December 4 #AdventWord #FOCUS

Today, I'm thinking about what focus isn't. It isn't multi-tasking. Other than when we're talking about computer processers, we should eliminate the concept from our vocabulary. Studies have found that humans cannot multi-task. We may be increasingly efficient at switching between one thing and another, but during that switch, everything suffers - time is lost as your brain re-focuses on its new task, and you have to quickly recall where you were with the new task. It's a dumb concept for humans. 

I'm striving to be less multi-tasked at work, in my brain and with my family, to actually focus on one thing at a time. Novel, huh?  

     At work, I have a ginormous list that I've historically flit through. Recently, I've identified the 3-5 things I need to accomplish today. Magically, when I focus on the big things, they are completed. When my 3-5 things turns into 10 because of a super-busy day, I lean on gimmicky-but-effective tools, like the Pomodoro Method, which work very well for me. 

     At home, I will keep the phone down at all times, except when I'm alone. or need to do something as a part of our conversation. I'll listen intently.

     In my head, I'm really good at pretending to multi-task. I think hundreds of thoughts, each of which receives about 3 seconds of my attention. That means they're all half-baked, both the bad and the good. Journaling in the morning has helped that. I spend 20 minutes writing. It affords me the time, and trains my brain to finish a thought; to focus on one thought to its completion. How else would I have had anything to say about Focus? And how else would I take time for thinking about faith and God?

For this new church year, I aim to continue to focus on where I am, what I'm doing, who I'm with. I'd like to increase my focus on what I think about faith, God and that dance I'm in with the Holy.

The Grand Experiment Concludes

So it’s been almost three whole months since I last worked full time. Yesterday was my first day back. Here are some observations about that much time away. 

-      It is incredibly easy to fritter away the time. While there were no days that I actually did NOTHING, there are many days, I did NOT MUCH.  Big bike ride, gym, grocery store, dinner, email correspondence. Maybe that’s what I needed, or maybe that was genuine slothfulness. I’m not sure, but I do have a slight bit of concernabout what happened with that time. (I was originally thinking of the word regret,but it’s not that bad. At all)

-      It is wonderful to have significant time away to reset. In clergy and academic worlds, people get sabbaticals. They’re a time to rest, refresh, learn, deepen spiritual practices. I episodically treated my time away as sabbatical. I obviously rested. I signed up for a course on music theory, and am slowly making my way through that. And I restarted a morning reading & journaling practice. I’d recommend a significant, intentional time away for all my FT working friends. It’s sort of like a “stay-cation”, but your whole family doesn’t need to be involved. It’s for you. 

-      It was wonderful to have a big chunk of time to figure out a new town and new way of living. We’ve acclimated to the urban no house & no car life.  I bike most places, and with the luxury of an urban setting, I’ve augmented bike transport with a few bus, trolley and train trips, Ubered to church one rainy Sunday, and short-term rented someone else’s private car to get to an event 20 miles away, using Turo.  It’s all worked well. 

-      It turns out, there is no market or no interest in helping me develop a 60” waterproof bike friendly garment bag to carry vestments on a bike in the rain. Ha!  The luggage stores have garment bags that are water resistant, but are only for suits so they’re only 45”.  There are online bike-friendly garment paniers and backpacks, but they’re 45” long. Fancy stores sell gown garment bags that are 60”, but alas, they’re not designed to pack on a bike in the rain. I have a 60” bag that folds in thirds, with a nice shoulder strap. But it’s not waterproof nor is it exceptionally comfortable slung over one shoulder for a bike ride. But I’m working on ways to make it waterproof (garbage bag over the whole thing, probably), and make the bike transport more comfortable.  Did you know they sell backpack straps?  I’ve got a few months before the weather turns to figure this one out. Otherwise, I’ll be relegated to other modes of transport when I’m bringing vestments in the winter. 

-      I’m still figuring out food. Getting groceries is certainly more challenging without a car, mostly because I’m still planning weekly, which is too much to carry on one bike trip. Shopping needs to be more frequent, and we’re still working on it. Meanwhile, I purchased some food containers to put lunches and maybe a few dinners in. There are whole communities on social media of folks who make all their healthy, work-day lunches on Sunday, and store them in the fridge in beautiful matching containers. If you doubt me, look up Meal Prep Sundays.  I actually did that this week, with a lovely kale salad, which should hold up quite well. I’m happy I did that for my first week, and it seems like it makes sense. We’ll see if I stick with it. 

-      Finally, I’m extremely grateful to be working again. It’s a daily schedule that’s familiar, and good for my soul.  And with one day complete, it’s a great job, and beautiful bike commute.  So far so good.