Consistent Focus, Consistent Action

Repetition creates Skill

I did all the self help seminars so you don't have to.

I do them over and over.

But if these programs are so good, then why do I keep returning to them year after year? Didn't they fix my problems the first time?

No. Because taking care of yourself isn't something you do just once. It's all about building skills and developing habits.

You don't exercise once and get fit. You have to keep working at it. You keep practicing if you want to retain a skill. And self discipline and good mind habits are skills.

I've always been a person who has always been a little tightly wound. That is probably due to health issues. The migraines, the mood swings, the sudden surges in energy, and the sudden dips. Even as a kid, when I didn't know I had a medical problem, I was trying to get these swings under control.

Most people never noticed the swings because I present a good front. But I sure felt them. I was attracted to work methods and teachings that would help me manage my state.

Why was I so productive at times and completely withdrawn and unproductive at others? How could I be better about meeting deadlines? How could I do good job every time I sat down to draw instead of doing great on one job and badly on the next?

I've never been able to master these issues, but I recognize the problems and work at them, so, go me!

Over the last several decades, I've spent thousands of dollars on books, classes, and seminars. Adjusted for inflation, I think it adds up to around $6000, or about $200 a year. Not a bad investment at all, IMHO (and some of the money wasn't spent on me, but on tapes and seminars for an old Frenemy and an assistant). Basically, a day or two of work per year was spent on my trying to get better coping skills.

I firmly believe that without taking this action, I'd have washed out of publishing years ago. YMMV.

So, today's lesson. Here we go.

Consistent Focus, Consistent Action.

What we focus on, we realize.

I disagree with metaphysical programs like The Secret which applies magical thinking to this principle. But I agree that focusing on things that don't move us forward or that bring us down emotionally can derail forward momentum. Focusing on things that really don't matter much eats up precious time and energy.

This is pretty obvious, but sometimes we really need a smack in the face reminder.

For my part, I've often found myself stuck in the bad old past. Just the other day, I wrote that I was worried about attending a convention because I was anxious about seeing people who had been cruel or bullied me. I almost canceled out of the show.

Now how much of that anxiety is me needing a medication tweak and how much is me just not being able to let go of dead weight?

Dunno.

But the past was there, and I was dragging it around. And I totally didn't need to.

Because no one from my past was giving me a hard time, no one came up to me to hassle me at the show, several people actually ducked out of the way when I walked by with their heads low to avoid looking at me, and people who had openly been total shits ten years ago were telling me how great my work was and how good I'd always been.

Even if it was a lie, it was a nice lie.

J.M. Dematteis said to me he was sure these people probably didn't even remember saying half the things I remember them saying. And he's probably right.

What gutted me then didn't hurt them in the least now, and there I was, the Walking Wounded to no purpose. They couldn't care less, probably didn't even recall the offense, and I was getting absolutely nothing out of the whole thing but angst.

Conventions are fun! I think this photo is by JK Carrier. I could be wrong.

I was stressed out for weeks for nothing, couldn't even sleep, and had trouble working.

Stressing about being at that show probably cost me more than ten years of investment in personal growth seminars, because work didn't get done for days and days, and instead of moving forward with my art, I was stuck in the past with some assholes. If I'd been focusing on moving forward, getting art done, and ignoring the assholes, I'd have been much more productive, happier, and had more money in my pocket.

Instead I got behind schedule and got a lot of acid reflux.

Whatever you focus on consistently is going to have a huge impact on your life. And jerks from the past really don't matter. I gave them way too much power over me. Power they don't deserve.

Consistent Focus: be careful where you put it.

Consistent action is the next key.

If your mind is in a good place, that's fine. Bliss out. But if you don't do-right, you get nothing in this world. And art doesn't get made.

Consistent action and consistent focus go hand in hand.

One of the hardest things for the self employed creator is maintaining forward momentum. The best job in the world can become an endless series of procrastination rituals. When you work at home, you can always find some reason to set the job aside for a few hours, and then a few hours more, and then tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow.

No matter what, no matter how small, the art/exercise/whatever needs to get done. Consistently.

DO IT EVERY DAY.

A modest goal is better than no goal at all, and a major goal can derail you. Get started now. Take a baby step.

If you can't commit to a full work day, then commit to a half hour. ONE HALF HOUR for your goal. Every. Single. Day.

A modest start will allow you to find the energy to keep working/arting/exercising and you will pass that goal before you know it. But starting out the gate with an ambitious goal may intimidate you from starting at all. Start a habit you can reach. Give yourself something that gives you a sense of achievement and build on that.

When I started using the Rescue Time app to watch my work habits, I started out with a goal of eight hours a day, and I simply could not do it. So I pushed that back to only FIVE hours a day. And within about a month, I was beating it.

But hold on there Missy, I thought you'd solved that time management problem?

Well, remember that thing I wrote about CONSISTENT?

Since I'd just come off a brutal work jag (400 recorded office hours in March 2019 with over 300 work hours) I decided to relax and allowed myself to turn off my productivity apps for a bit. Heck, I needed a break, right?

What harm is there in spending a little more time on twitter?

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

Not only did I quickly spiral out of control, but my carefully restored work habits and goals went right down the tubes in about two weeks. It took me nearly three weeks to get back in the game. I'm not sure how much of this is a medical issue and how much of it is I really REALLY need to stick to my habits and apps. And I don't really care what the culprit is. I just know that CONSISTENT may be even more of an issue for me than for other people.

Consistent Focus. Consistent Action.

And how.

Focusing on things that don't matter much. Like whether or not some dude from twenty years ago who said rude things about my art was going to say rude things now. WHO CARES???

Focusing on how unjust it is that some creator who behaved abominably back in the day didn't have a meteor fall on his head. WHO CARES???

Not focusing on my art. My stories. My deadlines. My future.

Now that's something to worry about.

Not being consistent about my habits, habits I need to stick to because I have a freaking medical issue that makes me particularly vulnerable to stress, compulsive behaviors, and cognitive problems.

I can't afford NOT to focus.

90% of every self help advice you will ever get is there to make you feel good about yourself, which is very nice. But the reason why most of it doesn't work and will never work for some people is because they never follow through on what they are being told. And then they are not consistent in taking that action.

Action can't be just one thing, one day. It has to be a habit, a pattern, a way of life. And just because you did things right once, or even 100 times, that doesn't mean you can't screw up, drop the ball, whatever. You don't get points for what you did right last week when people need you to do right next week.

You don't exercise once and get abs. You have to keep working them. And that principle applies to everything.

Which is why, if you do decide to try out some self help program, you can buy them used super-cheap on ebay.

Almost everyone gives up.

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Actually, I don’t drink the espresso so much anymore, I found I really love the Starbucks cold brew, and it’s cheaper. But I saved this screen shot from Twitter because I thought it was funny.