“Corrine, remembering all he managed to squeeze into a day, said he had the ‘power of being focused. Without his power of concentration and great physical endurance such a life would have been impossible.’”  – Mornings on Horseback: The story of an extraordinary family, a vanished way of life, and the unique child who became Theodore Roosevelt

Part of living a deep life is ruthlessly pruning the unnecessary excess so we can focus on what matters.

On this blog I’ve discussed the hypothesis that concentration is the knowledge workers super power, and my results from trying Cal Newport’s 30 day digital declutter. 

In an ode to both of these, and ensure I’m going full-throttle for the next 29 days on the things that really matter to me like cultivating strong relationships and achieving my 2020 / quarterly goals I am declaring martial law on my mind and cold-turkeying the one prevailing digital distraction for me: YouTube. 

I show up there with good intent to watch one video from a channel I subscribe to, and too easily get roped into the algorithm that knows exactly what I’ll click on: jiu-jitsu videos, lord of the rings videos, “discussions” about what will happen with the election…

My challenge to you: take the remainder of the month to cultivate a deeper life by removing your biggest source of distraction, cold turkey. 

Sure, we can try to re-engage with the platform and deploy it as a tool – instead of entertainment, but for now the stakes are too high. One month to go, time to focus.