Field Notes 15 // Monotasking and the lost art of focus
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Autumn is here. In the space of a few days, we moved from blistering days that were turning London’s parks to dust to mornings so cool that I need to consider extra layers when I go running. With the intense summer we’ve endured, the freshness – even just chilly mornings and the occasional burst of rain – is a very welcome reprieve from the sweat and humidity.
This is my favourite time of year. The origins are probably in my childhood – a new start at the beginning of the school year, excitement about my upcoming birthday – but autumn still sparks something in me, part inspiration and creativity, and part honed to seek out cosiness in flannel shirts and coffee.
It was in search of that feeling when I dug Red Dead Redemption 2 out of my game drawer. Rockstar had just shown off extended footage of Grand Theft Auto VI and I thought I’d revisit some of the systems that seem to have carried over. I made a cup of coffee (decaf, naturally), loaded up my COVID-era save game, and… realised how much I struggled with the slow pace.
I found I had to fight my own brain to stay immersed in the game. What was that noise outside? Had anything important come in on my phone? Would it be more productive if I listened to a podcast at the same time? Every time I corrected my mind’s trajectory, it wasn’t long before it veered off again.
I forced myself to stick with RDR2 for about an hour and a half, doing not much at all. I wandered to the nearest town and trimmed my character’s hair and beard. I rode my horse to the lake and watched a storm sweep in across the mountains. Then I ventured into the damp woods and carefully stalked a bear until a pack of wolves came from nowhere and delivered an abrupt and bloody end. It was the first time for a while – perhaps even years – that I really “believed” a game world, and that’s down to Rockstar’s craftsmanship.
Multitasking feels like a cheat code to get ahead, but it's really a justification for timewasting – neither productivity nor true leisure time.
I later reflected on my years-long habit of listening to podcasts or YouTube videos while playing video games. Really it stemmed from the pandemic, when the only way to keep out noise from the neighbour’s flat was a combination of earplugs and headphones. Playing something in the background feels productive, as though I’m gathering information and getting ahead by multitasking. But a few hours later, what do I actually have to show for it? Points on a virtual scoreboard, maybe a few notes jotted down, but nothing that will really get me anywhere. It’s an illusion – an excuse to justify timewasting in multiple senses. Neither productivity nor true leisure time.
So I made an effort in September to only do one thing at a time. If I played video games, I played video games. If I wrote, I wrote. If I read a book on the Tube, I did it with only classical music playing. No distractions playing in the background. I needed to retrain my brain to focus on a single task.
The results of this experiment in monotasking have been promising. Even in the moments after I turned off RDR2, I went to the kitchen to make a simple pasta meal, still without my earphones. The sounds of cooking – the burst of the gas igniting, the click of the salt grinder, the rattle of the pan as the water boiled – suddenly felt much more significant. Everything felt grounded and calm. It’s almost as though life is meant to be lived undistracted.
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work
I already knew 37signals was different to other SaaS companies after hearing co-founder Jason Fried speak to David Senra – that’s why I referenced him in my piece on care. But his 2018 book It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work, co-written with CTO David Heinemeier Hansson, further cemented my admiration for the Basecamp maker’s unusual way of doing business.
While many of the insights here are practical – avoiding meetings and interruptions, ringfencing time for deep work, avoiding workplace gossip, and so on – my favourite passages were more philosophical, describing the authors’ desire to build a business that works as a net good for customers and employees, rather than setting goals in pursuit of endless growth.
“Chasing goals often leads companies to compromise their morals, honesty, and integrity to reach those fake numbers… Need to improve margins by a few points? Let’s turn a blind eye to quality for a while. Need to find another $800,000 this quarter to hit that number? Let’s make it harder for customers to request refunds.”
The book also covers the philosophy behind Basecamp’s pricing model. The logic is that charging all customers a flat rate of $99 per month, rather than a per-user fee, strips larger customers of excessive influence and allows the developer to focus on building the best product possible. (Incidentally, Fried recently announced the end of a more recent experiment in per-seat pricing, which they once again decided to scrap in favour of flat rates.)
It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work struck me as an encouraging book, a sign that my personal values – centred on care, optimism, and presence – can apply within a leading business, and that it is possible to make enough money while prioritising quality in an era when when exponential shareholder value is so often the focus. If your outlook is similar, you may well enjoy it too.
This month on the blog
In case you missed them, here are my best posts from September.
Things that left an impression
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I found Simon Sinek’s appearance on Arthur Brooks’ podcast quite inspiring. He described optimism as “the undying belief that the future is bright”, backed by a vision – either your own or one you’ve adopted – that makes day-to-day sacrifices and setbacks worth it.
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Asami Saisho published an interesting piece on attempts to turn Japan’s local libraries into destinations at the core of their local communities – and why that’s as much about book selection as it is architecture. Side note: I love Japanese book cover design, and the featured book Building a Library Like a City is no exception.
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When I dug into Saisho’s archives and her personal blog, I very much enjoyed her posts on “careful living” and “intelligent consumption” (both in Japanese, but translatable), which follow similar themes to some of my own writing on care in life and business.
Until next month! November’s edition of Field Notes will likely feature early notes from my latest trip to Japan – subscribe below to read it first.
