Ep. 17 - The Danger of Hyperfocus

Sometimes, when we are focused on a task or objective it can begin to consume us - at which point, time spent on that particular task or objective is no longer the best use of your time.  Find out some of the ways I am trying to maximize my "priority work" at my optimal hours.

In the early hours of the morning during the month of October, I've dedicated a block of time to something I call "priority work" - or work that I've deemed a priority in my life.

Day after day of continued focus on a single task or objective can become mundane.

If you ever feel as though the priority work being done is no longer of its highest value...

...consider taking a break from that particular priority.

Hyperfocus can AND WILL lead to burnout.  Ask me how I know.

Priority #1 - Finding my Purpose & Passion (my why)

Other priorities / goals, as listed in order in current version of journal:

1. Health
2. Wealth
3. Purpose

Hat tip to Gary Collins of The Simple Life Now for the "Three Legged Stool"

"Priority Work" will now consist of a rotating schedule of these three items.

Today, it was "purpose work" again.  Tomorrow, I will focus on my health.

Largely through spending time on some new cookbooks and relearning how to cook.

Join me tomorrow on Episode 18 - Cooking and Food Prep for Health.

Thanks everyone

Transcript

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Have you ever become so focused on something that it begins to consume you? Well, I know I have. And today we're going to talk about the danger of hyper focus. Alright, good morning, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the All Around Growth Podcast. My name is Rob Kaiser, and I am your host. Today is a rainy, dreary Monday morning. It is October 19th, 2020. And this is episode 17 of the All Around Growth Podcast. And as I was doing my priority work this morning, I realized that I have been hyper-focused and hyper-diligent on one particular area. And that is finding my purpose, finding my passion. And that may make sense to you because you have likely heard me talk a lot about this over the past couple of weeks. And it dawned on me this morning as I was struggling with a question, one of ten questions that I'm going through at this time, that well, a couple things dawned on me. I I don't think I spent my priority time on Friday like I had been the rest of the week last week. And I thought of, and then I thought about why why was that? I think I got consumed to doing something else on Friday, or I just slept in a little bit later. Didn't really assemble much. I'm not sure, quite frankly. But then as I struggled with the question at hand, I had an idea for the content which we're talking about now. Talking about the dangers of hyperfocus. And I think that it is good to be focused. And as a matter of fact, today's quote, which I'm not going to read because my journal is tucked away down in my little fanny pack man purse on the floor of my truck over there. But the quote was something about sticking to a particular task until it is complete, seeing it through to completion before doing something else. And I think there is some merit to that, but in a way, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and my projects are oftentimes so broad that it is difficult to see anything through to completion. Because the scope of the work often changes and some of the projects become never-ending. Alright? So what does that mean? It means that I have a habit of working myself to darn it. I was hoping I could make this turn before the school bus made a turn, but alas, I did not. Alright, note to self. It is 7.09 a.m. and the school bus turns down the exact same route I follow. So if I leave a little bit before 7 a.m. I will miss the school bus. So now I will just drive slow. And on a rainy morning, driving slow is okay. Alright, back to the danger of hyperfocus and burnout. Now, on two separate occasions in my life, both within the past 10 years or so. We're going back around 12 or 13 years, I guess, at this point. I am getting a little old and you are too. And even if you're not, you will. So the danger of hyperfocus, alright, there's a lot there, but it can lead to burnout. We become so focused on a particular task or objective that it begins to consume us. And when that happens, the time spent on that particular task or objective just no longer becomes worth it. Because in this case, the priority work in the morning is work that I do when I am functioning at my highest level, and if I am no longer if the work that I'm doing at my highest level begins to consume me and it is no longer benefit, it actually becomes counterproductive. So what I realized was that day after day, continued focus on a single task or objective basically creates an environment where the work becomes mundane. When the work becomes mundane, we no longer make the progress that we are accustomed to making because we have been so hyper-focused on this particular task or objective. When we no longer make the progress that we are accustomed to making, oftentimes that becomes the new normal. When we better understand what the new normal has become, it's oftentimes past the point where it's something that we can easily rectify. And in order to get over that hump, we have to make some major changes. Major changes. And much like Dave Ramsey has said over time, getting out of debt and proper money management is not what you think it is. It's 80% behavior, 20% head knowledge. Alright? So when we are when we recognize destructive patterns of behavior in our life, it is important to change them the next time around, to recognize them sooner and act accordingly. All right, we all engage in destructive patterns of behavior. It's not worth focusing on the past because it's all water under the bridge. What is worth focusing on is today. And what we can do moving forward. But ultimately, what it boils down to is today. Now, I've said enough about burnout and how hyper focus can lead to that. And for the past few weeks, I've been spending the bulk of my time on finding my purpose and my passion and my why. And that's important, and I don't want to discount that. But today, and even late last week, to a certain extent, I found myself trudging through these questions, really trying to grind it out. And there's a time and a place when grinding it out is necessary, worthwhile, and beneficial. There's also a time and place when grinding it out feels like a chore. And for the priority work that I do in the mornings when I'm functioning at my best, I don't want the work to feel like a grind. I understand that there are times that it's going to feel that way, but when it consistently feels like a grind, like a chore, it's time to revisit what I'm doing. Now, in the journal that I use, which is the best self journal, we've talked about that at great, not at great lengths, but we've talked about it a little bit in past episodes, especially this weekend, as I did my morning or my weekly review yesterday. The best self journal is it's a great