We live in a highly distracted society, with everything fighting and begging for our attention. There’s so much we want or need to do, and despite the amount of automation and advantage of having technology that makes our work easier, we still don’t seem to have redeemed any time. I wonder where the time goes.. We used to go to banks to withdraw money, or ATM machines to access cash, now we use our mobile phones for everything, from paying for bills, to school fees, to shopping, to hailing a ‘private driver’. I remember my parents suffering on long queues to pay the monthly electricity and water bills, these are now all done during our daily commute.
To shop for a unique item, you had to know a friend, who knows a friend, that knows another expensive friend that knows where to find it. Alternatively, you’d be forced to visit a few places and outlets window-shopping for the item, comparing prices, and that would take time and effort. Now all you need is an account on Instagram, facebook, tiktok and the other online spaces, and you’ll get any item; both locally and internationally. Your monthly shopping can be done fully online as you wait in the comfort of your house. With all these conveniences, shouldn’t we have freed up a lot of our time and should we be having more time to do what we want and what we love to do?
Instead, it feels like time is now running faster or has shrank by a percentage. We don’t even have time to meet-up with family and friends and substitute that with online chats and WhatsApp. Unfortunately, this has also affected our work as we’re consistently chasing after one thing or another and as a result are unable to focus on what matters to us – even if it is work-related. We seem to be working under pressure and having endless anxiety in many things. We’re anxious about the future, it’s coming faster than we’d like it to, we’re anxious about our finances, anxious about our work or the lack of it, anxious about our families, children and parents, anxious about our social standing, achievements on the lack there-of, anxious about our associations in life.
Anxious feelings come about when we feel less in control of our lives, and a feeling of not having a purpose and meaning. These feelings can put pressure on someone to the extent that affects their performance, even in things that should come naturally to them. Most mental health practitioners will tell you to focus on one thing at a time, in order to deal with the anxiety. It sounds like common sense, right? It really is. There are many ways you can use to deal with anxiety, and it comes with different levels and effects on our bodies, but I won’t dwell on these here. However, the one action that you can take that is guaranteed to jump-start the process is to select one thing that is important to you, and focus on it. Most of the time, this simple act can help center everything else back in it’s place.
When pieces of jewelry are tangled up together, the easiest way to disentangle them is by focusing on only one piece at a time. Trying to disentangle the bunch lot at once might give you more frustration than results, which might take you much longer to achieve. The concept of prayer and meditation is aimed at helping one to quieten their mind (many times our minds are so loud we can hardly listen to ourselves or our bodies 😊), and thus giving your mind a chance to calm down, recollect and relax, in readiness to take on other challenges. Mindfulness and prayer are meant to make you more grateful, giving you a spike in positive emotions, and calming your nerves. You’re able to listen internally and listen to your body and emotions.
It is important to discover what is the one most important thing you need to accomplish everyday in order to feel more in control? It can be to make a sale of a certain amount, to write an article every so often, is it to send your CV application to specific organizations, or to take a class on a topic of interest, is it to exercise to get fit or to lose weight, or is it to eat healthier? Is it to help out others? All it takes is to select THE ONE THING, and start working on it. Focus until you either become a professional in it or you achieve your target. Many times, this focus will bring about the most needed balance in other aspects of life.
Unfortunately, the longer you remain in an anxious state, the more effort you’ll require to overcome it. I think some people are more highly pre-positioned to anxiety than others – and this is mostly because of their thinking habits. I am one of those. I tend to over-think, there’s some good value in this, as it helps me become better at looking ahead, however this also works against me as I tend to worry things that never get to happen anyway, yet the anxiety would have denied me the chance to enjoy the moment.
The word FOCUS has been used by many as an acronym
F – Follow
O – One
C – Course
U – Until
S – Successful
We are not created for multi-tasking, therefore, the only way to get anything done is to follow one course until successful. What can you do right now, to get moving? Do you need to do an online aptitude test to identify what areas you need to work on or to perfect? Do you need to re-vamp your CV? Do you need to start writing that one article? Do you need to start perfecting your skills or re-inventing yourself? Do you need to start making those phone-calls and sales visits?
There’s no wasted experience in this life, even when you don’t know what you want to do, start with what it in your hand, what you already have and know. Or just start learning something that is of interest to you. It doesn’t need to make sense at the time, you’ll still be better than you were yesterday when you do start with THE ONE THING.
When you start working on the one thing, the universe has a way of directing you in the right direction, where you need to be going. You get to discover yourself better, get to discover things you love and those that you don’t love.
However, if you know the one thing that you need to do, focus on it and specialize. There’s no efficient Jack of all trades.
What’s your ONE THING?
