Forced Focus

Last night I had to do the most intense drive of my life.

My wife and I were on a short trip to take care of some business in London, and we had to catch a 2:45am ferry back to Ireland.

We had 250 miles (400kms) to travel, and by the time we got on the move we had 5 hours before check-in closed at the port.

Easily done at motorway (UK equivalent of interstate!) cruising speeds. On paper this looked like it was going to be a boring middle-lane cruise up the motorway, where the biggest danger is nodding off from the monotony.

After an hour though, Google maps decided to spice things up, and take us on a cross-country detour...

Winding our up and down about 100 miles of hilly, unlit country lanes, where it's very hard to travel fast at all.

We later found out that was because of roadworks on our planned route.

At the time though, I couldn't understand why we were taking this weird route, but I didn't have a clue where I was or any time to spare...

So I had no option but to keep going.

For the next 2 hours I was sweaty-palmed, white knuckling the steering wheel while doing yoga breathing to keep my heart rate nice and slow, so I could stay mentally sharp.

All the while listening to Dan Kennedy's "Renegade Millionaire Time Management System"!

And in weird irony #1111 of my life... The disc playing was on the subject of 'forced focus'.

Dan was talking about one of the ways he forces himself to stay super productive - by packing his work schedule so tight that every item MUST get done at the designated time or not at all.

His calendar is so full that there are no free hours or second chances to catch up on missed work, and just knowing this fact keeps him focused on doing the needful.

At that moment I could 100% relate.

I could see and think of nothing but the next 50-100 metres of road ahead, not because I wanted to, but because I absolutely NEEDED to!

Luck was on our side though, and our late-night cross country experience ended when we found a way back onto the North Wales Expressway for the final hour of the journey.

As relieved as I was to get back to a low-stress cruise, I still got something valuable from the off-piste experience - because I can't remember any time lately that I've been this absolutely laser focused.

And the focus paid off, because we arrived at the port with 40 minutes to spare.

Now going forward, I'm going to devise ways to 'force focus' when I have important things in my schedule that must get done... Or else.

Maybe you can do the same?

Your friend,

John Caprani