This is the second installment in my review of things that went well for me in 2017 and mostly looks at my efforts to become more focused. Part 1 covers health and part 3 learning. Together they make for a fairly long read but if you have time, and a cup of something brewed, I would suggest starting at health. It is after all an important requirement for all good things in life.
Part 2: Focus
As I’ve noted in other posts, I tend to be highly contemplative and introspective, and easily overwhelmed by the “noise” of modern living. I am also very prone to pursuing, and becoming lost in, things that catch my attention but often do not serve me. I actually spent many years trying to overcome these habits, convinced they were shortfalls, but mostly just ended up causing myself large amounts of stress.
Happily, a couple of years ago, I came across the idea of introversion and started to realize most of these tendencies were classic introvert traits and they could become strengths with a better approach. (Take a look at Quiet by Susan Cain if any of this rings a bell with you.) I’m still a long way from figuring this out but I’d like to share some things that are helping me move in what I feel is a more rewarding direction.
Slow dude
Yes, this blog. It may not look like much but getting SD up and semi-running has been one of my big achievements for 2017. I have two basic goals for it. The first is to hopefully provide insights and short-cuts that might help anyone reading. And the second is to give myself a creative outlet that also lets me process ideas that can help me along my path. Pretty much as I mentioned in the introduction to this review (in part 1). I’m happy to say it’s going great so far.
Unplanning
In the middle of 2017, I started doing something that resembled daily planning. Way back then, I was using a Word file to organize/track my time usage day by day but have since switched to planning software and a longer term view. Like many introverts, I have a very loose relationship with time so I’ve found the structured approach to be really useful for deciding what is important and then actually doing it.
After initial success, I did start to run into some issues with building in resilience to unforeseen events, aka life, and not feeling burdened by having to step through a succession of preset activities. I’m just starting to understand these points now, but there are various moving parts related to areas such as life purpose, mindfulness and attachment. It feels like it could be potentially life changing, though. It’s awesome for dealing with procrastination.
Meditation
I’ve practiced meditation on and off since my early 20s. For the most part, my record was fairly patchy but as of December 2017, I’ve managed to maintain a consistent habit for around three years. (Yay!) I just do basic mindfulness meditation and definitely don’t consider myself to be very skilled at it. Even so, I believe it has helped me to find a lot more clarity, calm and space in my life. The day just goes so much better when I meditate in the morning. Time well spent.
Simplification
Over the past few years, I’ve been trying to focus in on what is most important in my life. In terms of physical possessions, this has involved gradually decluttering a huge number of items I don’t need. I have also extended the idea to my digital life and greatly simplified, for example, my e-mail and social media usage. I have also been trying to identify what I really want to use my time for. There are actually only a handful of things, many of which you can see in this review.
Productivity
2017 has been excellent for improving my productivity. That is both a result of basically everything else I’ve been trying to do this year as well as something I’ve been focusing on in its own right. It turns out productivity is less about working real hard and more about figuring out who you are, what you want from life and how you can create structure and systems that take you toward this with as few detours as possible. Pretty different to my corporate executivey image of it.
If you’ve found this to be at all useful, I invite you to continue on to part 3, learning.
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