"This requires total concentration” (Bruce Lee paraphrase)
Martial
artists can focus their mental attention and bodily energy to apply
physical forces that astonish most other mortals because the latter
cannot see beyond the distractions of their own busy, active minds.
Today,
the advent of electronic media and the internet have enabled many
distractions that seem appealing at first, yet enslave us in the end.
Text message. Email. Phone call. Tweet. Pandora. ipod. Video game. Facebook. Pinterest. Netflix. Hulu.
Now, where was I? Oh, yes. Focus.
Fox News. CNBC. Politico. CNN. Talk radio. The New York Times. The Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg. Reuters.
What was I doing? Oh yes, writing a blogpost.
Napoleon Hill in his 17 Principles of Success
described a quality he called “Controlled Attention” as the ability “to
focus the powers of [the] mind upon the attainment of a definite
objective and to keep it so directed at will.” If one is often
distracted, bouncing from activity to activity like a pinball on
steroids, how can one achieve or accomplish anything worthwhile?
“Multi-tasking” is an oxymoron!
So,
what can we do when we are either assaulted or tempted by the barrage
of today’s electronic distractions? I do have a few simple
recommendations:
1) Cancel your cable/satellite TV service. Throw out all radios, ipods, gaming consoles.
2) Read only one literate newspaper each day.
3) When with people, place your cell/smart phone in “airplane” mode, and be fully present for the people you are with.
4) If you must check and respond to email, do so only 3 times each day (morning, around lunchtime, and late-afternoon).
5) Rise early and meditate each day.
I recognize that what I am suggesting here is a radical departure from the way many individuals act these days. Who among you has the courage to reclaim your focus?
