The key word here is CONSTANT! Occasional partial attention is altogether something else than what I am struggling with here. I literally mean constant. If you think I jest, know that at this very moment I am hiding in a different state, off the highway, in my truck, with my phone turned off so that under no circumstances can I be found, and once again have what little focus and attention I can muster be fractured. Constantly. Incessantly. Relentlessly. Unceasingly.
Instead of increasing my skills and abilities at deep work, accomplishing something important, completing with excellence those actions expected of me, I fight to even hear what has been said, to process the noise filling the room, to engage in anything more taxing than solitaire. While my presence here in this location may be important in a lifelong relational sense, to honor and respect the person I am with, the price is proving to be very very high.
This practice of constant partial attention is derailing years of discipline, decades of effort, systems that have been formed carefully over a lifetime. Of course if you have a TV in your house and you have it on for hours each day you too struggle with this same dilemma. I am talking about a person and a situation, but you might find yourself facing the very similar scenario where you are finding yourself ever further behind in the important business of conducting yourself appropriately and with excellence in the world.
You may need to find a secluded place to park your truck, in another state, turn off your phone, light up your cigar and get to work.
Instead of increasing my skills and abilities at deep work, accomplishing something important, completing with excellence those actions expected of me, I fight to even hear what has been said, to process the noise filling the room, to engage in anything more taxing than solitaire. While my presence here in this location may be important in a lifelong relational sense, to honor and respect the person I am with, the price is proving to be very very high.
This practice of constant partial attention is derailing years of discipline, decades of effort, systems that have been formed carefully over a lifetime. Of course if you have a TV in your house and you have it on for hours each day you too struggle with this same dilemma. I am talking about a person and a situation, but you might find yourself facing the very similar scenario where you are finding yourself ever further behind in the important business of conducting yourself appropriately and with excellence in the world.
You may need to find a secluded place to park your truck, in another state, turn off your phone, light up your cigar and get to work.
