Month: November 2022

Tips for Eliminating Dual Focus

Dual focus is trying to do two things at once and thereby limiting yourself from doing either well.

Here are a few ideas for how to avoid dual focus:

– Break a project down into smaller steps that feel manageable, then do one step at a time
– Use this [Show Up Every Day Worksheet](https://thefocuscourse.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Show-Up-Every-Day-Worksheet.pdf) to set your focused intention.
– If you’re using a computer, close all the apps besides the ones you need for completing the task at hand.
– [Time Block](https://thesweetsetup.com/time/) your day.
– If you feel stuck, ask yourself if you’re trying to tackle more than one task. If this is true, isolate the one that has the least complexity and start there.

Tips for Eliminating Dual Focus

The new email app for iPhone and iPad  →

Lots of power-user features are now part of Apple’s mail app. The one I’m honestly most happy about is the improvements to search. (One of the big components of our [Calm Inbox system](https://thesweetsetup.com/calm/) is the importance of using searching instead of sorting to find past emails.)

*And, speaking of email, here are my own, personal [top-3 tips for making your iPhone Email app more focused.](https://thesweetsetup.com/three-tips-for-setting-up-your-ios-email-app/)*

The new email app for iPhone and iPad

“If it’s Not Simple, It’s Bull****”  →

From Ryan Holiday: “A lot of complicated stuff isn’t actually complicated.”

For example: I once paid $6,000 to be part of a business training program. The contents of the program were three 30-minute training videos, a spreadsheet, and two Q&A calls.

From the outside, that may sound like a rip-off. But the content was clear and focused. It was simple. Thanks to the simplicity, the lessons and ideas I took away from that program have continued to stick with me.

“If it’s Not Simple, It’s Bull****”

Action Brings Clarity

Clarity comes through action and experience. Thus, you should focus on getting started and taking action more than you focus on the perfect end result. [Optimize for the starting line](https://jamesclear.com/optimal) instead of the finish line.

Instead of committing to a giant, year-long undertaking. Commit to something small and simple so you can get started and get some experience. Then, when you have more clarity about what you are doing and working on, you can continue to mature and build upon that idea, or you can pivot.

Action Brings Clarity

The Law of Tradeoffs

There are 8 Laws of Focus. As we enter the final few months of the year it’s important to remember The Law of Tradeoffs.

As David Allen said, *you can do anything but you cannot do everything*. In order to give your perpetual devotion to any one thing it will require the perpetual neglect of many other things. Focus, therefore, requires tradeoffs.

You can only focus on so many things at a time. And you can only focus for so many hours during the day. Instead of ignoring the limitation on your energy, embrace it and find ways to routinize and automate the non-trivial areas of your life so that even when you are not giving them your full attention and devotion, they are not being fully neglected.

*(“[Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom.](https://twitter.com/visualizevalue/status/1575466686605582341)”)*

The Law of Tradeoffs