A research report from 2009 says Americans spend 11.8 hours a day consuming information.

Here’s a wild guess 👉 that number is not lower today (for many countries).

I think a lot about how we can support ourselves and others finding more 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀: thinking, creating, collaborating and building.

An exercise that’s helped me is 𝘁𝗵𝗲 “𝟭𝟮 𝗳𝗮𝘃𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀.”

• What are the problems you’re most interested in?
• Where do you want to focus your energy?
• What problems do you enjoy solving?
• What do you care about?

Set a timer for 5 minutes and start writing.

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗼𝘄:

• How do I spend 70% in my ‘zone of genius’?
• How do I cook the world’s best lasagna?
• What does a sustainable business look like in 20 years?
• What are the components of maintaining a democracy?

No need to stare at them daily. But if you write these with intention, you can also get more intentional with what information you interact with.

You start picking up signal, and can easier discard noise.

For me, it’s been helpful to maintain focus and reduce overwhelm.

I applied this from the course ‘Building a Second Brain, but the idea comes from Richard Feynman:

“𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘻𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵, 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘴.”

Over the years, I’ve found an interesting mix of favorite problems and goals. While problems give a sense of purpose and direction, goals motivate me in getting stuff done.

What are your favorite problems? 😍