How Focus Changes Your Relationship with Time // Digital Minimalism Series

“If you’re looking for a shortcut, you’re already a loser.” -Robert Greene

As an aerospace physiologist in the U.S. Navy, I had the pleasure of working with some of the best pilots in the world. The competitive, type-A personality was rampant. And there was one unifying obsession: eyesight.

If you think 20/20 vision is good enough, you’ve never discussed it with a room full of aviators. Many of the people I worked with claimed 20/15 or even 20/10 vision. For aviators and anyone who wants to achieve mastery, clear focus is a foundation of their power.

Like our opposable thumbs, our vision sets us apart from animals. A grazing animal has a wide visual sense of their surroundings, but a human does not. Aviators know this and develop a visual pattern of scanning the sky in quadrants to help them take in the whole picture.

The strength of the human visual system lies in our ability to focus. It is the ultimate advantage for humans who have time on their hands. While animals get weaker over time, a skilled human can hone their craft for a lifetime. Even in the short-term, focus will improve the quality and quantity of our work. In my writing, I produce better articles in less time when I block out a dedicated period to focus on writing. The book to read on the subject of focused work is Deep Work by Cal Newport.

The power of focus applies to more than writing and professional activities. Over the course of my life, I’ve taken dozens of dance classes here and there. Each time, I start back at square one. This summer, I decided to focus and dance every week for 8 weeks. In that short time, I’ve made more progress than I did in decades of sporadic dancing.

It’s foolish to hope that by bouncing around from one thing to the next, you will be great. Granted, you can become great at applying different models to new situations. The book to read on this subject is Range by David Epstein. However, in the course of a work day or a career, the greatest gains come from staying on task. And contrary to the advice to, “Follow your passion,” sticking to something and building a skill will bring you more career satisfaction too. The book to read on this subject is So Good They Can’t Ignore You by Cal Newport.

With focus, you can make any situation work to your advantage. I put this to use a few years ago, when stuck in a draining contractual agreement. Each day I chose to focus on something useful. If there were boring meetings, I would look at how the boss ran the meetings and do my best to be more effective during my turn to speak. If there were situations to analyze and reports to write, I would focus on making my analysis useful and communicating it in crisp style. Choosing to focus and learn when you could just kill time is the most useful thing I’ve learned from Robert Greene. In a way, this choice saved my life. The book to read on this subject is The 50th Law by 50 Cent and Robert Greene.

Remember, your brain is always changing. You have opportunities every day to sharpen your mind through focus. In the process, you can become better at focusing itself. However, if you choose to distract yourself with digital pings, you can wire your brain for more distraction. Choose the path of the masters, focus, and make the most of your brain’s incredible plasticity. The book to read on this subject is The Brain that Changes Itself by Dr. Norman Doidge.

For more on choosing a focused life in a noisy world, check out Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.