Life Experiment 30, 2021

Hey There.

Several months ago, we discussed on the Thinking Masterminds podcast: The Role of Emotions and Logic in Problem Solving. How we have to be mentally aligned to be the best possible problem solvers.

Today I want to talk about the Influence of Emotions on Focus.

Emotional resilience for Focus maintenance

If you're a regular reader, you know that I used to struggle quite a lot with the question of: What sort of career to pursue?

In the end, I gravitated towards a full-time research career with light side business attempts. I still haven't figured out all the details, but I realised that I can do a maximum of one or two things in parallel if I want to be any good in what I do.

As a result of the realisation, I decided to drop many things off my plate in the last months and managed to push forward my research work.

After chatting with other young/old colleges on the research track, I realised that being able to do the "math/work" in only 20% of the game (OK, maybe 40%).

The other 60 - 80 % is long term focus. Can you stay focused on one thing without getting derailed off track?

And to be frank, I have a suspicion that every other career/thing is no different.

Results = Focus x Time

Or:

How long can you maintain the course despite all the obstacles?

Now, let's not kid ourselves. Staying focused in one direction is a little hard because you have to say no to things you absolutely want to do. But the definition of focus is pretty straightforward:

Is this aligned with my direction?

• Yes? Good, do it.
• No? Drop it.

Side note: It's OK to go off track once in a while to explore the rest of the world, but not for too long.

The harder nut to crack, in my opinion, is emotional resilience. We're emotional creatures and can get really, really distracted by our emotions. Just to name a few:

• You have an argument with a work colleague.
• Yout get into a fight with your family.
• You try something, it fails, and you start doubting yourself.
• You get bored and want to switch to sth. else.
• You get paralysed because you're not sure if your idea will work.
• You get super excited about a shiny new toy.
• etc.

There are probably hundreds, thousands of things that can derail you emotionally in one way or another. The question is: Can you deal with those emotional roadblocks fast and swiftly?

I'm not talking about burying emotions, but sitting down, writing down how you feel and process those emotions. Only then you can proceed with a clear mind.

Yes, it's that easy. If you feel emotionally off:

• 1.) Pick up a notepad or open up the Notepad on PC.
• 2.) Write down how you feel.
• 3.) Ask yourself why did this make me feel bad/good, ...

This looks like an algorithm? Well, it is an algorithm. Just implementation details will depend on your personal preferences. How you write, when you write, what you get out of it.

Remember:

It doesn't matter how smart you are if you can't process your emotions.

So the next time someone asks you why you're working so much on "yourself" and your emotional well being, say: I'm working on my focus 😛

Enjoy

Ziga