When I think about the artists and thinkers I most admire, they all share a common behavior — the ability to block out the world and focus on what’s in front of them — their work.
These people have this obsession, drive, a kind of mania around doing the work — and they tend to describe it in those terms — “I’m just doing the work.” What’s “the work”?
My sense is that “the work” equals “output” or “production.” Using their skills and talents to produce a thing and ship it to the world. For comedians that might be jokes. Musical artists, songs. For Woody Allen, in a recent interview with “The Free Press”, it’s writing. Whatever the work is — that’s the focus.
Here’s the other behavior — the rest of the world doesn’t matter. Jerry Seinfeld and Woody Allen say, often, “I really don’t care about x, y, z issue… I just care if it’s funny… if it’s funny, I care… if it’s not, I don’t care.” For those two, people who engage in the business of funny, what’s funny or not matters — that’s their work. In the interview I referenced, Woody Allen is asked about social issues and his response is essentially — “I just focus on the work.”
To an extent, I think you could argue that just being focused on the work in front of you denies you the opportunity to see what’s happening around you. You could also argue, that obsessing about what’s around you denies you the opportunity to focus on what truly matters — the work. There’s a middle ground.
Your ability to produce an output that resonates and matters is dependent on your ability to know the needs of those you seek to serve. To an extent you must be able to focus and create WHILE stopping to look around you and be curious AND THEN get back to work. Start the work, stop to watch, then continue to work.
Don’t get caught up in what’s happening around you. Be wary of your inputs. Focus on what matters and what you can truly control — what you do with the time you have now.