2 personal stories about focus 👁️

And what they taught me about (work-life) balance

Read time: 5min

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"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” - Bruce Lee

Hi,

How was your last week?

If focus is a daily struggle, this edition is for you.

I’m sharing two personal stories that I never expected to be connected. They taught me why focus is essential for our (work-life) balance.

At the end you’ll find a 2-minute exercise to train your focus — the one I promised in May edition on why focus lasts only 47 seconds.

Why share this with you?

Because I promised 😊.

But most importantly because over 450 participants who signed up for my free workshop say focus is the biggest, constant challenge. It’s also in the top 3 workshops requested by organizations I work with.

So another edition on focus felt not just worth it, but necessary.

the why

The first story…

From 2011 to 2014, I worked in Shanghai. The first year my days were 15 hours long and I spent all weekends (yes, I dare say all) in the office.

One day, I was at my desk. Nothing seemed unusual. And then, as I was typing an email, everything went dark — I couldn’t see anything for a few seconds. I didn’t give it too much thought and continued typing. The same happened the next day. And the day after. Sometimes it happened walking into a meeting room, sometimes in the elevator. Other days on the street.

These episodes became more frequent, longer, and scarier — especially when they happened on the go, because I instantly felt dizzy to a point of collapsing. And yet, I still didn’t tell anyone.

Then one day, on the way home at 9PM, as I was crossing a busy street, everything went dark again. I froze. My heartbeat was so loud I could hear it. I felt dizzy, terrified of actually collapsing this time and being hit by a car.

Then one light. Two. And I saw cars and people moving again.

I ran. Just not home. To the nearest ER.

The doctor diagnosed me with overwork (they call it burnout now) and explained the cause of the vision loss: lack of blood flow because my computer screen was positioned too far below eye level for too many hours a day.

He explained the dizziness too: our sight is responsible for our physical balance. It’s like a pillar we hold on to. Without it, we lose our footing. And that pillar is focus.

Focus is what we need to feel balanced.

We live in the world of more and faster that competes for our attention every second. Our vision is constantly stimulated with notifications, ads, multiple tabs and screens at the same time. We go to bed and we still look at our phones, sending it even more input to digest instead of resting.

No wonder we wake up tired. No wonder we struggle to focus. No wonder we no longer believe balance exists.

the how

The second story…

In 2014, I moved to Bangkok. A friend came to say with me for almost a month. Every day, she went to a yoga studio next to my home. I wasn’t into yoga back then — I tried it once in Shanghai and it was far too “slow” for me.

But she praised the teachers so much that when she left, I decided to try (after all it was just 5 minutes away.)

At first, I felt out of place. I couldn’t even sit cross-legged without falling or feeling discomfort in my hips and back. While everyone around me looked like they’d been born cross-legged. But something — maybe the old competitive athlete in me — kept me going.

One day we got to a tree pose: you stand on one leg, bring the foot of your other leg to your inner thigh, and lift your arms above your head. (If you’re not a yogi, the stickman at the top of this edition is demonstrating it.)

“Oh finally, that one is easy,” I thought looking at myself in the mirror with hands on my hips because my shoulders screamed at me when I tried to lift the arms above my head.

Then the teacher said: “Close your eyes.”

I instantly fell.

He came over, offered his arm for support, and gently said:

“To balance with eyes closed, visualize yourself in the mirror exactly as you see yourself now. That focus will keep you balanced.”

I tried it. It worked. For a few seconds. Then I fell again.

I went to that yoga studio three times a week for almost two years. I’ve practised yoga ever since. And I’ve trained my focus with that visualization ever since too.

Today I can hold the tree pose with my eyes closed for minutes. And I can see quite literally how my daily focus has changed over the years because of that practice.

I’m not a neuroscientist, not a doctor, not a yoga teacher. There’s probably a more sophisticated explanation of how it all works, how our sight keeps us balanced. But these two stories unexpectedly connected it for me.

Today’s world is louder and more uncertain than I’ve ever known it. And honestly, it’s not easy. But I still manage to feel balanced even on the toughest days — and we all have those — because I built a strong focus.

To train your focus, you don’t need to start searching for a yoga studio. But also, you don’t need another app. You just need a 2-minute break.

Each edition of The Good Busy Newsletter takes me on average 5 hours to write.

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your play of the week

Take a break to train your focus 👁️

This week, I invite you to take a 2-minute break every day to train your focus. Because focus is the foundation of your balance.

If you’re a regular yogi: find a mirror, get into tree pose (or any other balance pose you like), close your eyes, and visualize yourself in the pose exactly as you see yourself in the mirror.

If you’re a beginner: start with the foot at your ankle. It’s enough.

If you’re not a yogi at all: just stand on one foot.

When (or if) you fall, start again. Give it a minute and switch legs.

That’s not the only way to train your focus. But the one I know works.

If this resonates and you’re ready to actually free up time from work that simply shouldn’t exist, The Good Busy Reset will take you there step by step.

Because nothing changes if nothing changes. You’ll keep feeling unbalanced and wondering why.

23,000+ leaders are freeing up time from work that shouldn’t exist with The Good Busy Newsletter. If it helps you, refer it to a friend.

I know productivity - not illustrations. Stickman figures by Zdenek Sasek.

Thank you for being here.

See you next Monday,

Kate

Founder, TheGoodBusy.com

PS: Some work simply shouldn’t exist. Master Good Busy and free up that time for work you’re proud of and what (and who) you love after work.

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