Focus

With focus, there are no distractions. No ambiguity about where your attention is. You can be fully present.

Focus is my word for 2026.

Lately I’ve become obsessed with removing any and all superlative elements from my periphery, or at least minimizing them.

Reflected in this site itself and sites like it, when you have fewer options in front of you, you’re forced to contend with what you’re seeing in front of you. This improves your productivity by spending less time on distractions and more time doing meaningful work.

(This prioritization of “less” seems to run counter to a PC Setup optimized for multitasking with multiple monitors. So I’m still figuring that part out.)

ToDos and ToDon’ts

Turns out what helps to turn ideas into completed projects is something like a daily ritual where you look at your ToDo list. That’s building a ritual of focus each day. As this habit becomes normalized, getting through the noise of life (or “the whirlwind” as described in The 4 Disciplines of Execution) becomes easier. Life will hit you with unexpected changes, but a commitment to focus will get you through it, and back on track to where you want to prioritize your time and effort.

Building a “ToDon’t” list is another valuable exercise. List the things you maybe have been involved in previously for which you’d like to build an exit strategy.

When you achieve true focus, your best deep work can happen.

Focus in Software

Forcing software to be simpler and tighter to your needs is a mixed bag. Often software doesn’t let you do that by default, or you have to brute force it. Sometimes it allows you to make tweaks to it to adjust its noisiness, but not always, and rarely in the exact ways you’d want.

When you do have an optimized setup with your streamlined, tweaked software, though, that’s when you get immensely satisfying digital flow. You just need the discipline to get there.

This is what my screen looks like right now:

As you can see, it’s tripped down to its bare essence: typing words on a page. This is Obsidian using the Zen Mode plugin within Vault CMS.

You can take a deep breath. Fortify your thoughts. Write down what comes to mind. Edit and refine.

This is how writing was meant to be! Focused and distraction-free. It may just take some calibrating to get there.

More Present Family Time

You can have singular focus on the wrong thing.

Sometimes after a day of purposeful, engaging work, it’s difficult to stop thinking about it when the work day ends.

Maintaining control of a wandering mind can be very difficult. I find a “shutdown” ritual helpful here, where I load up my ToDo list for the next day or my notes with what’s in-progress and where I need to direct my attention for the next day, and getting that out there can help me task-switch to family time. I know it’s accounted for, set aside, and ready to be resumed when tomorrow begins.

Focusing Without Trying

Hyperfixation is a focus superpower. Makes it feel effortless. There’s nothing like being in the zone when everything naturally just comes together. At that point, you aren’t even trying and things just work.

I love that feeling.