You are what you give your attention to. ~Chad Howse
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There are things in our lives that benefit us, that make us tougher, smarter, happier. Our work is one such thing, and it doesn’t matter what we do.
If we take pride in it, if we choose to allow it to fulfill us, then it grabs us, fulfills us.
There are a lot of things in our lives that bring us away from who we need to be and what we need to focus on.
I don’t watch the news, for example, and I’m thinking about not reading it either. There’s so much I disagree with in those pages or articles online, policies, things that our leaders are doing, that it sheds a negative light over my day.
Facebook and Twitter are filled with negativity.
They’re dominated by people who don’t work, who don’t hustle, who have enough time to troll and complain, seemingly as a calling.
I’m heavily thinking about shutting down both my twitter account and my personal facebook account (my business page is clearly about something more than ‘look what I’m doing’).
So there are things to remove, but what should we focus on?
That’s the big question in everyone’s life, and there are a few things to consider when determining what warrants your attention.
Using my own life as an example, I write.
That’s essentially what I do for a living. Everything else in the business is done by others. I write posts, articles, books that are being worked on, newsletters, programs, sales copy, and so on.
The focus, then, must be writing, but it has to only be writing. It cannot be attention divided. It cannot consist of multiple things being worked on at one time. The work, to be beneficial to the individual, must be deep and focused. It must be tough, difficult, and extremely challenging, but it cannot be deviated from.
If you have a skill that’s a part of your work, that skill must take up your best hours and there can be no distractions that accompany it.
If you write, you cannot also have the internet on. You can’t have your phone on. You can’t have links tempting you or meetings pulling you away from your craft.
If you’re an artist, a metal worker, a blacksmith, a mechanic, a builder, an architect, a garbage man, a soldier, a fighter, the same thing applies.
You have your craft, that thing you need to perfect, to dive into, and you have everything else.
When you’re in your craft, that is all that matters.
Even more profound is that the depth of your focus transcends time and doesn’t allow your brain to focus on the myriad of things we previously mentioned, the negatives that add cynicism to your days.
Whatever it is that you do, do it, and nothing else, for periods of your days, and happiness will be yours.
