Do not wait to see what happens next. There’s no time for that. On Focus and Attention.
There are a lot of people today who are waiting to see what happens next. They’re not in the game. They’re in the stands, watching what sports they can, watching the circus and watching the sideshow. They’re not involved. They’re hunkered down and watching /the news/. That’s OK for a little while. For like, a few days. Then, you have to come to the conclusion that there is no need to wait and see what happens. Only ‘the news’ isn’t going to tell you this. No. They want what any other TV show producer wants: your attention and your emotions. In case you didn’t realize it, this is a big ask. Really big.
Your attention and your emotions are big parts of you. Gary V. Says we’re in the attention economy, and he’s right. Attention is today’s digital currency. We pay for stuff with it, especially on social media and checking in. Attention is not cheap. And it’s also not free. Not really. Nor are our emotions. And especially when we feel overwhelmed and exhausted all the time when we aren’t even doing anything really strenuous except just tryin’ to get through 2020.
Care where your focus goes. Energy flows there.
We should be careful about where we choose to place our attention and our focus. Wherever our focus goes, energy flows. If you place your focus onto the news, negative energy shoots both out and inside of you. If you place your focus on coaching, positive, enthusiastic energy shoots both in and outside of you. If you place your focus on stand-up comedy, happy, funny, acerbic energy shoots both in and outside of you. Getting it? Focus matters — a lot!
“But there’s just so much going on…I feel overwhelmed!”
People say they cannot focus today because “there’s just so much going on…” It’s not that there is so much going on. There has always been so much going on. It is that they are awash, adrift in a sea of distraction. This is a choice, too. It is a choice just like going to the gym to work-out is a choice. Nobody’s forcing you to be distracted: you’re picking distraction over focus.
“Focus is the new IQ.”
— Ben Hardy, PhD.
Have you ever dedicated one hour — 60 big minutes — to 100% focused work? You made your declaration out loud, stated what you want to do next, put on the Bose NC 700s, close out the world, and got after it for that one hour? If so, how did it feel once you were finished with the focus session? Were you amazed by what you got done in that one hour? Were your results beyond what you thought capable? 60 minutes of focused, dedicated work is possible even in 2020, distraction free. It’s sad that so many people think they can’t do this any more. As Ben Hardy, PhD., says, “Focus is the new IQ.”
Focus is like a muscle: the more you use it, the better and stronger it becomes. The best way to increase focus is to read physical books. Readers are Leaders. Reading is some of your most important work no matter what you do, no matter what degrees you have (or not). Reading is as important as working-out. Reading is your work-out for your focus and your mind. It astonishes me that most peoples’ educations stop once they’re done with formalized, industrialized education. No — That’s the beginning!
Now, post-industrialized education is when you’re true education begins, your self-education. What will you choose to learn next? What’s the skill you’re developing next? What’s the plan? Where is it in the schedule? Schedule it in! When it is scheduled, it is real.
## You can learn anything. Yes, even in 2020.
Look, you can learn anything! I mean, anything! And you can learn much of it for free on YouTube. It is an amazing time to be a student and a teacher. Teachers have so many software tools to develop their curricula and the distribution platforms to monetize their knowledge that it is incredible! It’s very exciting! Listen, Teachers can even get rich — finally! They just can’t do it the old fashioned, 1940’s style, industrialized, batch-processing way that we still use today in so-called ‘formalized’ education.
(The kids are as bored with school today as they were in the ’00’s, ’90’s, ’80’s, ’70’s, ’60’s, ’50’s…That’s if they’re lucky enough to get to go.)
Teachers have to do it the contemporary way, with modern, easy-to-use software tools for subject matter experts looking to share what they know and be paid for it. Who would have thunk it? Teachers getting rich!? These tools are as available to them as they are to you. They aren’t just for teachers; they are for anyone with expertise they’re willing to promote and share.
This is exactly what I mean when I say it is a terrible mistake in wasting time to “wait and see what happens” with the world. You already have everything you need within you to GO! You already have the tools to build. You can build this thing! You can build this thing for your family, for your friends, for SEAL Team 3, for Goggins, for Jim Kwik! This is the software industry model: write once, sell again and again and again and again. Then, learn & improve upon what you’ve done thus far. Seek feedback. Iterate. Move forward.
Anybody can do this. I mean it. It is available to us all. Question is, will you go?
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