Cold weather road trip preparations and doomsday preparations, what else would you do after three full weeks of self-reflecting challenges to start off 2023.  Today we talk about focus and all the talk about our lack of it.  A fun story about where you should write your next book, a working nomads van, and yes, an actual doomsday clock. 

Friend of the work Nik Goke and his Four Minute Books project, we bring you his summary of the book Stolen Focus by Johann Hari.  The book talks about the science of distraction and the fallacy of multitasking.  Cal Newport has also written several science-based books on focus, digital distractions, and behaviors.  Goke has written about those as well.

The more significant struggle is different from what we know and, in some ways, agree with; it's how the design of the world is not moving toward less distraction and more focus.  There has to be some piece of this story we are missing; if solid focus and the ability to remove distractions were beneficial and backed up with data, more people would be using tools to focus more.  If there was a way to show that focus makes you more competitive and successful, people would be doing it, but we are not.

Having been around the business block a few times, I started out using a lot of this shiny object distraction tech, and I used it to my advantage to get more done in less time for less overhead.  It allowed me to grow my companies faster with less overhead and bring on more clients.  At the beginning of this evolution, you could give your cell phone number to a client, and they could call anytime, and you would work with them.  A decade later and salespeople don't even have phones.  Competing with people that prefer text to call is always easy to beat. 

There are a lot of small tech ideas that allow for focus time and space, but for every 1 focus tool, 100 distraction tools are entering the market simultaneously.  Distraction will win; the boundaries we put up to slow its ultimate infestation will help, but it's coming.

Book publisher Penguin published a unique story about all the different places a few famous writers wrote their favorite books.  Maya Angelou liked to write in hotels, Agatha Christie in the bath, and Henry David Thoreau in a shepherd's hut near a pond.  Several other authors preferred to write in libraries, and Roald Dahl (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory) liked a shed.

The story and the setting of these writer bungalows were in the U.K., but it is easy to picture where the writer that tested each writing location was.  The winner of the best place to write (based on word count), the shed, words written, over 1,000 words.  The worst area was Agatha Christie's bath, which is less than 100 words.

Did you know there is a genuine Doomsday Clock?  We do, and this month it was set to 90 seconds to midnight.  This clock was set up soon after the invention of the atomic bomb.  The clock is run by The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and is a "metaphorical" measure of the challenges to humanity.  The war in Ukraine is highlighted as a reason for concern, nuclear weapon proliferation, and climate change. 

If you grew up in the 70s and 80s, you experienced a nuclear war drill and were told to get under a desk.  Similar to putting your head in your lap when the plane's going down.  It's good someone smart is watching the extinction-level event clock, so the rest of us can ignore that there is one.  If you are interested in the Doomsday Clock, watch the video of the 2023 Announcement here.

Designboom comes in with a story about a Japanese-inspired mobile office built by Alpine.  Starts with an extended Ford Transit van and goes into an all-wood interior that transforms into a work, living, and recreation space.  The concept of a nomad, the work-from-anywhere-on-road vehicle, seems excellent.  This van is laid out uniquely, although anyone with chiropractic issues would need a lot of cushions.  Nomad working conditions are like a Jeep Wrangler; they look great and inspire that freedom-loving dreamer that lives inside of you, but the person in you Monday-Friday 40 hours a week doesn't want to work from a van.

Rearrange.

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Thank you for spending a few minutes with us. Here’s one for the road!

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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