While I do agree wholeheartedly with this statement, I'd go one step further and say that life without focus is an even funnier old game. Being the unemployed swine that I am, having a lack of focus has become a daily problem and life taken on a whole new meaning. It's a coin toss whether I'm going to wake up happy and inspired or hopelessly un-motivated and miserable. It's an odd thing and when it happens and there is seemingly nothing you can do about it.
Or so I thought.
Around midweek, surrounded by piles of food-encrusted unwashed dishes, dirty laundry and Batman comics, a very important realisation hit me like a diamond bullet right through the forehand (to quote Colonel Kurtz). After reading a very interesting book on eastern philosophy, namely: Taoism, I realised that my problem is over-thinking. About the future, about the past, about women, about friends, about enemies, about life, about death, about food, about drink, about what I'm doing right, about what I'm doing wrong, about England's world cup chances, about my head being too big, about missing home, about not being funny, about not being clever, about my car being too expensive, and on and on and on and on and before long you look like this:
Then, I realised that none of that matters. Not one bit of it. Nothing. Nada. Nil. Zip. Zilcho. All that matters is Now; being present and enjoying the fruits of what's directly in front of you. It's so easy to get caught up in that other shite and spend your entire existence reaching for something that you forget what's already there. And what's already there is you. Life's complicated enough, without our brain's constantly clapping away like an over-eager seal. Thus, by bringing the focus back to you, and you at this moment in time - ignoring the past, forgetting the future - you start to feel alive. That's why it's called "The Present", because it's a gift. Get it? I do love a good cliche!
To get even more pragmatic and less philosophical, it can also be defined like this: Say you have a list of 150,000 things to do to get your career moving, as I definitely do, looking through that list as a whole will no doubt be intimidating and send you running for the hills. Or, in my case, to my sofa for a marathon F**k The World / Beer & Cake / "Lord Of The Rings" session. However, if you just start at number 1 on that list and concentrate solely on completing that task, even if it's just 'have a shower', it is infinitely more manageable (and doesn't make me want to pull my hair out and scream "death you are my bitch lover!").
Lo and behold, by focusing on what's in front of me I started taking care of business, one item at a time. If you just do what's in front of you, the task at hand, then the next and the next, life becomes alot more simple and the next thing you know, you're moving forward, gathering pace all the time. Personally I got immediately back into the banality of looking for a job, getting an agent, and finishing my latest screenplay which I've been working on for god knows how long. Funny how that works, isn't it? I've even started working out, one rep at a time (or if I'm doing pull-ups, just one rep). And the good thing is, it's not about whether it will pay off in the future by way of becoming mega-successful or rich or handsome, it's paying off right at the very moment you start doing it, so enjoy it.
Speaking of enjoying stuff, this is the funniest music video ever and is my gift to you (please take extra note of George's "Rat Tail"):
Peace,
John.
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