After I sat myself down and threw out my plans to change the world in no time flat, I read The Art of Learning which outlines the techniques and strategies Josh Waitzkin uses to be ultra-successful in everything he does.
My take away: focus and concentration.
I don’t know if it was Baader-Meinhof in action but I then stumbled upon this link:
A difficult thing to do, and very few minds can do it. St. Paul gives us the shortest definition of concentration on record when he says, “This one thing I do,” short, but tremendously significant. Another Bible definition is excellent: ” Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” Some men work that way, intense fellows–brilliant professional men—big business men—executives—leaders in the world of finance—science—invention—literature—education—it matters not what kind of work, the point is that when these men pitch hay, they pitch hay —when they write a book, they write a book—when they manage a sales campaign, they man-age a sales campaign. That one thing they do at that one time, and nothing else, and every ounce they have goes into the doing. But back of all this has been a lot of mental discipline, a lot of habit-forming, a lot of brain-building.
Amazing relevance given its original publication date of 1930.
I have recently felt that I had lost some intangible edge. My mind tends to wander, churning away at ideas. I used to think I could multitask effortlessly. I was wrong. What I thought was accomplishing more in less time was really accomplishing less with more effort.
This post, done in one sitting and without distraction took me — and I timed it — 10 minutes. I can get used to this sort of productivity.*
Make that 11 minutes now…
Give it a try. Whatever it is you are doing. Do it, and only it. The results may just change your life.
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* 10 minutes may seem like a lot of time for this short and less than academic writing. But give it a try. Write a 400 word post yourself and remember to be exclusive with your attention.
