Focus Is Power
Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought to a focus.
Alexander Graham Bell
Over the past week I have been MIA on this site (and on AllFacebook where I occasionally post) because I’ve been completely focused on Holler. Last time I was focused on something it was AllFacebook and there was a rule that I lived by at the time: if there was any question about what I should be doing at any point, I should go write another blog post.
As many of us practically live in front of a computer it’s extremely easy to get distracted: hop on Facebook, view the latest news, see what the stock market is up to, check out the latest tweets, etc. I do it regularly and that distraction is exactly what led me to blogging in the first place. As I sat at work programming websites more than five years ago, I often found myself doing things other than my work. Blogs were one of my primary sources of distraction at the time.
It led me to wonder, “what if I could get paid for doing all the things I’m distracted by?” In other words, what if I could get paid for being a distraction! It’s something I’ve always been particularly skilled at. In elementary and middle school I was regularly thrown out of class for distracting other students. I couldn’t help but talk with them in the midst of a lesson. I’m extremely grateful that I decided to follow my curiosity and start writing every day, miraculously managing to come up with a way to support myself while being a distraction (and a resource at the same time).
Years later I’ve been forced to change my answer to the question “what should I be working on?” The same curiosity that drove me to come up with Holler has driven me in search of answering another question: “can I help build a company in a similar way or better than those that I spent so much time analyzing day in and day out?” Only time will tell. One thing is certain though: Holler doesn’t need me writing popular blog posts (at least not right now).
Instead, Holler needs a completed iPhone application and so, that’s what I’m focused on. If there’s any question what I should be doing at any moment this week, it’s programming an iPhone app. It doesn’t mean this blog will be empty with content, it just means you shouldn’t expect daily posts for the time being. I will update this as often as possible, but in the meantime, it’s time to stay laser focused. What are you focused on?
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