Focus has left the building
And I want it back!
Drawing by Tineke Tammes
It used to be my favourite thing to do on a Saturday afternoon.
Get the shopping and cleaning done. Go for a stroll around town and mooch around the market. And then in the afternoon, curl up on the sofa with a good book, slippers and a cup of tea.
Especially in the winter. With wind and rain lashing against the window. Nowhere else to be. Just my book and I and perhaps a bit of (non-intrusive) music in the background. Hours well spent. Bordering bliss.
Except this weekend I found myself in front of my dresser. Looking at my shelf full of unread books. Feeling lukewarm about the prospect of reading ANY of them. Fiction books? Same.
You see, what's changed is this.
When I now sit down on the sofa my companion is sitting right beside me. Tempting me just by its presence. Only an arm's length away.
Even with ALL the notifications turned off (and I have) it's still there.
Even if I turn it off altogether and put it in my bag, where it lives, it's still there.
Ready to be switched on. Ready to be used. Ready to tempt me with news-that-isn't-news, with emails, with texts, with Whatsapp messages or DMs, with '9-things-that-successful-people-do-before-breakfast' rubbish or 'what-Prince-Andrew-did-now' articles 🙄.
Yes, my phone, YOUR phone, is stealing your attention, is stealing your focus.
You know it, I know it. Johann Hari (whose book Stolen Focus I decided to read in the end) tells us all about it.
Social media, the internet, You Tube, and - yes - even a newsletter (like mine 🙃), is stealing:
your attention
your ability to focus
your creativity and
your ability to think about things for prolonged periods of time
You NEED to be able to think about things for a longer time, to be creative, to solve complex problems. (Like what you'd like to do next in your career and how to be happier at work. Just saying.)
It struck me as ironic.
Because, you see, I will tell you in the VERY FIRST email, BEFORE we even start coaching in my Career Freedom programme, that for you to change your career you need FOCUS.
That career change is a CREATIVE process.
That CREATIVITY needs TIME and FOCUS.
And here I am. Struck by a lack of focus. Robbed from one of the things I love most in the world: reading.
It's even more poignant, because I've got plans this year. Personal and professional goals, that need FOCUS. I'll tell you all about them in a minute.
But before I do I want to say this.
If YOU suffer from distraction and a lack of focus (you're at bigger risk if you're a multi-passionate) let me tell you one thing:
It's not *just* you. You're not weak. You're not imagining it.
'(Fun' fact: 80% of people who answered my poll on LinkedIn about this said that - yes - THEIR ability to focus was affected too!)
Yes, there are things you can do.
But currently your feed is designed to keep you hooked. To keep you ON the screen, rather than spend time with friends and loved ones OFF screen, getting creative and starting AND finishing personal and professional projects and - yes - reading that book.
So, my two Words-of-the-Year? You guessed it: Focus and Creativity.
Focus - because I (and you) need it.
And creativity? Because by focusing we encourage and nurture and invite our creativity to come out and play.
And THAT’s what I wish for. For you. For me. And for the sake of my bulging book shelves.
🔴🟡🟠
Tineke Tammes is a Career & Creativity Coach and supports professional women in making successful transitions to careers of Freedom, Flexibility and Fulfilment! Besides that she is also a lifelong feminist, part-time portrait artist, never-only-read-one-book-at-any-time reader, and obsessive doodler.
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