Focus on What You’ve Done, Not What You Haven’t

You can beat yourself up or you can get back at it.

I’m constantly losing focus. I’m quickly distracted.

While having this lack of focus probably doesn’t make me the best driver, I am always interested in what’s going on around me, which I choose to see as a plus.

Having focus though, true, honest to goodness concentration with the intent to get the writing down can be tough and we can easily lose that focus and give up.

Listen to those who know

New York Times bestselling author, Greg McKeown said on a podcast a couple years ago, “When we focus on what we lack, we lose what we have. But when we focus on what we have, we gain what we lack.”

Mind blown!

Motivational gold

A good quote like this is not to be wasted. For me it’s motivational gold.

Will this quote miraculously solve my writer’s block? No, not overnight. But I do believe a good quote can be that motivator that keeps you coming back for more and keeps your ass in your chair until your writing is done.

The rabbit hole of what we lack

It’s never been easier to focus on what we lack. The Internet and social media make that unfortunately super easy. I can confirm I’m not a size 2, or live on the Italian Riviera, or are a published author.

That rabbit hole of what we lack also shows up in how we present ourselves to the larger world and to the world of Medium.

I’m just getting started — again — on Medium. I lack the followers, I lack my exact ‘niche’, I lack the hundreds of articles that I should have written by now — see how easy it is to go down that rabbit hole of lack?

It’s oddly easier to focus on the bad, to focus on what we lack but it’s so unhealthy. Our bodies and our brains deserve better, and they need better to function and keep us going.

The focus on what we have

The Internet and social media can also be lumped into the “what we have” bucket.

The Internet lets us search and dream, create and build any hour of the day, any day of the week. It’s there — not all of us have that access which is maddening and ridiculous in 2023 — but those of us who are here, on this platform recognize the wonder of the Internet.

While social media seriously lets us down in so many ways, it also provides platforms to raise our voices, to share our work, our views, our sadness and our joy.

The focus on what we have can be so powerful. I may not be a size 2 but I’m healthy. I may not live on the Italian Riviera, but I have a roof over my head. I may not be a published author but I’m writing and I’m sharing that work, and for me that shows focus.

Photo by Brandon Zacharias on Unsplash