Five Minute Friday: Focus

I used to think I was a great multi-tasker. I'd have ten internet browsers open at the same time, clicking between them.

But what I've realized as I've tried to be more intentional and purposeful this year is that when I do that, I really am not as productive as I'd like to be.

Because I'll click on one tab and then forget which tab I had been working in before. Or I'll find myself click, click, clicking until thirty minutes of wasted time has gone by.

Even when I try to stick to my to do list (which I use as a guide because I'm learning that flexibility is key and also that sometimes God has things for me that aren't penciled in on my list...), I find myself getting lost if I try to do too many things at once.

I lose it.

Not my sanity, although that has been debatable at times.

But I lose focus.

If you wear glasses, you'll understand where I'm coming from. All my life, or at least as long as I can remember, the first thing that I do in the morning is put my glasses on. If I don't, things are blurry. Unclear. Can give me a headache.

Living life in the fast lane is a lot like that. You know how when they play a film and speed it up?

It's real easy for our lives to be like that. We can't see what is in front of us or going by us because it is so blurry.

We don't focus.

So I'm learning. When I find myself starting to lose track of where I was in a document, or when I can't remember why I clicked on that browser tab in the first place, or when I feel a little overwhelmed...

I imagine a stop sign in my head. I take a deep breath. Sometimes I even physically shake my head in an effort to clear the cobwebs away.

And I regain my focus.

Ultimately, placing it on Him...

For His plans are good, and He sees the big picture even when it's blurry to me.

Linking up with Five Minute Fridays, where we write unedited for five minutes on a prompt. This week's prompt?

Focus...