Faffing v. focusing - gyroscope or laser beam?

I have a pretty short attention span and can often lack focus.  In my defence though, if something really grabs my interest then I can also get totally absorbed and super-focused.  Just one of the many contradictions in my personality!

Obviously this is not a good thing when you’re a writer – working on your own, with no deadlines or bosses to keep happy (at the moment, anyway!).

The negative effect of lack of focus struck me anew recently when reading “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren.  This image captured how I’ve been feeling recently:

“Many people are like gyroscopes, spinning around at a frantic pace but never going anywhere.”

I always have lots of things going on in my life!  Good things.  Great things!  I’m often super busy.  I’m very good at getting distracted by interesting things – there are so many! - as well as new challenges/projects.

Rick Warren continued, challenging me and bringing about a light bulb moment (pardon the pun) ;-)

“The power of focusing can be seen in light.  Diffused light has little power or impact, but you can concentrate its energy by focusing it.  With a magnifying glass, the rays of the sun can be focused to set grass or paper on fire [or in the case of my son, his brother’s duvet cover!!].  When light is focused even more as a laser beam, it can cut through steel.

There is nothing quite as potent as a focused life, one lived on purpose.  The men and women who have made the greatest difference in history were the most focused.”

Now, I am writing my book and working at becoming a writer.  And I will definitely get to the point where this manuscript is as complete as I can possibly make it (whether or not it gets published then is largely out of my control).  BUT, I would get to the finish line with it a helluva lot faster if I got more focused!  Too many other things still butt into the time that I set aside for writing – and that amount of allocated time isn’t as generous as it could be.

When I actually sit down and write, it’s great!  Surprisingly great!  In fact, last week I added a prologue that I’m thrilled with, made the first chapter more punchy and exciting, and incorporated a diary device that adds depth to an important few days that were previously skated over a bit fast.  If I got focused and made that amount of progress every week then I would have been finished about 3 months ago, easily!!! 

Although I can be very emotional, I’m also very cerebral.  If I something clicks for me mentally then that’s that, problem solved.  This section of “Purpose Driven Life” feels like it’s provided clear insight for why I’m not moving forward with my writing as I want to.  You might be thinking it was super obvious and I guess it is, but it’s still useful to have it spelled out:  

“If you want your life to have impact, focus it!  Stop dabbling.  Stop trying to do it all.  Do less.  Prune away even good activities and do only that which matters most.  Never confuse activity with productivity.”

Simples, right?!  I feel like I know what practical steps to take to improve the situation, but better than that I also feel more determined rather than just powerless or hopeless or useless.  And I need to be determined coz I love dabbling and I love trying to do it all :-)

It's not the only area of my life that needs more focusing. Lots of different aspects of life could benefit from being more focused.  If you want to win a race then you focus on the finish line, rather than looking around at the other runners.  If you want to get good exams results, you focus on your revision and exams, rather than the social stuff you’re missing out on.  If you want to lose weight, you focus on your goal weight and not on the biscuit tin!  Fixing your eyes and mind on your goal, and going for it whole-heartedly, is going to make a much bigger difference than meandering your way towards it ever could.