Ferociously Focused
My wife listens to books on tape and on cd while she rides to and from work. While Marilyn and I were out the other day, we listened to one of those cds. I think the book was A Change of Heart. One character was talking about a good friend of hers who was enormously successful in the publication game. She described her friend to be "ferociously focused." Every once in awhile, an author will coin a phrase that beautifully captures an idea in an extraordinary way. "Ferociously focused" is one wonderful example of that happening.
Looking at those people who are really successful in their lives, I have discerned that this is one of the most important qualities that they exhibit, along with having a very high level of self-discipline. Both of my daughters and my oldest brother possess these qualities. Because they do, they are able to screen out the deafening din of cultural and commercial noise that clutters the newstands, computers, cell phones and the visual media today. These people are definitely not couch potatoes. People who possess these qualities are pretty rare. They are what I call the "Golden Men and Women" of the world and great things seem to happen for them more often than they do for the rest of us.
For the greater part of my life, I suffered from ADD. A few years ago, my therapist suggested I get on a mild anti-depressant medication, because those drugs can help to deal with ADD. Long story short, I did and my life turned around almost overnight and for the first time in my life, I was finally able to stay focused on one single activity. I had not been able to do that in the past. So I have seen both sides of this matter of staying focused personally. Finally, I am able to get a better understanding of a part of what separates the "Golden People" and everyone else.
Frankly speaking, American society and culture doesn't seem to place much value to the ability to stay focused and to possess self-discipline. In fact, the dynamic character of our society seems to throw all kinds of obstacles in the way of people who strive to develop these qualities. If the distractions of television, radio, telephones, cell phones and computer games were not enough, the accelerating fusion of consumer electronic devices and the advertising and entertainment media is complicating this problem even more. Hand-held devices like cell phones and microcomputers enable a person to send emails, watch movies, watch music videos, take pictures, listen to music and text message someone, if he or she chooses to. Now there are far fewer places on this planet where we can escape this deluge of information and entertainment. Now there are far fewer places where we can enjoy a quiet moment or hear ourselves think.
All these technological developments are euphemistically called progress. However, if you think about it, to call it progress is almost a contradiction of the reality of the situation. All these new bells and whistles on the gizmos, that now clutter our lives, seem to have a lot of downsides to them. We are forced to flee to the few refuges of quiet in our universe that still exist, like our own room, a religious sanctuary or a library, maybe, to escape these disturbing distractions.
If anything, the situation will probably only get worse over the long haul. There are still going to be people who have the capacity to be ferociously focused. Just fewer of them, as "Progress" takes it's toll.
I am working on developing that capacity to stay focused. But to do that, I will have to sacrifice doing a lot of the things I would really like to be doing, like plopping myself in front of the tv and vegging out or just randomly surfing the net. There are too many things I want to accomplish and the siren call of all the sights and sounds coming out of all these electronic wonders can be very addictive and totally overwhelming. I am going to have to make some tough calls and I probably won't be hugely happy about the limitations these decisions will impose on me. Well nothing is free. I just have to deal with the situation as best I can. That's life, eh?
Looking at those people who are really successful in their lives, I have discerned that this is one of the most important qualities that they exhibit, along with having a very high level of self-discipline. Both of my daughters and my oldest brother possess these qualities. Because they do, they are able to screen out the deafening din of cultural and commercial noise that clutters the newstands, computers, cell phones and the visual media today. These people are definitely not couch potatoes. People who possess these qualities are pretty rare. They are what I call the "Golden Men and Women" of the world and great things seem to happen for them more often than they do for the rest of us.
For the greater part of my life, I suffered from ADD. A few years ago, my therapist suggested I get on a mild anti-depressant medication, because those drugs can help to deal with ADD. Long story short, I did and my life turned around almost overnight and for the first time in my life, I was finally able to stay focused on one single activity. I had not been able to do that in the past. So I have seen both sides of this matter of staying focused personally. Finally, I am able to get a better understanding of a part of what separates the "Golden People" and everyone else.
Frankly speaking, American society and culture doesn't seem to place much value to the ability to stay focused and to possess self-discipline. In fact, the dynamic character of our society seems to throw all kinds of obstacles in the way of people who strive to develop these qualities. If the distractions of television, radio, telephones, cell phones and computer games were not enough, the accelerating fusion of consumer electronic devices and the advertising and entertainment media is complicating this problem even more. Hand-held devices like cell phones and microcomputers enable a person to send emails, watch movies, watch music videos, take pictures, listen to music and text message someone, if he or she chooses to. Now there are far fewer places on this planet where we can escape this deluge of information and entertainment. Now there are far fewer places where we can enjoy a quiet moment or hear ourselves think.
All these technological developments are euphemistically called progress. However, if you think about it, to call it progress is almost a contradiction of the reality of the situation. All these new bells and whistles on the gizmos, that now clutter our lives, seem to have a lot of downsides to them. We are forced to flee to the few refuges of quiet in our universe that still exist, like our own room, a religious sanctuary or a library, maybe, to escape these disturbing distractions.
If anything, the situation will probably only get worse over the long haul. There are still going to be people who have the capacity to be ferociously focused. Just fewer of them, as "Progress" takes it's toll.
I am working on developing that capacity to stay focused. But to do that, I will have to sacrifice doing a lot of the things I would really like to be doing, like plopping myself in front of the tv and vegging out or just randomly surfing the net. There are too many things I want to accomplish and the siren call of all the sights and sounds coming out of all these electronic wonders can be very addictive and totally overwhelming. I am going to have to make some tough calls and I probably won't be hugely happy about the limitations these decisions will impose on me. Well nothing is free. I just have to deal with the situation as best I can. That's life, eh?
posted by hfireman | 10:39 AM
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