The Value of Focusing on the Wrong Things

Is focus all that it’s cracked up to be? I’m the type of person that has to go down every rabbit hole to see the dead ends or to find the secret gems. I hope it pays off.

Tunnel Vision vs. Determination

Too much focus might be a bad thing. I have a friend who has such intense focus that he will lock himself in a room and work forgetting to eat, interact with other humans or leave room for self-care. He’ll tell you that he has needs of reminders to be human sometimes and will admit that a little bit of distraction brings balance. But I’m not talking about this more overt extreme. I’m talking about openness to things you don’t see because of too much focus.

Determination, focus and dedication to a single cause is one thing. But tunnel vision, which can be a side-effect of focus can be dangerous. Tunnel vision aligns itself more closely to obsession and isn’t necessary for success. Time and patience, in a lot of instances, can be used in place of obsession.

I’m guilty of tunnel vision. I forget to give enough attention to loved ones. I forget to eat. I forget that others need to eat.

Too much focus doesn’t leave room for inspiration nor thinking differently.

What if your target hasn’t been invented yet?

Preparing for New Inventions

I went to school for Digital Art and at the time the best method for digital illustration was either vector art through Adobe Illustrator or raster images through Photoshop. There was a clunkiness to it all and something felt inauthentic. I would draw on paper, then scan the images and ink and color digitally. I wanted desperately to cut out steps and increase speed, quality and authenticity but the intuos 3 I was working with lagged and photoshop brushes felt primitive. Vector art all looked the same and it wasn’t at all an intuitive way for art making.

I got so excited for every new release of photoshop and spent hundreds of dollars to buy the next generation wacom tablet. The technology finally got to the point where I could ditch paper all together and I could live with the stylistic differences, albeit still synthetic. My biggest hurdle was the loss of intimacy I felt with a sketch book. Carrying it with you wherever and being able to pull it out whenever inspiration struck. But I couldn’t go back. I had become too accustomed to command+Z, masking, move tool and transform. Then the iPad came out and teased me with its potential.

Why it took so long to develop a stylus that actually worked I have no idea. The stubbornness of Steve Jobs, I suppose. But because of the clunkiness of technology and my inability to go back to the way things were, I spent 5 years giving up on drawing because the tools weren’t invented yet.

I’m amazed that so many digital artists persisted. It’s kind of like how digital cameras weren’t great at the beginning but were new and exciting enough for us to buy into them. Who had the vision then to say that “yes, this is worse than film now and a million times more expensive but give it 10 years and you’ll see traditional photography schools doing away with their film programs almost entirely.”?

That’s the value of openness. It’s having enough humility to know that how you understand the world today could be wrong. It’s having enough hope that the tools of tomorrow will unlock possibilities that are unthinkable today.

Focus is important, focus is key but instead of sprinting to your destination, try walking instead. Take in your surroundings and let life distract you sometimes. It might take you longer but it’ll be so much more scenic.

Hey, I’m not ashamed to ask for some like action! Like me Senpai, like me!!!