The Art of Focus

Dear Friend,

What matters to you most? You know, the things that make you feel like what you are doing gives your life meaning, belonging, and purpose? How do you focus on those things over everything else? And how do you spend your time, attention, and energy on it? This chapter takes a deep dive into a systematic approach to focusing on the important things in life.

On YouTube, you can find one of my favorite videos of a professor lecturing and using a jar full of sand to teach. Perhaps your teacher taught you this very lesson. The demonstration begins with placing large rocks into the jar, occupying substantial space. Then, pebbles and marbles are added, and sand fills the remaining gaps. The purpose of this lecture is to offer a vivid illustration of life’s priorities. The large rocks symbolize the most significant elements of our lives, while the sand illustrates those aspects we value the least.

The idea for the lesson is to make people think about their own lives as the jar. Our lives are containers and what we have is significantly within our power to choose. There are exceptions in everyone’s life, like who brings us into this world or takes care of us in adolescence, for example. The teacher’s primary takeaway from their lesson is this: choose hobbies, people, plans, goals, and the assortment of other decisions that make you happy and feel fulfilled…