Definition and Struggle

What is focus? For me, it’s pointing your heart to what matters, doing now what you have to do right now.

And to be completely honest, I’m terrible at it. I get frustrated with myself for wasting time. Often I either get stuck on something truly important, or I chase distractions completely unrelated to what needs doing. That doesn’t mean I’m unproductive, I’m constantly learning, noticing things, and never taking life for granted, but it’s not the same as focused action.

The truth is that the human brain wasn’t made to handle multiple cognitively demanding tasks at the same time. To do meaningful work, I have to pick one task and give it my full attention. That task must be what matters most, what actually needs finishing right now.

But starting is often the hardest part. Resistance can feel overwhelming, and even after starting, it’s easy to feel lost or frustrated when I don’t immediately know the next step. I can get so caught up in the problem that I want to give up entirely.

I’ve realized the solution isn’t perfectionism, it’s optimalism: focusing on what matters, doing it well enough to make progress, and staying consistent.

Searching for a meaning

Not to sound cheesy or ridiculous. Whatever you take from this, it is personal. The question I asked myself was this:

“Who am I? What am I beyond my name or identity? Beyond my family, my friends? Beyond my dreams? Beyond all these temporary things, what truly makes me who I am?”

That question started everything. When I found myself in quieter environments, without constant noise, I returned to this thinking. Since I can remember, I have had these inner conversations that, although mostly forgotten, were about questioning who I really was.

“I think, therefore I am” is a famous statement by René Descartes, well known in Latin as cogito, ergo sum.

Logically, I could say yes, of course I know that I am, but I am what? What am I that I exist? Why am I here? Who am I at my core?

For years, this question went unanswered.

I spent years drowning in stoicism, self-help books, motivational videos, productivity systems, habit tracking, and false confidence. For some people, these things work, but for me they did not. I never truly knew who I was.

I thought that maybe if I optimized myself enough, I would find fulfillment. I never did. The more I focused on myself, the emptier I felt. What is the purpose of improving only for the sake of self-improvement? Why am I doing all of this?

Turning to God

I eventually found the only place where the question of meaning could actually be answered. I only needed to point my heart to it. The answer was not another system, not another habit routine, not another form of self-optimization. It was Meaning itself.

That address is the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

I had been directing all my effort toward the wrong destination. I was trying to build a better version of myself when I was meant to build something for God.

When I was younger, I dismissed this completely. I put all my trust in science and technology. Computers were my world, so I assumed an ancient faith could not possibly be true. I treated it as something outdated, something irrelevant. I never gave it a real look. And the few times I did, it was superficial.

But the more I studied the faith, the more things started to align. Science and technology will not solve the deepest problems of the world. In many cases they have made some of them worse. Science is not a moral agent. Technology is not a moral agent. They can describe what exists, but they cannot tell us what ought to be.

Morality is something different. Morality is universal and objective. If it is truly objective, it must have a source that is not dependent on individual feelings or shifting cultural standards. It must trace back to one absolute and indivisible foundation.

Morality needs a backbone. That backbone is the one true almighty God, who is Morality itself.

Morality is not an idea floating in the air. It is a person. That person is Jesus Christ, who entered the world and showed the perfect way by being Perfection itself.

I remember telling myself for years that only God is perfect. I never realized how much that sentence pointed directly to the answer I had been ignoring.

Spiritual obstacles: Acedia

Acedia is one of the most destructive obstacles to focus. It is not simple laziness. It is a spiritual heaviness that makes every task feel pointless, every duty feel empty, and every responsibility feel overwhelming. It is a refusal of the good that God sets before us. It attacks purpose at its root.

One of the worst traps of acedia is the tendency to overthink the problem. The more attention you give the feeling, the stronger it becomes. It thrives on rumination and analysis. It grows when you stare at it. It fades when you turn toward God and your back agaisnt sin.

Fighting it directly often makes it worse. Bad thoughts come, but we ought to ignore them instead of fighting it. The real countermeasure is to redirect your heart to something meaningful and do one clear, grounded action. This is where the personal version of the Unix philosophy helps. Do one thing at a time and do it well. Do it from start to finish. Limit your view to what actually needs to be done right now.

One complete action has power. When you take something from nothing to finished, even if it is small, you push back against acedia. People respect those who can carry a task from start to end, but more importantly, it restores the sense of being a creator. Human beings are made with the capacity to build things that did not exist before. This reflects the image of God in us.

But we are not defined only by what we produce. We are made for a higher purpose given by God Himself. The goal is to discover that purpose and actually live it. As the saints teach, anything that is not directed toward God ultimately becomes a waste of time, because it has no lasting meaning.

So the practical response to acedia is simple. Start from your “requirements”. Start from the use case, ask what must be done right now. Not everything you could do, not every possibility, not the entire future. Just the duty in front of you. Then carry it out faithfully.

Do not obsess over the feeling. Do the action. Turn your attention toward God and let the noise fade.

Practical focus advice: “only two weeks”

I once heard someone say that you are only two weeks behind. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

Two weeks is enough time to become the kind of person who stops delaying and starts acting. Pick the task you must do now and do it.

Two weeks is enough time to stop wasting the talents God entrusted to you and to finally take something seriously.

Because life is not about becoming impressive for yourself. It is not only self-actualization. At its core it is communion with God and service to others. God cares about every person on this planet. He is not distant. He is closer than you can imagine.

In these two weeks every moment matters. Every short break, every commute, every lunch. All of it can be stewardship, or it can be waste.

Endless scrolling and passive consumption turn you into a spectator of life. That is burying your talents. A tree that produces no fruit is cut down.

So the real question is not how badly you want success. It is how much you want to be ready for what God has prepared for you.

Do you want it enough to remove the apps that numb you. Enough to wake up early and pray before the world demands your attention. Enough to choose preparation instead of distraction.

This is not about becoming an egotistical person chasing achievements. It is about becoming a humble servant who is actually prepared to serve.

When I say two weeks, I do not mean a magic number. You can choose more. But two weeks is a realistic period to focus deeply on one thing. One day is too little. Choose one task, one skill, or one area of growth. Only one. Make it your main cognitive priority. Nothing else.

For these two weeks treat every moment as sacred. When you wake up. During your commute. At lunch. In the evening. Before bed. If you do this, the results will surprise you.

Stop watching other people live their purpose. Start living your own.

Whenever you catch yourself consuming ask a simple question. Does this make me more useful for God’s kingdom or does it only keep me comfortable.

Cut out everything that keeps you passive. Your future service needs your full attention.

Motivation based on feelings will fail. Commitment based on purpose will endure.

Do not wait to feel spiritual. Begin anyway. Go to your local church. The devotion comes after obedience.

Your first step should be so small you almost laugh at it. That is fine. Before long you will be building something real.

You cannot hear God in constant noise. And you cannot serve well while constantly distracted.

Control your environment or it will control you. Make room for the Spirit to work.

This is the real choice. Not comfort versus discomfort. It is temporary ease versus lasting significance. It is the short pain of discipline or the long pain of regret.

Some days I feel beyond repair. That is a lie. The God who took our place on the cross cares about every moment of our lives.

We fall. We drift. We waste time. But grace meets us where we are. Then we stand again, point our hearts back to Him, and continue the race.

None of this earns God’s love. That was given freely. This is simply giving our small yes in return.

Two weeks start now.

What is the one thing you will spend the next two weeks on?