“Maybe this one will work?”
Struggling with one list after another, decaying tasks and post-its strewn about, we might desperately search for some new method, ideology, or application to help us get out from under the mess.
However, as soon as we encounter some possible new path forward, the promise itself can derail us:
- Getting our hopes up once again can be terrifying. Hope, after all, is about risk. So we might brace ourselves and not invest in setting up a new program well.
- Even if we do mount the courage to move forward, another part of ourselves may decide to rebel against our inner authority, and say, “I just don’t want to.”
- Should we somehow make it through that inner rebellion, we then need to learn about this new method. Some form of “do this thing” appears, and we might rebel against the outer authority, saying “I’ll figure it out myself.”
- Or we may just impulsively launch ourselves fully into it, and then wonder, “How long can I possibly keep this up? When will this one crash, too?”
Every step is filled with landmines.
Information about how to do stuff is everywhere – on the Internet, at the book store, and even within ourselves. But, what’s not everywhere is how we take on that information.
I can tell you right now about the Waves of Focus, for example. While there are more than a dozen techniques to help a wandering mind, there are three main components:
1. Making visits can be a default unit of work,
2. Structuring those visits as daily invitations can help us guide ourselves over time
3. Anchoring in the moment by using pen and paper can support our in the moment decisions
But just reading those can appear silly. What does any of that even mean? Why is there an entire course if it’s so simple?
The course begins with a Visit: showing up, being there, staying for a single deep breath. Nothing else is needed beyond opening the website. You don’t even have to do a thing while you’re there. You don’t have to force yourself.
So what good is it to do nothing?
As with any visit, showing up exposes you directly to the emotions involved. That is, in fact, what makes this practice so deceptively difficult, but also powerful.
Further, if you can show up daily, every visit compounds the experience. Every session allows both your conscious and unconscious mind to develop ideas for a next action, sometimes to the degree that it would be easier to take the step than not. If you can make it here, the rest of the lessons are there for you to pick up, one at a time, at your pace.
“But what if I decide to take you up on that challenge and do absolutely nothing in any of those visits?”
There is nothing stopping you from doing so.
“What if I build a system, and it all comes crashing down?”
It may well. But, it’s not about the system. It’s about how well you can create and curate a new one when you need to. When you have the power to build what makes sense to you from within yourself, there are far fewer swells and crashes.
Instead, you may notice that certain branches do better than others. You can then prune, adjust, and shape the rivers of attention that feed your days.
– Kourosh
PS… Module 9 – Clearing Decks of the Waves of Focus is now published. It is essentially about managing the Inbox and other worlds of clutter. Many often turn to their Inbox as the first thing to address, but in Waves, it is nearly the last. Having the essential skills from all previous modules practiced and woven into your days, taking on an Inbox or really any bucket you care to can now be in your reach.
