Focus is Strength

It has often been touted that women are naturally better multi-taskers than men. The reason being that our respective evolutionary psychologies have developed to help us function under different types of circumstances. The women of our tribes stayed closer to home and took care of everything that needed attending simultaneously as the need arose. They'd be off gathering berries and roots all the while preparing to cook, attending to the basic needs of the children, or handling whatever emergency occurred. The tribal woman developed to be a "Jack of All Trades" out of the necessity created by the huge amount of demands constantly pressed upon her. That's why even today we still say that moms have the hardest job in the world.

The man's story is different, however. Males of our species developed stronger specializations than females. While women necessarily became pretty good at a lot of things, men took advantage of the opportunity to become incredibly good at a few select things. These tasks, under primitive tribal conditions, typically involved some combined aspects of critical thinking, logical sequencing, physical strength and speed, hand-eye coordination, precision semantics and language, and complex group coordination. The right combination of these talents and focus enabled male hunter groups to fashion sharper and denser weaponry, utilizing these weapons in ways that increased their hunting range, and providing specific instruction to each other in teams to take on tasks or game that no single hunter could accomplish on his own.

The tribal man's strength was his ability to focus intensely on a single task at hand and complete it as quickly and effectively as possible. We still see manifestations of this in modern day team sports, particularly ones that involve launching objects great distances with great precision, sudden great bursts of speed, and elaborate group efforts toward a single goal.  We see it in corporations and entrepreneurial ventures where each member of the team acts as a specialized node for accomplishing a specific task which by itself is useless, but which compliments the tasks of all others working within the organization.

The ability to focus is a crucial component of success in the modern world still.  Everyday we are bombarded through email, Facebook, television, and just the very act of looking out our windows with an enormous onslaught of stimulus and information.  No generation prior has ever had access to this much variety and distraction.  While the potential benefits to having so much choice available are obvious, the downside is that it can make it incredibly difficult to choose a path and walk upon it long enough to get where you wanted to go without sidestepping toward another suddenly more attractive looking goal.

In such a fast-paced and multi-faceted world as the one we inhabit and continue to build today, the ability to focus is of even greater importance than was to our tribal ancestors not so long ago.  But for most, focus requires courage.  It requires that we consciously choose what we want and let nothing stop us from achieving it.  It requires that we know ourselves well enough to determine what things we really care enough about to keep pursuing even when obstacles appear or more instantly gratifying options beg for our attention.

When we achieve that laser-like focus and dynamic productivity, a very rewarding feeling usually accompanies it. We get a natural high from the sense of doing one thing incredibly well without interruption. The concert violinist enters a Zen state of intense bliss and concentration when performing nearly impossible feats of precise speed and dexterity. The writer slaves away like a freight train barreling down its track, churning out page after page of his inner thoughts and intended message. The archer or rifleman blocks out the rest of the sensory world while lining up each and every shot. All these great feats are only possible through the champion's ability to focus on what is most important to him or her, for at least a dedicated portion of time before returning to the regular world of constant noise and curiosity about the yet unexplored.

As I've aged, I've come to realize that I will never accomplish what I really want until my goals become my first priority and I dedicate large amounts of uninterrupted and focused time to them. Being born as part of the digital generation has made this difficult at times, but the reward for honing these skills has been all the more worthwhile.