Kourosh Dini's Blog

Alright, Let’s see what I’ve got on my list here. Visit the gym. Are you kidding me?”

Sometimes the simplest things can feel like the heaviest weights. The simpler they are, the more we paradoxically “can’t be bothered.”

Head to the garage, show up to the dishes, open the report – without even needing to do anything. All come with a wave of revulsion.

In such states, how can we ever move forward?

While I often and continue to espouse a Visit as a powerful unit of work, it may yet be too diffi...

“I found a new productivity app. It’s the greatest thing evar!!!”

Fast forward 2 months….

“Another system down the drain…”

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It would seem that:

“There’s just something wrong with me”.

After all, the common denominator is not the app or the system. It seems to be ourselves.

But what is lacking is the difficult in pursuing what’s behind the word “just” – a word often acting as a short-circuit for matters of emotion and meaning.

The trouble is that we lack a practice of recognizing and...

It can be so difficult to describe a thing we do, particularly if it’s what we live and breathe.

Recently, I put out a Rhythms of Focus episode in which I attempted to describe the nature of the Waves of Focus, what is quite likely my life’s work. Wouldn’t that be a nice thing to put out there?

I’ve got a mind that wanders. It appears, so do others.

You’d think it would be easy to say,

Nope.

I wrote and re-wrote. Edited and re-edited. I’m reminded of th...

Dear [FIRST NAME GOES HERE],

The Waves of Focus course and community is now open to new members through November 2nd.

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A familiar refrain from many a wandering mind.

Too often we say it’s all about interest or urgency, something shiny or on fire. We throw up our hands and say, “without these we can’t do anything.”

But there’s so much more going on than simply interest. Interest, after all, is a d...

It can be far too easy to lose ourselves in productivity.

“I need to do more!”

Or our body finally collapses to say,

“No more!”

Somewhere along the way, we might find ourselves with self-accusations of laziness. Maybe if we were harder on ourselves, we’d finally get moving?

Dr. Fuschia Sirois, a professor of social and health psychology at Durham University, suggests that self-compassion may be a better approach. In our recent Rhythms of Focus podcast discussion, Dr. Sirois and I explore...

A colleague of mine once remarked that she could feel the cobwebs of her mind clear anytime she looked at a good piece of art.

The same happens for me whenever I see quality craft, be that in an effortless seeming dance, a fountain pen’s glide across paper, or the flavors of a fine meal.

Perhaps for wandering minds in particular, the quiet magic of mastery and meaningful work offers not only inspiration, but nourishment.

We can find craft anywhere. But I...

Creativity often comes with confusion. So much of being creative is a cultivation of play, but for a wandering mind, play itself can throw us into multiple directions.

Wandering minds excel at building, improvising, connecting unlikely dots. But that creativity often explodes in all directions, leading to overwhelm. The very playfulness that fuels invention can also bring decision overload—leaving us co...

The  trouble with these approaches, is not that they don’t work.

It’s that sometimes they do.

The seeds of system’s destruction are sown in the beginning of these approaches where we trick ourselves.

Relying on hacks can subtly reinforce the message – our own intentions aren’t trustworthy on their own. Over time, this erodes our relationship with...

“I do not have the interest. Therefore I cannot do it.”

The above statement can be… troublesome. This time it comes in the form of a metaphor: that ADHD is “the erectile dysfunction of the mind.”

While there is some truth to the post, I do worry how it might lead to a slippery slope of victimhood and helplessness if we’re not careful.

When we place the blame solely on “chemistry”, something beyond our “willpower,” we hit troubles, not just from the statement, but as both words can carry tremendo...

Please note – I’ll be taking some time off and plan to restart the blog at the end of July or beginning of August.

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But it was all going so well!

When a routine is clicking, we’re clicking right along with it. We can come to rely on routine, doing the dance of the day that gets us through.

But when it gets disrupted, by illness, vacation, or a good solid sneeze, we can feel adrift. The morning routine, the exercise regimen, the rhythms of study just went poof.

Structure ...