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Chapter 15Focus and Singularity

“Nothing that's worth it doesn't take forever. And I don't know anyone that I admire, whether they're extreme winners like Michael Jordan or they're, ya know … even chess prodigies. I don't know anybody I admire who didn't put in those hours of deliberate and deep practice.”

—Bryan Callen, Stand-up Comedian/Actor

If you think about all of the amazing advancements in human history, every one of them came as the result of an individual, group, or entire society being singularly focused on changing something. Whether it was toppling an enemy nation, breaking a world record, or a giant leap in technology, laser focus and constantly applied pressure is what led to the breakthrough. Even in nature we see signs of this: erosion is the result of millennia of waves crashing repeatedly upon the shore, turning even the hardest rocks into sand. Earthquakes may shock us, but they are the result of consistently high pressure being applied along the fault line between two tectonic plates long before we feel their vibrations. Almost anyone can get lucky and achieve good results once, if the planets align for them, but to be considered one of the greats, at the top of your field, takes an almost inhuman amount of focus and singularity to continually beat the odds and change the game.

To Catch a Rabbit, You Can Only Chase One at a Time

Focus and singularity have dogged me for decades, since I began pursuing my career as an actor. I've always had a certain ...