So often I find myself wanting to curb my curiosity for the sake of more focus. While the former aids creativity, the latter cultivates productivity — This raises a deeper question:
“Is curiosity and focus dichotomous?”
Perhaps the battle between them isn’t necessary. Maybe I’ve drawn them together on a battlefield, making them appear dichotomous. That invisible battleground is the internet.
A vast and treacherous jungle, with endless paths and context-switch behind every click, yet, an unavoidable modern-day utility, especially for knowledge workers like myself.
A couple of things have helped me over the years that I try to remind myself to follow more consistently when online:
- Start the day with clear intentions: time-block planning to start the workday and setting clear goals for my deep work sessions.
- Whenever I launch or open a new tab on my browser, mentally condition myself to ask: What am I intending to do?
Perhaps curiosity is a good quality, a virtue worth living by. It shouldn’t be mixed without intentionality when online unless we want the distaste of a bad concoction.
Maybe the mantra is:
“Unbounded curiosity is a distraction; always bound it by focus”
PS: In my early days of transitioning to deep work, I used blocker programs. However, I find that ritualizing intentionality trumps rigid restrictions in the long run, even though there are days when I fall short.