The punchline of today’s post is this:
The Rhythms of Focus: for Wandering Minds, ADHD, and Beyond podcast is now live at your favorite podcasting spots.
The the first three episodes, each about 15 minutes, are now available for your listening pleasure.
If you enjoy them, please subscribe, rate, and review. Your encouragement helps these ideas reach more wandering minds—and, honestly, it also makes my day.
– Kourosh
The Horizon of Unfinished Projects
One day, I’d really like to get to that thing…
So many projects and ideas can bubble in mind, reminding us again and again how we haven’t started them. That trip to take, that language to learn, that game to play,…
And yet, how busy we can be. Days grow shorter as time runs faster. Pressures mount, and responsibilities grow.
Letting Projects Rest—And Grow
Sitting on hold for quite some time, a podcast stirred in the back of mind. Friends, students, and colleagues have all been kind with encouraging words, but none had nudged the project forward, so much as helped me squish it against the walls of… you know… life.
And that’s not all. It’s been about 5 years since I last put out a piano album. The pieces are there gathering digital dust, hoping for a day for a review, edit, and the rest that goes into getting out there.
Both projects, the podcast and the album, have sat on hold in what I call my “Horizon.” Borrowing a *Getting Things Done* term, the Horizon is a simple list of about 5-7 items that I’d like to get to as a current project leaves my plate. The list helps me keep matters in mind without force and without bowing to premature pressures to start them.
A major project recently wound down and a channel for attention has appeared. Yet, the pressures of time and responsibility remain. And together, pressure and opportunity have a way of making interesting things happen.
Synthesis
Matters of a wandering mind often benefit from a unifying force, a passion. Passion, at least as I define it, involves the development of mastery and meaningful work over time.
But how can we experience passion and mastery from someone else, not as some complete work, but in its more living sense, a path traveled with all its stumbles, plateaus, peaks, and valleys?
Drawing from my newsletters, books and course materials, I can describe play and work in a new audio home. But in a unique twist, episodes will end with a piece of music., partly because I enjoy sharing, but more importantly, to explore how passion develops.
Patience
Had I acted too early on either the podcast or the album, something interesting may well have formed. But more likely, I’d have created a headache, slowing down progress on other matters in which I’d already been engaging.
A simple list helped me hold on to what I am doing now, what I’d like to get to, and more importantly what I can and cannot take on in the moment. While I also know that I might never have gotten to either, acknowledging their presence kept them at the ready.
As it is, I’m happy with how things have played out, and I do hope you enjoy the podcast.
What You’ll Find in the Rhythms of Focus Podcast
- Short, focused episodes (about 15 minutes each) easily to fit into a busy day, released on Thursdays
- Practical strategies for focus, creativity, and agency—especially for wandering minds and those with ADHD
- Reflections on the emotional landscapes of work and play and avoiding force-based methods of work
- A musical interlude at the end of each episode, with ideas on building passion and mastery over time
– Kourosh
PS – RhythmsOfFocus.com!
PPS. Do you have some item, project, or creative seed that is currently resting dormant? Could you honor it by keeping it in a short Horizon list to visit perhaps daily or weekly? If it doesn’t happen immediately, over years, or even at all, at least it’s consciously acknowledged. And maybe one day, it will find its season.
