In talking with creatives and musicians, I’ve found focus to be one of the greatest challenges.
We know what it’s like to have inspiration hit out of nowhere. With enough practice, following inspiration becomes an automatic.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with following inspiration. At the very least, you should write down your ideas before they are gone.
But following every whim is sure to leave you unfocused – a scattered mess, even.
On July 28, 2020, I made the commitment to start publishing daily. Today is day 235 on that journey.
And when I first got started, I was excited. I was so excited, in fact, that I started a day early.
Here we are, seven months in, and it’s finally beginning to feel like a grind. And it took this long to get there.
I still have ideas worth writing about and I don’t have writer’s block. But the itch to start something new has been overwhelming.
The artist in me cries a little when I restrain myself. But if I added anything new to my schedule now, I would only be sentencing myself to another trip down burnout lane.
And, while I got started on the premise that publishing daily would solve all my business problems… I’m starting to grow skeptical of that idea too.
I have experienced growth, to be sure. Just not to the degree that I thought I might by now.
Which is okay. That’s just the emotions talking, and logically, I know there are greater rewards waiting on the other end of this experiment. There is more to come.
And again, while I’m tempted to start new things (and I will leave some space in my schedule for experimentation), I find myself returning to this question often:
What is my one goal?
In coaching creatives and musicians, I also ask them what their one goal is. The answer I often get is “Well, I have X, and I’m also working on Y, and Z…”
But that’s not the answer I’m looking for. Because there can only be one answer.
You get to decide what the answer is. But there can’t be more than one. Until you’ve met that goal, there should be no other goal.
You should be spending all your time, energy, and resources on reaching that one goal. That’s how you know you’ve given it the attention it deserves.
You should be spending all your time, energy, and resources on reaching one goal. That’s how you know you’ve given it the attention it deserves. Click To TweetPublishing daily is a goal. There are many other things I want to do, but until I’ve completed that goal, there are no others that should distract me from that goal. That’s how I know I’m giving it the attention it deserves.
What is your one goal?
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