One of the oft overlooked rules of focus and concentration is that friction must be avoided at all costs.  Friction in this sense can be defined as anything that pulls you out of your zone and slows down forward momentum.  As an example, frequent interruptions induce loads of friction for anything involving deep focus.  But there are other things.  Have you ever sat down to do something important and realized you forgot to grab something critical to your effort?  Like a notebook full of notes or a file off of your office computer?  Or have you ever rushed out of the house just to realize 15 minutes later that you have to turn around because you forgot your briefcase/purse/laptop bag?  Not being able to find the things you need makes it difficult to focus on anything! 

Sometimes it’s hard to even realize that this is what’s happening to you.  It sounds a little crazy, but some people are so used to not being organized, they think it’s normal to spend 30-50% of their time just gathering what they need instead of actually doing the thing they set out to do.  Naturally this means the effort either takes 30-50% longer – or worse, is rushed… sacrificing quality in the process.

Speaking from personal experience, at some point years ago I got so frustrated with forgetting things that I put some systems in place to prevent this from happening again.  Of course it does still happen every once in a while but it’s far less frequent these days than it used to be.

Look, it’s just far easier to stay organized than it is to deal with the ramifications of not being organized.  Having a base level of organizational ability will “grease the skids” and make any effort far more effortless.  But like anything else, it requires a little effort to first know what to do, and then secondly form a long-term habit to make sure it sticks.

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