What You See Is What You Get

Imagine you have set out to write an article for the newspaper. You are sitting in your office chair and start to write. Everything is going well, and you are focused on the task. Out of the corner of your eye, you suddenly see something move. Just two metres away, a large house spider is sitting and looking at you. You are horrified, because you hate spiders. The long thin legs, the big hairy black body and the tiny eyes. Slowly you reach for the newspaper, but before you can swat at it, the spider has retreated into its crack in the wall and is gone.

What happened to the article? It dropped completely out of focus! You spend a couple of minutes gathering your thoughts, and soon you are back, fingers flying across the keyboard. After half an hour the spider is completely forgotten — right up until you reach for your coffee and leap out of your chair when you spot the spider right next to the cup. It darts off and quickly disappears into its hiding place. Now it takes you several minutes to gather your thoughts, because your eyes keep checking the spider’s hiding place. That weakens your concentration, and with it the quality of your work.

It is the same with every goal we set ourselves. The more we let the spiders in our lives affect our focus, the more control they have over us. Our focus is decisive for the odds of reaching our goals. The more fear we feel, the more of our focus it takes up, and the more it steers our behaviour. What we can’t live with runs our lives.

Keep up the good work.

/Martin
– Thank goodness it’s almost Monday!