In ancient Asian philosophy Tao or Dao is defined as the natural order of the universe, whose character, one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom. This intuitive knowing of life cannot be grasped as a concept. Rather, it is known through actual living experience of one's everyday being.
The origin of Tao / Dao comes from Chinese where it signifies the way, path, route, road, or sometimes more loosely doctrine, principle, or holistic belief. Tao has been described as not a name for a thing, but the underlying natural order of the Universe whose ultimate essence is difficult to circumscribe because it is non-conceptual yet evident in one's being of aliveness.
Clearly defining Tao / Dao could be a long trip down a rabbit hole resulting in far too much coffee. The state of Tao / Dao has also been defined as a natural balance between foolishness and wisdom, I suspect which cannot be achieved with a little dip into the foolish. So lets get back to the purpose of this dalliance with ancient Chinese Philosophical fusion and FOCUS on the topic at hand... see what I did there :)
The idea for this topic came to me on my favourite coffee joint. Anyone who is in business for themselves knows lack of strict discipline and focus can easily result in a trip down the proverbial rabbit hole. Since this trip to the coffee shop was clearly my way of avoiding actual work, I wanted to make it worthwhile, at the very least in my own mind. In the spirit of my search for the Tao of Focus, I am delving into the foolish side of the equation, but balancing it with some research on the topic of focus. After all, personal improvement is never a waste of time.
The first step at finding focus is to plan your day, week and month, being sure to leave some room for emergencies, which can and will pop up. When I first started by business I had a 4' x 8' white board with a calendar and space for a list of pending tasks based on urgency. Since then I got married and my wife did not appreciate the living room “art work.” I initially placed it in my living room because it was impossible to ignore, particularly when I was watching TV. While this is a great way to keep tasks in the forefront, it does little for a relaxing ambience; this is where balance kicks in.
Working to Live – Living To Work While it is important to focus on your business, you also need to focus on your personal life and the enjoyment of out of work activities, otherwise you will find yourself living to work and working to live, which will lead to burnout and eventual loss of focus. The long and short of this is in order to maintain focus in your business, you also need to focus on your personal life and recreational activities.
There is also the mindset of integrating your business and personal lives so work becomes part of your social life and your social life becomes part of your work, which is what I tend to do, but this can also be exhausting and difficult because you run the risk of not being able to have a personal identity, beyond your business. This is an area where I know I need improvement and which will perhaps be the topic of another article.
“Look, a Squirrel” - This brings up the topic of squirrel syndrome, with writing, just as with business, it is easy to find new and exciting toys or idea's. It is not uncommon for business owners to run around grabbing every squirrel they see. Moving further into the metaphor, squirrels are wild animals and if you grab the wrong one, you may end up with rabies. While it is important to keep your eyes open for new opportunities and idea's, it is important to focus on the task at hand. By all means, take the time to make note of any new ideas, but do not allow them to distract you from the task at hand. If let run a muck, Squirrel Syndrome can lead to an increase in anxiety as you dash between ideas without getting anything done.
Mindful Multitasking – Avoiding Squirrels does not mean one cannot multitask, in order to make more effective use of ones time. However, The key to successful multitasking is to approach it in a strategic and mindful manner. Mindful multitasking requires a strategic focus in each new situation while avoiding falling into the aforementioned Squirrel Syndrome. Plan all tasks and focus on the task at hand, all the while keeping the other related tasks in the back of your mind.
At the beginning of the day, take a look at all your tasks and group the tasks with common threads. This may require you to analyze potential stumbling blocks, but do not spend too much time analyzing, otherwise you may start looking for squirrels. After you set your intentions for the day, create a to-do list which allows you to effectively utilize your time and resources while still allowing yourself to be present in each action you take for the day.
Jack of All Trades; Master of None – On the topic of being present in each action of your day, I recently saw a social media post from someone who was very upset about some poor workmanship from someone who did some renovations for her. The contractor she hired advertised himself as a Carpenter and Landscaper, while the two do have a natural intersection, it is important to determine a focus of your business, particularly if you are a one person show, like this person was. In this particular job he was trying to do an entire renovation from demolition to cabinet making, tile setting, drywalling, finishing carpentry and painting. Sure, these items are generally synonymous with one another and being able to do them all to a somewhat acceptable level, this all starts to fall apart when you add landscaping to the mix. Based on the work done, my guess is this individual was a landscaper by profession and decided to get into carpentry because he built a deck for someone. Building a deck is vastly different from renovating and finishing a kitchen, bathroom and living room. In business it is important to maintain a vast set of skills but one of those skills needs to be knowing when you need to delegate the work to someone with the proper skill-set.
Do not be Afraid to Shift Directions – While it is important to define and maintain a focus on your direction in life and business, it is equally important to realize it is completely ok to shift the direction your business is going, and even add complimentary services, so long as you make this part of your focus and you are able to do it, without chasing squirrels.
In some cases a direction shift may involve abandoning, or temporarily setting aside old ideas and moving forward to a new and more exciting opportunity. A recent client of mine is an Electrician by trade, one day, he and his wife stumbled into the new trend of Paddle Boarding. After doing some research they decided they would design, manufacture and sell inflatable Paddle Boards. This lead to several other complimentary products, while still keeping his feet in his trade to allow him the required finances to grow his business. The key to this approach is to realize when the newly defined business, allowing it to grow. Him and his wife are also very complimentary in their approach to the business and their different skill sets and shared interest in Paddle boarding have made them amazingly successful, in a relatively short period of time. The moral of this story is do not be afraid of change and realize you cannot do it all on your own.
Focus on developing one big project at a time – Do not make the mistake of trying to start multiple projects at once. Entrepreneurs are creative people, often with many good business ideas. This is both a gift and a curse, as it can be difficult to shut off the desire to act on multiple ideas at the same time. The thing is, if you fragment your focus between too many projects at once you will end up missing important details and your projects will not be as successful as they could be.
In Conclusion - The concept of Tao teaches one to be mindful, balanced and to learn by experiencing. These are also some of the key points which will help you remain focused and maintain your sanity while doing so. Try to maintain a healthy balance between work and life, so as you do not burn out and damage your ability to focus. Also do not be afraid to venture out and try new things, as boredom and a lack of challenge will lead to complacency, which will lead to a loss of focus, just be sure you keep that balance between wisdom and foolishness, divide your day between work and play so profit and pleasure can be the result.