Focus - Leo Babauta [12]
Let me repeat that point: this obsession with keeping up with information takes away from the things that are most important to us.
But we try to keep up because we're afraid:
we might miss something important, and seem ignorant
we might miss out on an opportunity
we might not see something bad that we need to respond to
something bad might happen to us if we aren't informed
These fears seem reasonable, until we test them. Then we can see that they're not really grounded in anything other than societal norms, and a "need" created by media corporations and similar companies.
how to break free
Two ways: 1) examine each fear individually, and 2) test them.
When we shine a light on our fears, they lose power. When we test them to see their validity, they will usually fail, and we can overcome them.
Let's shine a brief light:
We might seem ignorant. Really? How often do people quiz you on current events, or laugh at you for not knowing? Maybe some times, but even if it does happen, so what? Let others be fueled by this need, and let yourself focus on things you care about, not what others think is important.
We might miss out on an opportunity. Possibly. There are always going to be opportunities we miss. But more likely are the opportunities we're missing because we're letting our days be consumed by trying to stay up to date. When we do this, we lose time we could be using to pursue exciting, real opportunities.
We might not see something bad that we need to respond to. If something really bad is happening, we'll know. I hear things on Twitter, even if I only pop in once in awhile, and friends and family will always tell me about a storm or economic collapse or something similar. Sure, this is relying on others, but if they're going to tell us anyway, why worry about keeping up ourselves?
Something bad might happen to us if we aren't informed. This is highly unlikely. I've been uninformed -- tuned out from the news and other information I don't want -- for a few years now. Nothing bad has happened to me. Instead, good things have happened because I'm free to create, to focus on what makes me happy.
The next step is to actually test the fears. Do this by tuning out of the news or whatever information you try to keep up with, for one day. Then see if any of your fears came true.
If not, feel free to read the news you want, peruse the websites you follow. Then try a second test of two days -- see what happens. Keep repeating this, but extending the test, until you can go a couple weeks without staying up to date. Then see if your fears are true.
Testing will show you facts. You'll see if something bad happens, or if you appear ignorant, or if you miss out on big opportunities. You'll also see whether you are freer to live the life you want.
4: how not to live in your inbox
"It's not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is, what are we busy about?"
– Henry David Thoreau
Many of us do this -- we have our email inbox open most of the day, and most of the time, our work is right there, in the inbox. It's where we live, communicate, keep track of tasks, do our work, organize ourselves.
Unfortunately, it's not the best way to live and work. You're constantly getting interrupted by new messages, and so we're at the mercy of the requests of others. A new email comes in, and so we must stop what we're doing to check the new email, and possibly respond. Even if we don't respond right away, whatever we were just doing was interrupted.
This is the opposite of focus, and nothing exemplifies the need for focus better. Sure, you're always in touch, always up to date, always on top of things. But you have no focus, and you're buffeted in all directions by the winds of your email (or Twitter, Facebook, IM or other communication channels). It's also hard to prioritize when you're living in a sea of emails -- every new email become important, and that makes choosing our tasks carefully an almost impossible task.
Here are some suggestions:
Get your task list out of your