Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, there was a monk with exquisite focus able to save the rebellion while fighting with a giant deadly spaceship. 

He just needed to retreat away from the messy distractions of life for a quick training montage in a swamp to learn how to master the force. I mean focus. 

Spoiler: That was fictional. 

Focusing in real life means navigating the inconveniences and embracing the right amount of friction. 

The Real-World Training Montage:

There is a barrage of noise telling me to do more while automating and optimizing all-the-things. No thanks, that sounds overwhelming and paralyzing. Not to mention impossible.

But what if I made decisions about my focus and attention by considering the purpose - be that fun, funds, or just a fancy. So, what are you trying to accomplish by focusing? What is it all for?

Too much friction and you’re stuck, too little and you’re flailing out of control. There is a sweet spot of resistance we need to dive into meaningfully deep work and the freedom to be nimble with our time, energy, and attention. 

What is actually getting in the way of action? How might you subtract a few things to get moving? What supportive (re)structures might you need to move with intent?

The rituals of a commute - from the school bus as a kid to the ride into work - are powerful transition rituals that can be deliberately replicated when we lose the external structure of a commute. 

Creating distinct physical cues – mine include a Yeti of ice water and putting on my headphones - power the attention shift. I’m telling my brain I’m shifting into (and later out of) work-mode now. 

Sure, multitasking sounds good in theory, but unless you count breathing as the other task, single tasking has massively better results. Rapid-fire task switching punctuated by distractions dilute your work (and life) effort into a murky mess of ‘what-did-I-even-do-today’. 

How might you craft clear (yet often tiny) transitions between activities to help build your bookends and delineate shallow work from deep work? Plus add in true breaks. 

If busyness is a visible proxy for pretend productivity, then remote work is at a massive disadvantage. You can’t be ‘seen’ in the office unless you count the little green dot on whatever comms systems your company uses. 

Showing your value looks different. 

What would it look like to turn on the Do-Not-Disturb sign so you can actually focus on your work? What if you were less responsive and more responsible?

Focus is a muscle, and while I wish I could just do the quick training montage, strengthening it requires a willingness to disrupt the status quo for the benefits and deal with the consequences.

Because attention is a powerful resource intertwined into our bodies, brains, and environments. And it’s yours. What will you do with it?

Shout out to Cal Newport’s books Deep Work and A World without Email.