Your focus becomes your future.

I have a hole in my socks. You'd be hard pressed to find it, but if you decide, while we are speaking, to inconspicuosly remove my left shoe and casually lift my foot you will see it. The hole is part of me. Absolutely no denying it. But I don't think anyone would think less of me and the work I do to try and make the world a better place because of that little hole. That would be ridiculous.

Yet that's what we constantly do in our daily lives with so many things. We focus on the hole in the sock of global themes forgetting to look at the bigger picture. We often judge the big picture by the hole we are focusing.

Take - for example - what you decide to read...

We read the news that focuses on a politician that say one wrong thing in the 10.000 speeches this year, the technocrat that tried something new and it didn't work, the innovator whose idea in its present shape flopped, the doctor who is trying something revolutionary to help others but with one patient it didn't work, the self driving car that crashed despite it being ridiculously safer than any human driven car and the list goes on. We punish the staff member that made a mistake (or if anything, spend a disproportionate amount of time investigating and discussing it with the employee - as if staff member enjoys making mistakes!). We react to "hole in the socks" tweets with lots of energy and engagement, blowing a small statement out of proportion and making it appear statistcally more relevant than it actually is. We criticise our loved ones and berate them when they don't communicate exactly the way we wish them to or match our expectations of how they should live insead of appreciating their contributions towards the relationship and being as forgiving about their imperfections as we expect them to be of ours.

"We focus on the hole in the sock of global themes forgetting to look at the bigger picture."        

By focusing on the hole in the socks we essentially lose the perspetive of what's important: of what's really going on in the world and the opportunities we are surrounded with.

We are human....

And as humans the small details often captured in daily news tap into our FOMO instincts but rarely help understand the bigger context. Indeed we live in an age of information overload and the ones who will thrive are the ones that hone their abilities at navigating a world of data and information and are able to find knowledge in that ocean of data and noise. The ones who then can take that knowledge and turn it into practical applications will be hugely succesful.

Deciding what you focus on shapes your reality. ...and the opportunities you are able to see and eventually pursue. I was recently re-watching (I have a library of amazing videos I watch again and again to remind myself of things that daily life makes one invevitably forget) a Danish interview of the legend that is Prof Hans Rosling (see below link) and it reminded me of how what we decide to allow in our lives shapes how we see the world and how many of us have opinions based on completely out of date facts (for example, many people still think that the biggest % of one's use of a car is to go to work and back, but it is not, it is actually for shopping trips - UK data). Where we decide to (or a lured into) aim our focus strongly contributes to our ability to spot real opportunities vs make-believe ones (to the UK data above about where most car use is based, empowered with factually correct knowledge a world of opportunities open up for better ways to serve that need).

For a start, the majority of news items you allow in your daily feed (digital and otherwise) are not just useless but positively damanging to your ability to see the bigger picture. It takes a lot processing to evaluate gossip, daily news, etc which means your attention betteries for the bigger picture will have been drained. The topics you decide to engage in with friends and family and colleagues will shape what doors open for you in life, both at home and professionally (see below examples of what Tamar and I are doing to give you inspiration).

What can you do about it?

If you really have to use social media start creating lists (depending on the tool of your choice it might be called something else) and add people and sources that really share perspective and value-adding material. Struggling to find lists? follow other people's lists then! This includes youtube by the way!

Subscribe to some really amazing (free) newsletters like https://futurecrunch.com/ which share the real fact-based trends around the world (and you'll soon realise how misleading daily news are overall). Nick Hedley (https://substack.com/@nickhedley) is also a great newsletter to subscribe to (he will restore your faith in humanity's ability to change habits with his reporting of the speed of change around the world towards climate friendly ways). There are many amazing ones. I mention the two to give you a sense of the kind of amazing quality stuff that is out there.

If you absolutely must read newspapers then rather subscribe (again free) to something like eurotopics-e (https://www.eurotopics.net/en/) which sends daily the biggest stories but taking the opinions of multiple journalists across europe and giving you an overall perspective allowing you to make up your own mind. The Economist podcasts are awesome as well (free - https://open.spotify.com/show/2ZFDmgDS2Z6xccP51s1zFQ).

Invest time each and every day to fill your dry time (while you're walking, in the bus/train, waiting for something, etc) with at least 1 intelligent podcast of great youtube that makes you grow your perspectives (I even have a telegram list where I share stuff I listen to or watch that I found really interesting: https://t.me/PerspectivesUnplugged - but frankly I do it for myself to bookmarks stuff I love so am not after "follower" numbers so you won't hurt my feelings if you don't follow me:-).

