Doing hard things and deep life
doing hard work by getting rid of distractions
starting infinitesimaly small
defining the next action to do after you finish the session
distraction journal to free the mind
letting go of expectations and accepting the self
allow garbage
persevere with grit long enough
One of the fundamental components of making progress toward the life you want to achieve is the ability to focus on your long-term vision, rather than get lost in the huge daily volume of busyness. The daily busyness can feel overwhelming and important. It oftentimes is not important, and it may be overwhelming.
As Paul Millerd points out in this conversation, this is a characteristic that distinguishes a satisfied person from an unsatisfied one: their ability to keep what’s important top of mind. These are your life objectives in 5-10 years: how would you like your life to be then? Detailing out your vision can help increase focus and provide perspective, so you can discern what is important from what feels important due to perceived urgency in the moment. The future authoring program is the most comprehensive life vision exercise I know.
Doing work that feels distant in the future may feel hard. Starting infinitesimally small can help you conceptualize what is the practical next thing that can take you there, whatever “there” is. Defining the next infinitesimal action after you conclude working on a project for the day is an additional tool that can propel a sense of progress and clarity over the work you are doing. The clarity of your vision is also underlined by Cal Newport in his podcast and several books on the topic, where the computer scientist presents the idea of multi-scale planning and the value of stepping back out of the busy feeling of daily life in order to gain perspective on your long-term vision, quarterly, monthly, and weekly plan.
When you have the ability to gain perspective and then immerse yourself in doing the work, you enable yourself to be self-aware of why you are doing that exact thing and give yourself permission to say “no” to what doesn’t help you achieve your life vision. There is value in a distraction journal for that: a place where you can jot down random ideas that come up during the day and are not related to what you are doing. I first heard this idea from Thomas Frank. A distraction journal empowers you to stay on the bus, even when the distractions arising in the hyperactive mind seem to block your flow. You can jot down your ideas in it, and then revisit them at a later stage when you intend to do so. You can then keep what’s relevant and discard what’s garbage.
Producing some garbage is also a liberating allowance for yourself, in the journey to achieving your deep life. When working on a complex task, starting from something creates momentum, even if that something is garbage. You can then refine the garbage to distill what’s valuable. The key to mastery and quality work is grit: a mix of passion and perseverance that seems to breed “success”, according to psychologist Angela Duckworth. Grit is what makes you persevere long enough. If not balanced with self-awareness and humility, grit may also push you to continue on your path when you know it’s actually time to stop.
The end of the year represents a mind-made “reset” of life for many people. It can be a good time to practice your ability to step out and back in your life, unflinchingly looking within to understand your path and what to do about it.