What to Cut?

The past few times I've been online, my browser has recommended the following article: "What you don't do affects you more than what you do — and it's the secret to getting anything you want in life".  A ponderous title, but an interesting article all the same.  The author highlights Daniel Day-Lewis as an example of someone whose success comes from intense focus, and the habit of choosing carefully what to focus on, and eliminating the rest.  I've talked of this before, when I mentioned the "specialist" choosing to focus their efforts, and so achieve excellence.  But this article makes an interesting distinction between how most of us approach decisions-- "what to do"-- and how Daniel Day-Lewis approaches them--"what to cut". 

In my life recently, I've suffered the consequence of lack of focus.  The internet doesn't help: I open my browser and it instantly recommends articles I might like (case in point: the article that inspired this post).  My favorite bookmarks are arranged along the top, so I can open tab after tab and see what cool art my sister has made, what The Dreamstress is up to, et cetera.  Even if I logged on with a goal in mind, I "just quickly check" all the other things, and there goes my focus. 

But if the question is not "what should I click on" but "what don't I need in my life right now", then the internet itself goes right out the window.  Truth is: I've got a backlog of posts on my blog that I can schedule to post twice a week for the rest of the month, without me.  And I don't have any email-related business to deal with, either.  I could close my lap-top and slide it under my bed, and this blog (heck, the whole Internet) would chug along quite happily without me.  While I'm at it, I could cut sleeping in and watching NetFlix; they're not serving me well!

In fact, I think I will.  See you next year!