Here’s a Grasshopper blast from the past on “Wayback Wednesday”:

“Whenever You Get Ahead Of Yourself, You’re Sure To Fall Behind.”

You can’t play the 18th hole of a golf course when you’re on the 16th
fairway. If you mentally start something else, while in the middle of what you’re currently doing, the present moment loses its biggest asset – Attention.

I can dream and daydream with the best of them, but when it comes down to getting results now, what’s right in front of me needs my full attention or I will slip up, and what I’m attempting to do will take so much longer.

If you are continually daydreaming just to escape, you’ll never escape the reality that’s right before you. It needs to be dealt with. The old expression “You can pay me now or you can pay me later” comes to mind. Escapism as recreation is fun. “What would I do if I won all that money in the lottery jackpot?”

If you are perpetually daydreaming that your gambling winnings will be your 401K, you have jumped the daydreaming shark and are at sea without a motor, sail or a rudder.

Getting ahead of yourself is ignoring what is staring you in the face. It’s still going to be there when the daydream comes to an end.

I just read a survey that found that 20% of young adults use their smartphones during sex. I guess I can state the obvious: “It’s not great sex if you text.”

Scattered attention is a pandemic and it’s getting worse. You can get a leg up on the rest of society by wrapping your arms around this: If you master your attention, you can master just about anything. You just have to be willing to give what you are doing your full attention.

When you notice your attention start to stray, stop what you are doing because there’s a good chance you are going to screw it up. Let your attention go wherever it wants to go and then when that escapade is over, bring it back to what you were doing. You will complete more things, more often when they have your full attention.

If you’ve bought into multi-tasking, you’ve purchased mediocrity and your results will bear that out. Yes, walk and chew gum at the same time, just don’t for a moment think that you can ever do two important things at once. One will always suffer at the hand of the other.

If you want to scatter focus and water down results, you already have the tried and true formula – attempt to do more than one thing at once.

If you’d rather have results, pay attention to attention – it’s the Holy Grail of what’s right here, not what’s beyond the pale.

All the best,

John