Are you Focused?

Are you focused? I’m talking about the ability to hone in on one task only and see it through (although it does help if your eyes can see properly, too. If not, get them tested!)

I have spent many years trying to perfect the art of absorption while working on an important task, but like most people living in the 21st century, I am easily distracted.  I might have a quick look at my emails or WhatsApp to check that nothing else needs my attention, and then remember I haven’t played my mandatory three games of online chess yet, let alone completed the ‘Wordle’ or watched my sister-in-law’s latest funny video, then that’s it - concentration shattered. 

Some of my best work days have been when I was able to double down on the task at hand completely. I remember them fondly, as they were so rare! But it does not come naturally. To try and help myself work better, I have long held to the habit of using the 'Pomodoro Technique', whereby you focus fully on the task in hand for a set time (I favour 45 minutes), then take a short break before repeating. I use an online timer alongside this ('Clockify', but 'Toggl' is equally good), so that I can track each piece of writing separately.

How do you manage all the competing demands on your time when you are desperate to get that novel out of your brain and onto the page? How does anyone manage to be a ‘full-time writer’?

I continue my quest to find the balance. 

I might fantasise about devoting myself entirely to my art, like Iris Murdoch. She was a noted 20th-century novelist,  but with her husband, John Bayley, she apparently lived in domestic chaos. I couldn’t exist like that, as the housewife in me would object too strongly. If I get too embroiled in my story and my plot, I will likely forget to plan what we’re having for dinner or to put on that essential load of laundry. And that never ends well. I can’t bear domestic disorder. 

I don’t think I will ever have the definitive answer or plan, because you know what?  Life is messy. Despite that reality,  I’m always dreaming of a distant place and time where everything is orderly and I can actually sit down and do three hours of writing in the morning, divided up into four sessions with tidy fifteen-minute breaks for housework. 

I don’t believe that chaos is God-inspired, but neither is perfection. The trick is to find the sweet spot between the two, where our imaginations can be allowed free rein, but the necessity of living in the real world, with all of its demands, keeps our feet on the ground. 

So, let’s return to the question of focus. What one change can you or I make today to help us fixate on our writing and get a project finished?