I sat down four times today to write this post. And four times I got distracted. Well, that’s not entirely true. In one sitting I managed to get a couple of paragraphs written, but they weren’t very good. So I deleted them and I went and futzed around Facebook until it was time for me to be somewhere else, doing something or other.
*sigh*
This week we’re looking back at our New Year’s resolutions and seeing how we’re tracking on our goals.
My goal this year was simple: to finish what I start.
I’m happy to report that, for the most part, I’ve been meeting this goal. Hang on, there’s the phone. Be right back…
OK. Sorry about that.
I’ve been doing really well finishing what I start, at least in terms of writing. I finished revisions on my WiP and started querying agents. I also– Oops. Be right back. Gotta help my kiddo with something…
OK. Back. Sorry.
I wrote a novel (novella, really) during the 3-Day Novel Contest over Labor Day weekend. Which was really amazing and if you ever get an inkling to do the contest, I highly recommend it.
The thing I learned about myself completing these two things (WiP and 3Day) is that I can finish what I’ve started. When I focus.
FOCUS (n. pl. fo•cus): close or narrow attention; concentration.
As in, do one thing at a time. As in, ignore the phone. Shut the door. Turn off the Internet. Work on one thing at a time.
Surprisingly, it works.
Not surprisingly, the converse works as well. Lack of focus. Like writing a blog post while answering the phone and making the kids dinner and answering the phone again and checking who that email is from that just made the mail program chime.
Focus is a problem for me. I can juggle with the best of ‘em. Just watch me keep the plates spinning. But…then my goals suffer. I spread myself too thin. I take a lot of steps but get nowhere.
I have a couple of large projects I want to meet before the end of the year. And now I know what it’s going to take to get them finished.
The hubby just got home. So with this bit of advice, I’ll close this wandering post:
Focus.
It might just surprise you what you can accomplish.
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Your topic is apt.
A note though: I think you want the verb focus. Not the noun.
Ha, good catch!
Actually, though, I think it could work both as a noun and a verb.
I focus. I have focus. I focus on focusing. I can haz focus?
Noun, verb, whatever. I need it!
Very entertaining and timely article as I had been wondering how many articles do bloggers have going on at any one time. I’m sure it’s more than one.
That makes at least two of us Amy. I have the same problem and have been working on it for some time. My goal is to improve discipline and focus; stop procrastinating
Bad habits are hard to change, but I keep working at it and notice even little improvements as I walk the path to better habits.
You just reminded me what my New Year’s Resolution was! To write more. And the good news is, I’ve been keeping it. And not only have I been keeping it but I’ve been getting better at keeping it than I was when I started making the resolution. But yeah I agree. Focus. There is is something about life these days which makes us all so distractable. We have everything in bite-size pieces, we watch movies in three-second edits, we want to go from here to there in a lightning flash! Concentration is trainable, like a muscle. You just have to bring yourself back again and again to what you are doing until you begin to notice that the distracted periods are becoming fewer and fewer…one hopes.
Great thoughts. Thanks for sharing