Maybe even consider making this a couple's activity. My awesome wife Tamar Goren and I do this regularly where we listen to an audiobook and discuss each chapter or watch a TED talk or listen to a podcast as an activity to connect, chat, etc on topics that expand us and our relationship. Make this a regular date. Even with your kids.

Invite stuff in your life that you would not normally be interested in...

Subscribe to a few podcasts or watch a few videos or do a few short courses that aren't strictly what you are interested in. You will not believe how inspirational that can be and the cross-pollination potential it has in other areas of your life. Most of my innovations (some of the businesses I started or co-started are featured at Harvard, MIT, Stanford and even NASA) all came from applying approaches in other fields to the field I was trying to solve a problem in. I have a good selection of podcast sources I follow. Create your own list but don't forget to include also sources that you don't necessarily agree with.

Remove people and sources...

Remove people I have a friend who I regard as really intelligent and talented yet I cut him out of my life. He was always criticising my work in a non-constructive way. I am all for suggestions and absolutely love honesty but there is a difference between good feedback and toxic feedback. Don't know how to tell them apart? I use this rule of thumb: if someone gives you advice and opinions of what you are doing without asking you a lot of questions to understand your specific challenge/circumstance then it is generally safe to ignore that advice no matter how brilliant that person may be.

Do not listen to everyone

Steer clear of generic advice It has value. But a whole industry (think influencers) are viying for your attention (i.e. stealing you away from working on more important things) by sharing advice that sounds so rational and clever but in actual fact is often just superficial fluff dressed in powerful words and persuasive logic. By all means listen if you feel it is worth it, but as a general rule, the more sensational the advice is (e.g. heartwarming rags to riches stories etc) the less applicable to you it is. Great advice is often really boring.

What about courses? Mixed bag...

Courses and micro-courses can be a big source of knowledge but the majority of teachers have lost the art of bringing content across effectively and succintly so I find myself having to go through a lot of minutes that are a waste of time (next time you listen to podcast try paying attention to how much time the host spends on fluff, introductions, etc vs getting to the crunch of the topic). The Masterclass series is good approach even if a little all over the place in terms of topics (to date my favorite masterclass is with astrophycisist Neil de Grasse Tyson... his teachings about how to think critically and how to communicate complexity is such an inspiration to me). I view my time as a precious commodity so am particularly sensitive in what or with whom I invest each minute in or with. You might have a different approach to investing your time from me of course :-)

In perspectives lie opportunities

There is a wonderful fable of a man sitting on the roof of his house in a flooded area. He's waiting for help. First boat arrives. An old half broken boat. But a boat nevertheless. The man on the roof waves him away because in the distance he sees much better and more comfortable boats. Next boat comes, filled with animals and respective droppings. The man waves the boat away. This continues until the water level rises and the man drowns. When meeting his maker he asks him why he didn't send help to which the maker said he sent him many boats.

Replace the word "boat" with "opportunity" and you get my point. Most opportunities we encounter in life are rarely if ever perfect, ideal or anything remotely resembling our wishlist. Yet waiting for the perfect boat means you will miss starting your journey in the hope something perfect will arrive. Yet starting your journey is the single biggest act of growth for us and helps us learn what doors exist further down the line. "Waiting for" is generally speaking not a great attitude to live a fulfilled life (there are a few exceptions of course). I cannot recall a single opportunity that was crystal clear from the first day I saw it. Often we only truly understand the opportunity once we start engaging with it, but that means getting up from our intellectual couches and taking a risk.

This applies to a lot of elements in life...

Thinking there is a perfect partner out there for you vs working on your existing relationship. Not taking that small job because you think you're worth more (generally speaking the most stupid mistake you can do as the biggest hurdle is often getting a foot into the networking door, once you have a foot in you'll often find many more opportunities being presented to you). Going after big contracts because you think small contracts are too much work (if you think that I invite you to look carefully at your offering bundles, pricing and business model. Ridiculously small contracts is what gave us our reputation and opened the doors for next level conversations... plus turned us into somewhat matter experts - nothing teaches you about business efficiency like having limited resources and contractual committments).

Sometime we focus too much on what could go wrong or if we could be missing out on if we pick an opportunity that we end up stagnant.

Your focus becomes your future.

Never ever forget it. What you DECIDE to invest your time, energy and talent in defines what you consider a priority in life. Start with cleaning up that which is distracting you from becoming the awesome human you can become.

Wishing you a wonderful week with a good coffee in hand!

Hope this post helped you in your own journey.

York