Focus is earned, not found

When you sit down to work, sometimes it isn’t easy. You know there’s something you should be doing right now. You know you need to get it done, but there’s something gnawing at you at the back of your head. We’ve all been there, it’s doubt. It’s the little voice in the back of your head telling you that this thing that you’re doing might not be the right one. Am I really the right person for this project? Is this really the best thing I should be doing? It might start small, but it grows.

It might even be subconscious. Your brain works in mysterious ways, if you’re not absolutely convinced you’re on the right track, your brain knows it. There isn’t fooling it. Your brain will get distracted. You’ll find yourself on Twitter, Facebook, the fourth page of Reddit. We’ve all been there. Unfortunately, no matter of discipline is going to solve this problem. You can sit down to force your self to work, but once that willpower weakens, that little piece of distraction will pop into your mind and a few hours later you’ll find yourself in a Youtube rabbit hole.

So, what’s the solution?

We get to feel focused when we’re convinced of the work that we’re doing. and. not. a. moment. sooner. It is only after we’ve taken time to explore the existing avenues that we can put these doubts to rest in our mind. We need to feel confident that we are indeed following the best path forward. When you think about it, it’s quite a reasonable thing to need - certainty.

Unfortately, work and creativity is a messy process, but it is a process. It follows two antagonistic paths, divergence and convergence. We must first diverge and explore the existing range of possibilities. This is the period when you can explore, new information is helpful, you want to open your mind to as many new experiences and to as many new options as is possible.

Eventually, you need to reach a point of convergence. You need to start making decisions about what path you need to go down. You need to make choices. You need to decide. You need to refine your thinking, your work, you need to focus.

If you’re having trouble focusing, it might not be your discipline. It’s that you haven’t spent enough time to convince yourself that you’re on the right path. Maybe take a step back, think about what options and avenues you have left unexplored. Move back to divergence until you have enough information to converge.

Hi, I'm Derrick Persson - I write about mindfulness, productivity, software development and creative writing.