Focus, please, let's just focus.

My son's eye, he was playing with the camera- very focused.

I am trying something new this year, lots of new things actually, but I will just share one for now: I am adopting a word for the year. This is a popular pastime, apparently, but I heard about it from The Happiness Project blog. For this project you “adopt” a word for the year that helps you meet new expectations or goals. You might, for instance, choose the word “lighten” if you wanted to declutter your house and/or distress, etc. Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project, goes into greater detail on her blog if you are interested in doing this.

I actually chose two words, one is for my personal life and will remain private, the other is for my writing life. That word is “focus.” I have found this word already to be very helpful. In the past I have been distracted by:
- applying for work that I wasn’t qualified for.
- getting writing work that took up way too much of my time and paid less than pennies.
- my busy, busy mind.
- what others think, are doing, are producing (this is really just a subset of “my busy, busy mind).
- should haves, could be, might have been (again a subset).
- work around the house.

My busy, busy mind is really the main culprit. I typically start with a hearty helping of super writer: "You will be published easily!" And that is quickly followed by a swift kick-in-the-pants of: “Who are you,  calling yourself a writer?” Sheesh, it's exhausting.

Now I have a weapon. I breathe in deeply, repeat my word, “focus” and start in on my list of tasks (that can be a topic for another day). That’s all I have to do. Focus on the tasks and get them done. Easy? No. But I know what I need to do.