Macro-mind thinking

Switching context from, for example, focusing on a specific programming problem to taking a macro view about what you should be doing next in business can be challenging.

Over about ten years, I've come to a solution that works for me. My context is that I'm working on a startup. It's my third and I've had success previous ones (millions of dollars in annual revenue though not billions).

- Every morning, I spend 25 minutes outside my office to plan my day which includes asking questions about what I should be working on that brings value. Because it's the first thing I'm doing, I start with a clear mind. Once I know why and what I should be doing, it's pretty easy to get into focusing. The reverse is harder to do.

- Once a month, I take a day off outside the office to focus on strategy. I stay in a hotel though I recognize not everybody has the budget for it. Took a while to figure out this worked. I originally started with the idea of doing it when I think I needed it. Problem is that when you feel under pressure to complete something, is when you don't want to take the day to clear your mind and strategize but is precisely the thing that helps the most.

- Still trying to figure out the best for this, but 2-4 times a year I'll spend 3-5 days on big picture strategy.

It took a long while to have the discipline to take the time to clear my mind and strategize. The idea of I'll take it when I need it didn't work well but scheduling it did.

Eventually, I realized that not wanting to spend time to clear my mind and strategize is a signal that I should be doing precisely that. It's helped to force me to take the time.

That said, I don't think it's necessary to force oneself to do this as a hard rule. I do break the guidelines under situations, but when it becomes extended, it's a sign to take the time.

In the text, the author writes "Don’t get me wrong. Focus is important, and it’s worth developing this capacity". But titled the article "Stop Trying to Focus". Am I the only one to be annoyed with this sort sort of click bait?

How ironic that a post created to help you be more productive is riddled with ads, social links, a subscribe bar, a register for an upcoming event bar, etc...

It’s tough for me to ever take content from a website like this seriously.

I didn’t care to read all of this because by BS sensor tingled and it can all be summed up in a word: holism.

You can be intensely focussed with a holistic mindset in the exact same way you can be intensely focussed with a diagnostic mindset. It’s not about being closed or open minded (macro/micro mind being synonymous).

You can focus on the whole or you can drill down to one of the parts. The focus in both cases is equal, you just have different objectives in mind.

You’re either looking at all of it, or looking at some of it.

I think this article touches a topic that exists under many names in different circumstances: micro vs macro, depth vs breadth, specialist vs generalist, etc.

This topic surfaces in various situations and with different granularities in life. Some examples:

- should I just do B.S. in CS, or should I also do PhD to go deeper?

- should I just focus on my interest in CS (study CS and develop career), or also spend some time to expand my interests in other areas of life (friends, fashion, tv shows/movies, video games, languages, poker, dancing, drinking, politics, history, etc)

- should I continue focusing on one component of the company I am currently in, or should I try to understand everything?

- should I continue seeking more success in life at the cost of some sacrifices, or should I eventually stop and focus on being a good father?

- should I mostly explore and be happy with myself (introvert)? should I also explore and find joys with others (extrovert)?

These are some of questions I had to answer for myself. When I was younger, my answers used to be very polarized to one side. As I gain more life experiences, I realized that the answers for these kind of questions usually lie somewhere in between. It's important to explore where one's fine balances between extremes lie. I am happy that I found a set of balances that seem to work for me.

Isn't it now called "Adobe Thinking"?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacroMind

    MacroMind

    Industry:     Software
    Fate:         Merged with Paracomp
    Successors:   MacroMind-Paracomp (1991)
                  Macromedia (1992-2005)
                  Adobe (2005-present)
    Founded:      1984; 35 years ago in Chicago, Illinois, United States
    Founders:     Marc Canter
                  Jay Fenton
                  Mark Stephen Pierce
    Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
    Products:     MusicWorks, VideoWorks, Art Grabber / Body Shop,
                  Comic Works / Graphc Works, MazeWars+, Director, 
                  Three-D, MacroModel, Fireworks, Mouse Practice

If this isn't fluff, then I don't know what is. The usual run of the mill, new byte sized words and overcomplicating simple concepts that most of us inherently do.

Of course, the author is a consultant in corporate "well being". Nothing bad initially but when it's fluff.... nay!

A long time ago somebody told me and I sort of agree, that the smartest people have no problem shifting between the two perspectives. I don't remember too well, but he may have even gone so far as to define or distinguish smart people by this criterion. (Not sure whether I agree with that part.)

Man I really hate all the crap websites like this put on their page these days. What's wrong with reading the article as the first thing you see? Scroll-throughs and clickables and cookies oh my.

Focus != perspective

Not in productivity. Not in photography