Mastering the Art of Focus
“If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.”
-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
As I’ve started to get to know my One Little Word ® this year (FLOW) I came across a TED Talk with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (and now have one of his books (affiliate link) on my Kindle ready to read).
His quote here from his book sums up very nicely what I do here. I document. I use field journaling as a process to unravel the mysteries and wonders of life around me. By looking more closely and focusing my attention, I find myself interested in almost anything.
Generally I tend to focus on nature, but this process works for absolutely any topic you want to dive into more deeply. It works because it gives you the tools to focus your attention. Taking notes becomes the next step in bettering your observational skills.
A book that shows this as well is Diary of a Citizen Scientist. (affiliate link) In this book you find yourself enchanted and learning about Tiger Beetles and how any interest can simultaneously help science.
Another book that shows how the power of focusing attention triggers a deeper curiosity is The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. (affiliate link) In this one, the author takes us through a period in her life where she literally was bedridden, and through the focus on a small wild snail, her curiosity was triggered and that traveled the journey of her recovery and beyond.
So this year, become interested in something. Anything. Find a topic you want to learn more about and rather than stopping with a quick google search, take notes. Then see what else you might find on that topic. Are there people out there also geekishly interested in it? Find them.
Instead of following a TV show in the evening, or spending hours mindlessly letting another screen lead you, disconnect with that and engage your mind in that process. Find a topic. If you give it up in a week – that’s fine. Find another topic. It’s all a part of the process of finding what your passion is. You’ll know it when curiosity gets triggered.
My wish for you in 2017 is to lead a richer life. You can do this by simply focusing your attention and triggering your curiosity. Rinse and repeat.