tool. And there are three goals, three three spaces for goals that we can set each quarter. And at this point in my life, it makes the most sense for me to identify those three goals as health, wealth, and purpose in that order. And that is a little hat tip to Gary Collins of the Simple Life Now for those three aspects are part of what he calls the three-legged stool for living the simple life. And if you want to hear more about that, check out Gary and the work that he does. I've linked to that in the show notes. But for me, since feeling as though the priority work in finding my passion and my purpose is becoming a little ho-hum, I'm very excited about it, but you know, I need to mix it up a little bit. I decided that every morning, because I've also been a little bit disappointed about the lack of progress I've been making on these other two goals that I have. One, health-related, which was to better, you know, improve my skill set with cooking, vary it up a little bit with the recipes that I make and create, because while I am generally satisfied with what and how I eat, I feel like if I had a little bit more variance, it would, well, it would it would be nice, but I would also be inclined to share some meals with other people, perhaps invite some people over for dinner, or at the very least share with my parents and make them a meal sometime, but it's hard to share what it is that I make because the food that I currently eat is so simple, it's very, very simple. So on top of that, I've been a little bit disappointed with myself in my inability to a make a budget for the past couple of months and b let alone follow it. Once I paid off my debt, I did get a little bit complacent. I did start saving money, and subsequently, for the past couple of months, I've been riding out that wave of complacency, thinking to myself, I'm ahead of my savings goals. I'm ahead of my savings goals. Well, you can only stay ahead for so long before, once again, you are behind. I used to work for someone named Ray who used to tell me, Rob, you're either growing or dying. And there's a lot of things that Ray used to tell me that didn't sit well with me. And they didn't sit well with me because he was right. And that's the unfortunate truth. Oftentimes the things that we don't like to hear from other people or that little voice inside is exactly the thing that we need to hear, and that's why we don't like it. So what I'm going to do in the mornings for my priority work, like I said, is I'm going to begin mixing it up. I've spent a lot of work on purpose and passion, and who knows? Maybe I won't do any more of that this week at all. Maybe I'll spend that time the remaining four mornings this week focused on my health and my wealth. But I think ultimately that's a good thing to do is to get a little bit of variance in your life. Mix it up a little bit when you find yourself feeling stagnant. Because that's not a good place to be. And if we're used to making progress and our progress slows, then our progress slows. Those are the times when it becomes easy or much easier to get distracted, to get distracted by your smartphone, to get distracted by technology, to get distracted by junk online that you don't want to spend your time looking at, to get distracted by bad food that gives you pleasure in the moment, to get distracted by alcohol or drugs, things that just simply dull your senses so you're not thinking about that which you're thinking about when you're thinking about it. Except those things don't work. None of it is really an effective tool for dealing with the disappointment that comes from not making the progress that we are accustomed to making. So rather than find ways to deal with the disappointment, I think it's worth reframing how and when we are most productive and redirecting that energy into something that is more healthy, positive, and beneficial. Because if what we're doing in the moment doesn't really serve us, or at least serve us in the manner in which we wish it would, it's time to reassess, regroup, and just really reconsider what we're doing and why. So as we wrap things up here, I'm not definitely not going in the back way behind the burn pile here at the day job because it is it's wet. We got a lot of rain over the past uh yeah, past 24 hours. It was spotty, rained here and there uh during the day yesterday while I was moving wood and getting ready to uh sorry guys, just had to pause because it is dark out and there's some trucks at a site for new construction here. And uh didn't want to drive into the ditch. Anyways, I lost my train of thought there, and I feel like this would probably be a good time to simply wrap it up before I get into the parking lot and fret about people looking at me as I talk to myself. God forbid they understand that I'm recording a podcast and engaging in work that matters as I try to improve my life. And that's what we're all doing: work that matters. So again, if you find yourself getting caught up in that work that matters in your own priority work, beware of the dangers of hyperfocus. And when you feel like you're not making the progress that you're accustomed to making, regroup, redirect, and reconsider everything that you're doing and put that time, effort, and energy towards something else so that when you go back to the thing that you most want to focus on and make progress on, you can see that through a new lens with a fresh pair of eyes and a fresh perspective. Sometimes taking ourselves away from the thing that's causing us grief is the best thing we can do. Putting in a little bit of separation so that we can see them through eyes anew. Alright. Well, thank you for listening, everybody, again. I do appreciate it. I am hoping to get some feedback from the group and the audience this week and speak about some things that are going to be new for me. So if you find yourself listening to this, I would definitely like to encourage you to check out the All Around Growth Facebook group. Check us out there, and uh there's a you'll see a question that's inquiring for and about your feedback. And also, if you are not on Facebook but do have a smartphone, a tablet, or a PC or laptop, whether it's Mac or the Windows platform or Google or um iPhone, definitely download the Telegram app and you can join in our group there. It's a little bit different and easier to navigate than a larger Facebook group, especially if you are of the mindset where you're just not interested in um in Facebook or social media. This is not social media, it's just a messaging app. It functions very much like a native text messaging app on whatever device you're operating with. So don't get too weirded out by it. Just put it on your phone, search out all around growth, and you will see it there. I'll also try to circle back and link to all of that in the show notes as well. So, again, thanks everybody. I appreciate you listening. Have a great day today, and try to make someone else's day great as well. Life is short, we have the power to do that, so let's do it. Alright. See you next time.