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We see more advertisements in one year than people of 50 years ago encountered in their entire lifetime.

In 1971, the average American saw 560 advertisements per day.

Today, we see around 3,000 advertisements. What’s more, we now encounter around 5,000 messages from phones, emails, IM’s, wall posts, tweets and more.

This is a massive increase; an increase that can’t be healthy–and yet, we’re still adding more and more distractions to our lives.

The human mind has 60,000 thoughts per day. In 1971, distractions controlled not even 1% of our minds; today, advertisements and distractions control 13.33% of our minds.

Your focus is under attack. What are you going to do about it?

You may be thinking: what do I need to learn, what tools do I need, what strategies do I need? These questions reveal the problem facing all of us. It’s not what gadgets and tools you need, it’s what you need to forget. It’s what you need to abandon. you need to give up tools that have stolen mind-share. You must learn to abandon and harness tools that have taken your mind from 1% to 13.33%.

This style of thinking is what will give you the edge in today’s world.

We have too many things that do too many things.

In your entire life, you may have never felt focused, or, maybe you’re just in a temporary rut. Whatever the case, know this: You’re not alone.

As we move into 2010, those who focus better than others are the ones that will thrive. Scientists find that focused people feel less frustration, pain and sadness.

Getting focused isn’t a one-time thing, it’s an all-the-time thing. What you’re doing right now is better than reading TMZ. Good job. That’s a start. But, you’ve got a lot to learn, as do we all.

Who this book is for

This book is for those that experience any of the following:

• Inability to sit still and get things done
• Those who start projects and never finish them
• Those that feel out of control in life
• The inability to accomplish goals
• Those that have lost touch with their dreams
• Those that feel riches and success are out of reach
• Those that are too distracted to create
• Those that don’t know what they want to do
• Those that are confused about their purpose, and their beliefs

So what Am I Doing?

Over the course of the next year, I’ve decided to research and write about the concept of focus. I’ll be exploring tools, undergoing exercises, interviewing the top minds in specific industries and applying lessons in order to become a more focused person.  I’ll be documenting what works for me, and I’ll be writing about my findings here.

In the end, you will have the most comprehensive, practical and successful resource for getting focused in our age of distraction.

“How To Get Focused” is a living book

This is a hybrid book/blog. Sometimes I’ll refer to this experiment as a book, sometimes a blog. I intend to make this book/blog completely free to read online. I may decide to sell the paperback/hardback version in the future.

What this is not

This is not a quit your job, travel the world book. Those books rock, and they’re fun to read. But, the core elements within these types of books didn’t work for me. Why? Because I wake up to a wife, and an ugly pug dog every day that count on me to not quit my job. Many people simply have too much responsibility to focus on themselves and travel the world.

“The Me Plan leads to a path of endless suffering.”

However, I believe we all have the responsibility to break away from society’s “teet” of distraction. The responsibility to wake up earlier than others.  The responsibility to get focused. And that’s what this book is about: Fighting our dopamine-driven age of distraction and getting your focus back.

Time-line

Over the course of the next year, I’ll be releasing chapters as blog posts. After all of these chapters are released, I’ll be unveiling the Table of Contents for you to navigate through.

Why am I making this book free to read online?

Three Reasons:

First, I’m outsourcing this book’s editor. It’s you. This will help make this book better. Think about it. If I wrote a crappy chapter, I’d have to wait until the book was published to see what you thought. Being that I’m writing this in tranches of chapters (instead of one lump sum), you’ll be able to tell me what sucks and what rocks in real-time. I won’t have to wait for two years until it’s published to see if this writing sucks or rocks.

Second, because by writing about and exploring the concept of focus, I will become a more focused, purposeful person. When this occurs, I’ll have already reached my goal in undertaking this experiment. I’ve completely hedged my risk of failure by undertaking a project who’s success does not rely on the perception of critics or sales; rather, its foundation is built on my goal to become a better person.

Third, because I think the writing field needs to evolve (I’m coining it writing 2.0). When releasing a book for free, it takes balls. It’s risky. People will rip off my content. That’s fine, being that I’ve protected my content, my lawyer may be a little busy sometimes. However, I also anticipate that this book will reach those that otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to read this. To me, the trade-off is worth it. Anytime you have an idea, a change, feedback, or a topic you’d like me to cover, feel free to contact me or comment. Of course, I’ll be including your name and your idea (if it leads to a chapter) in the hard-copy book. With their consent, I plan on including the names of all commenters in the book because they contributed.

Bottom Line: The only thing I’m doing is helping those who want to help themselves with lessons that have helped me.

Before We Begin:

There are two components that lead to a sustainable successful person: Hard Work and Focus.

If you’re not willing to work hard, please don’t read this book.

Either, leave now, or if you bought it, return it within a day and I’ll reimburse you. It will save you time, and it will save me face in the Amazon reviews. Actually, I take that back. I’ll get slammed by someone for not getting slammed. Listen, I’m not here to change you. That’s your job. What I can do is show you how I’ve become a more focused person.

It’s my thesis that with focus and hard work, you will become more successful in all facets of your life. I can’t teach you hard work, but I can teach you focus. Both combined, will lead you to success.

Wealthy people have one thing in common: they’re grinders. They work really, really, really hard.

Have you checked the headlines lately?

Wealthy people also experience epic downfalls. Tiger Woods, Michael Phelps, Michael Jackson even Vince Young. Why? Because they lost focus. They were distracted with earthly temptations and dismissed their purpose.

Here’s a quote from Tiger Woods pre-scandal:

My main focus is on my game.

Tiger Woods

I guess the game Tiger was referring to wasn’t the golf game. His focus was on earthly items, not on values.

Guess what? We all lose our focus at some point in our life. What separates you from a success or failure is not, are you willing to work hard, but do you have the maturity and commitment to regain your focus.

Becoming wealthy is only half the battle. Sustaining the wealth is where the rubber meets the road. And this requires focus. I can’t teach you how to work hard, but I can help you focus. If you’re willing to work hard, read on.

I am only helping people that want to help themselves with tools that have helped me.

I guarantee you that at least 90% of people that set out to read this book/blog have already moved on to something else. They’ve gone back to the habit of watching TV, reading a tabloid or doing something that’s comfortable.

Even more, there’s a good chunk of people that quickly scanned this book/blog, formulated an opinion (which likely is negative in nature), and have moved on.

You’ve heard it all before: “I’m not into ‘How to’ books.” “I don’t have time to read this propaganda.” “The dude’s probably just trying to make a name for himself.” “This guy’s an idiot just trying to make a splash.”

While I’m definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I’m one of the only knives in the drawer; because all the other knives dulled after thinking like the people above. If Socrates himself said, “I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing,” then smarts are overrated anyways, eh?

So where does that leave us? With Hard Work and Focus.

So enough of the chit-chat, we already know that you’ll need to kick your own ass to work hard, let’s talk about focus.

Further Reading, Sources and Resources:

• Stats on advertisements and distractions
• Stats on your brains daily thoughts