Happy New Year! With a mix of planning and good fortune, yours may be off to a good start. Mine is off to a slow start. I have a cold with minor symptoms and debilitating lethargy. Every time I think I’m on the rebound, it’s short lived and I’m back to sulking in front of the TV or aggressively acquiring toads in order to expand my kingdom in Super Mario Run.
While my new year’s start is slow and whimpering, I do have plans for a more rewarding 2017. That’s where today’s quote, from Seth Godin, comes in. I’ve always struggled to have a committed focus. My excuse is that I find too many things too interesting. My attention span is considerably weaker than a decade ago. I can walk into a room to accomplish a task and 20 minutes later find myself midstream doing something completely unplanned and unnecessary.
This year I don’t expect to conquer my faltering focus but I do intend to improve it. I need to learn to say ‘no’ — not to others, but to myself, so that I can do fewer things and see those fewer things through. In my current state of entertaining every whim and interest, I accomplish little, which leaves me feeling defeated and disappointed. Better to do one or two things and feel awesome about them, than have a heap of half started endeavors that taunt me with remaining work and waning interest.
In the coming months I hope you witness the fruits of my reclaimed focus on this blog. I am often crippled by too many ideas and become overwhelmed. This year, I plan to focus on fewer things, including some personal back burner projects that have been taunting me with their incompleteness for years. It will likely mean fewer posts and I’m okay with that. I’m a part-time blogger, after all. With some rehearsal and focus, though, those fewer posts will bring you and me more joy.
