended to do. She called it Learned ADD.