This one’s from the vault. June 2005, backpacking in the highlands outside Chinchero, Peru. I’ve been looking at pictures to remind myself of the geography, which often leads me down memory lane to major distraction, but amazingly hasn’t much this weekend. 

Ironically, I am not feeling distracted at the moment. I am feeling focused and intentional, in the flow of ideas, big and little. Don’t you love that state?

I’m on another of my solo writing retreats (I’m such a lucky girl). This weekend I’m a lady with a vision on a mission. Move aside, distractions.

But in normal life, I’ve got plenty of distractions, some guilty (People magazine online), some not so guilty (amazing how appealing doing the dishes can look when I’ve got work to tackle).

This weekend I’ve re-read Steven Pressfield’s book Turning Pro. If you’re a big-project kind of person, or would like to be, and you haven’t read his The War of Art or Turning Pro, buy one. Read it. They are quick little books that pack a big punch. The ideas and thought processes in these books have been an integral part of the shift I’ve made over the last year+ of really taking steps to make my dreams of a writer’s life into reality.

So now a quote from Steven Pressfield on distraction, one that I thought I’d share on behalf of all our New Year’s Resolutions to be our best selves.

“[The Amateur is] Addicted to Distraction

“Resistance hates two qualities above all others: concentration and depth. Why? Because when we work with focus and we work deep, we succeed.

“How did Tom Brady master the art of the forward pass? How did Picasso paint? How did Yo-Yo Ma learn the cello?

“Resistance wants to keep us shallow and unfocused. So it makes the superficial and the vain intoxicating.

“Have you checked your e-mail in the last half hour? When you sit down to work, do you leave your web connection on?

“It can be fatal, keeping up with the Kardashians.”

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