Principle · chapter 01, Attention
Do not plan hours. Plan questions.
A session that begins with “I’ll do some work on the project” ends in the inbox. A session that begins with one written sentence, “what exactly is blocking the decision on price?”, has a chance of closing.
Attention needs something to aim at: one question per session, written down before you start, in view throughout.
This is the smallest form of a larger position. We do not fight for attention; we create the conditions in which it can return. Fighting assumes the opponent is outside and that you win by force. Conditions assume the opponent is architecture, and architecture is changed by design.
Try this for one week
Before your next work session, write down the one question this session must answer. Keep it in view. At the end, note whether it was answered, and if not, what took the time.
What this does not promise
A question will not protect a session from a real emergency, and some work (thinking without a destination, reading that leads nowhere) should stay without one.
From Modern Hermet, chapter 01: Attention. The book reads the real Hermetic texts with their dates, and offers twelve practices for an ordinary week.
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