5-year-old me used to sit on my parent’s living room floor with a joystick in hand… spending hours trying to beat the Pop Flamer game on our Sega SC3000 home computer.
Those were the days when Sega made a home computer. Along with just about every other company in the world who got on the bandwagon back in the ’80s!
I smashed that game because I played it over and over. With focus and intent.
Fast-forward 40 years…
With a sense of nostalgia hanging in the air… I sat down to play it once again.
This time using an emulator.
Apart from the laughable graphics (we’re truly spoiled nowadays, my friend)…
I was bored within an inch of my life after two minutes!
You see…
I’d told myself I could beat the game again if I wanted to.
And because nostalgia had kicked in… I REALLY wanted to.
But reality?
It’s not just that my brain is a tad slower because of age…
(You can STOP sniggering now! … I get enough of that from my kids!)
But my attention was all over the place.
I just had so many things on my mind.
What with the writing I had to get done… a daughter to pick up from dance class soon… and the background anxiety of wondering when I’d actually make some money from this copywriting lark.
So my brain just couldn’t help piping up to say…
“Chris, this is a royal waste of time. You’ve got this long list of ‘better things to do with your time’ sitting here.”
So my gray matter refused to play ball.
But… as a 5 year old… the cares just weren’t there.
I had ONE task…
Race around the map with my flame-throwing mouse frying the baddies. Without getting killed.
How I want that 5-year-old’s focus-on-command back!
I think I’ve come close sometimes.
It’s those days when I get up early.
Have a short walk.
Sit down to work.
Don’t open a single email. Or Facebook post.
Know the task that needs doing.
Put on some music. That I can enjoy without being distracted by the lyrics.
And just get stuck in.
Three hours later I’m like, “What time is it?”
This takes some prep. But it’s mostly doable.
It’s not a perfect system.
And sometimes I pine for the simplicity of a single-tasking 8-bit computer. With green screen and black cursor.
Where your only option is to type letters.
The danger now is…
If I need to open a browser to do some research… that can lead me down a Distractionland rabbit trail.
I’m likely to be lost in the woods for the rest of the creative part of my day.
So some strategies for minimizing distractions helps.
Your strategies will probably look different to mine.
I have different browser profiles. One is called “Only two times a day Chris!!” This was my email and social media one.
And my other browser profiles don’t even have me logged in to things like Facebook and LinkedIn.
But the best thing I’ve found for helping to stay focused is just the boring old habit-forming thing…
Making it so I feel uncomfortable when I let myself be distracted.
It’s like how it was once super-hard for me to write articles. But then I found a way by building the habit of daily email. And the articles are now 80% written for me every day.
I can’t NOT write my emails now. And I can’t NOT turn at least one of those a week into an article. It just feels painful to NOT do those things.
Now I’m working on this daily habit of consistently writing for LONGER chunks.
When I sit down in front of my computer at the start of the day… I’m thinking to myself…
“This is my sacred work time. And I must treat what is sacred with respect.”
It’s not always easy, what with Resistance shouting any number of objections at me.
But… conditioning myself for work every morning… helps.
And if we’re to make any meaningful progress in the business we’re building… we just have to do this kind of stuff.
There’s a lot to do. And no amount of going around in circles with self-doubt and procrastination is going to get it done.
Taking action is the way forward.
I have a new poster I just put up on the back of my office door. (Where my 3-step business plan and various reminders live.)
It says…
“If it’s not moving the needle… DON’T DO IT! — FOCUS!”
I don’t like that new addition. Because it hits me right where the pain is.
But I know I’ll grow to appreciate it.
All the best with your needle-moving this week!
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Chris Milham