What Can You Accomplish with Focus?

The day I had been looking forward to for weeks had finally come: vacation day!

We made it through airport security with 90 minutes to spare, and I settled into that tremendous mental space, knowing that the hustle and bustle of Newark Airport madness was over, and now it was time to relax.

I waited on line for breakfast at one kiosk while my family waited at another. As I scanned their line, I saw some frantic family behavior developing, and my daughter Lily came over to me reporting the news: she had lost her phone.

I was unmoved. In my mind, this was not a crisis. If she found the phone by retracing our steps, that was a win. If not and the phone was lost, it would be a learning opportunity. After all, we have had three similar incidents in the past six months, so if she was phoneless for a fixed period of time, it wasn’t going to break my heart, as she would learn a painful but valuable lesson.

Seconds later, as she went back to a magazine stand, there it was, sitting proudly on a shelf. Lily got a tongue lashing from her mother, but we averted the drama of a lost phone, and made our way to the gate.

A half an hour later after letting the minutes pass, we boarded the flight. I settled into my seat and unpacked my bookbag. I placed my books, my journal, and my magazine in the pouch in front of me. Curiously, my computer was not in sight.

Fully committed to vacation mode, I let this disappointment pass in 30 seconds. I had brought it so I could do some work on my podcast and other writing, but I quickly reasoned that I could accomplish 75% of what I wanted to do on my phone. Again – nothing was going to deter me from the peaceful state I had embraced for this pending vacation.

My wife came out of the bathroom. I shared the news. “Really?” she offered.

“Yeah, I guess I left it at home. I thought I was set, because I had a rock-solid packing list, but I guess I left it on my desk,” I rationalized.

“Okay. You’re sure you didn’t leave it at security?”

I froze. Oh my God, I thought.

As soon as my wife said it, I knew she was 1000% right.

I had left my laptop in a bin at security.

I leapt to my feet. I looked at her and said, “I’ll make it.”

I moved my way to the front of the plane. I shared with the flight attendant what happened, and she said, “tell the agent at the gate.”

The adrenaline was pumping through my veins and my heart was racing. I went to the gate agent and shared the news.

“I need to deplane you,” she grumbled.

I gave her my boarding pass, turned, and ran.

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Growing up, wrestling was my chosen sport from 9th grade through my college years. As part of the training, running was a staple of the sport. You need to hit the weights to be strong, and you need the wheels to have endurance, as you can’t bench press your opponent in the 3rd period when you get tired.

When my wrestling career was over, I carried running into my 20s and 30s. Then, in my late 30s, Father Time caught up. Calf strain. Hip pain. Knee pain. I alternated with these maladies until I basically quit running for good before I hit 40, as I got tired of getting injured. I don’t think I’ve run more than 20 cumulative miles in my 40s and shifted to other ways to keep fit.

In Terminal C at Newark Airport on this Tuesday morning, however, something was different. I powered my way through the long corridors. I was a running back, sliding between crowds, kiosks, airport cleaning staff, and emergency vehicles. I was absolutely flying – and my work was effortless.

I had two simple thoughts in my head:

1) Get the computer

2) Make the flight

Somehow, I made all the right decisions through the labyrinth of hallways to land directly at the security gate. I shouted to the TSA Agent: “Excuse me – Do you have a computer here?”

“What color is it?” she asked?

“It’s a silver HP,” I said.

“Oh, sorry. We just have a gold one here.”

I looked at her in disbelief for a half-second. She smiled and produced my computer. The first TSA agent in my 49 years of travel at Newark Airport with a sense of humor.

“Thank you!” I shouted, grabbed the laptop.

Then I ran.

I slip-streamed my way back to Gate 93. It was like the Matrix; I could see obstacles and impediments before they presented themselves, and I glided past all of them and arrived back at the gate. The grumpy agent scanned my boarding pass to admit me on the flight.

“I see this sh_t every day in my job…can’t make it up,” she groaned, shaking her head.

My wife exhaled the weight of a thousand cannonballs as she saw me victoriously holding my computer as I came up the aisle.

A woman five rows ahead of me said, “You were incredibly calm – I wouldn’t have been that calm.”

After re-greeting my wife and kids – and apologizing for the second drama of the morning - I just sat and took inventory of what just happened.

How the hell did I pull that off?

My conclusion was simple and crystal clear: focus.

I spent a sum total of ZERO seconds wasting time on unnecessary questions such as “How much time do I have?”

I spent ZERO time reflecting on the question, “What happens if I don’t make it?”

I was 100% focused on the task at hand: get the computer and make the flight. Nothing else mattered.

Despite sprinting for almost a half mile, I had zero fatigue. I also had zero calf pain, hip pain, or knee pain despite the fact that I hadn’t run like that in over ten years.

All of which made me realize…

That level was ALWAYS there. I just hadn’t accessed it before.

Which leaves me with this question for myself…and for you.

What can you accomplish with focus?

I do not care to recreate this scenario any time soon. But I am so grateful for this tremendous experience, as it highlighted the obvious:

If I can truly commit to areas of my life with the same single-minded resolve with which I retrieved my computer…what could I accomplish for myself and for others once I begin to access and harness greater focus?

I hope this message finds you well as you attack the second half of 2023!