The Importance of Focus

I've put in 8 hours since my last update (I know, it's been a week--I've been busy). 

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I've been thinking a lot about focus lately. I suppose around my junior or senior year of college I began bringing my laptop to class, and I honestly believe that is when my ability to focus intensely on one particular item at a time started degrade. I suddenly had every piece of information I could ever need in front of me, as well as all my idiot friends posting all the time (unless you've bought my book, then you're smart as a whip). It was virtually a foregone conclusion that I would stop paying attention. My grades didn't suffer, but my learning did.

This has transferred itself to every piece of my life now. I constantly zone out, check my phone, check my tablet, check my email, check facebook, check twitter, check my book stats. I check everything all the goddamn time AS IF IT MATTERS. 

It doesn't. None of it does. It's counterproductive. 

I had been writing two hours per day, with all those interruptions (and don't even get me started when someone starts posting politics on Facebook, that can take away HOURS of my time while writing). I cut it in half and now have a strict rule that only my Work In Progress can be on my screen. The results?

I'm getting through more of End Times (my next book) than I was at 2 hours a day. 

I'm trying to import focus into the rest of my life, and I think it would be smart for you to as well. Stop checking your phone when you're at work, talking with someone, or reading. Focus on what's at hand--THAT is what is important, not anything else. 

When Einstein theorized, he used a single notepad, and a pencil. It didn't matter where he was at. Literally, he could be in a crowded room with people talking all around him, and his focus was so intense that he kept right on going. Get that kind of focus, and success is the only thing that is going to be able to interrupt you.