At the beginning of the year, I set myself a goal that I would publish one blog post every two weeks. If I was serious about becoming a writer, I needed to step out of the safe confines of my private journal. I needed to, in the words of Seth Godin, ship into the world. Until about the middle of this year, I was meeting and sometimes exceeding that goal of publishing every two weeks. Hell, I could have written a blog post every week if I really wanted. But then, something changed. My wrist injury progressed to a point where I was able to move back into swim training. Since then, my swim training has gone from strength to strength and my blog writing has gone in the other direction. All of this got me thinking about focus and balance – two concepts that can be difficult to reconcile.
Given the pace of today’s world, it is no wonder that the concept of balance has been given such prevalence. The concept of work-life balance has been given a special spotlight in our discourse, particularly in recent years with technological advancements facilitating a blurring of the lines between work and home. I will say outright that I believe balance is a worthy goal. We all only have so many hours in the day. For most, this means portioning time and energy between work, family, friends, exercise, and hobbies. Speaking in averages, the largest pieces of the pie will often be apportioned to work and family. Friends, exercise, and hobbies are often seen as smaller rocks, and so are divided accordingly.
Balance has a number of benefits, including improved physical and mental well-being, a reduction in stress and anxiety generally, more time to grow relationships, and increased job and life satisfaction, among many others. However, in spite of the benefits of balance, I believe that to achieve at an exceptional level takes focus. Obsessive and maniacal focus.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, as documented in the book Snowball, both attributed their success in life to a single factor: focus. Bill Gates has been separately quoted as saying: “Only through focus can you do world-class things, no matter how capable you are.” David Goggins, infamous hardman with a will of iron, has a similar sentiment, saying that it’s easy to be extraordinary in today’s world; a world that prioritises balance. You don’t need to be the most talented person in the world. You don’t need to have all the physical and mental gifts. You do have to have an obsessive focus that is backed up with rigorous and disciplined hard work.
I’ve been called a focused person. I’d tend to agree. There is a part of me that has always wanted to focus on doing one thing extremely well, whether in the moment or in a more macro sense. But I believe that the term purpose driven is more apt. When you have a strong enough purpose, it will pull you with such force that you will want to do nothing else but to focus your energy, time and attention toward that end. Focus is a skill, yes, but it is facilitated strongly through engaging with a personally meaningful purpose. And ultimately, through focus, you can become exceptional at your chosen discipline to a degree that those that are striving for balance cannot.
There is a dark side to being obsessively focused. Sacrifice becomes a necessity. When you are seeking a balanced life, juggling the big rocks comes easy. When you have a strong focus on your purpose, every decision that you make is through that lens. If an opportunity doesn’t align, it gets pushed aside. For me, as an example, focusing on my purpose has meant less time spent cultivating friendships. I now often only see friends if it’s related to my big rocks of swimming and family. It’s tough, but necessary in this season of my life. With the purpose that is pulling me, these decisions are easily made.
Knowing that my nature as a focused individual is unlikely to change, I’ve thought about how best to bring these two concepts of balance and focus together. For me, there are three key ideas that help to reconcile balance and focus:
You can be average at many things, good at a handful of things, or exceptional at one or two. Reduce the number of your actual priorities to no more than two. Everything else gets seconds. It is up to you how you define this, whether in terms of time or energy. But if you try to prioritise everything, you prioritise nothing and, most certainly, you will eventually burn out.
Think like an athlete, with highly intensive blocks of focused effort followed by equally intensive rest and recovery. To adapt, recovery is critical. To sustain focus over a duration of years or decades, you must incorporate rest. It is the hibernation of winter that gives path to the growth of spring.
Know that every day, week, or month will not be perfectly balanced, and that’s OK. The most important thing is that you are falling forward toward your purpose.
With balance, you can have a less stressful and a more satisfying life. With focus, you can have an extraordinary life. It won’t be easy by any means, but in my view it’s worth it. The choice is yours.
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