Hey, it’s Luke from Unwritten Tomes.

Looks like some people missed my first message. If you’ve been here since last year and didn’t see it – Unwritten Tomes is back online after a hiatus. We’re still talking about books & stories, but 90% of topics will be related to what I talk about on my new YouTube channel.

Today’s topic: How books can become your strongest tool for building up focus (and why you should care).

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Based on a Buddhist philosophy of focus

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There’s a lot of discourse around the topic of people losing the ability to focus and the severe drop in reading for pleasure.

In my last two videos I’ve talked both about the difficulty of fitting books into a busy schedule and problems with focus that happen during reading (especially in the boring parts of the story).

But I think both can be distilled into the same problem and both can benefit from the same answer.

The problem is our scattered mind that is constantly jumping from one thought to another and our inability to force it into a one-pointed state.

These concepts of one-pointed and scattered minds originally come from Buddhist philosophy. Though it’s important to mention that they recognize more than just these two distinctions. If you’d like to explore the topic yourself you can read about it here.

To summarize the main takeaway: a one-pointed mind is a focused mind – free from worries and distractions. While a scattered mind is a mind that jumps from one thought to another like a monkey, resulting in anxieties and distractions.

As you might guess reaching a one-pointed mind is something to strive for. But how do we do that?

Here’s where we get back to the topic of books. Books naturally train your focus – the format itself requires your full focus on every sentence. Otherwise you’ll end up having to re-read a page because instead of focusing on the action you were thinking about your shopping list.

Obviously it’s far from the only way to train your focus (meditation also immediately comes to mind and is definitely recommended). But books seem like one of the most approachable and practical options, considering that many of us aspire to read more either way.

But hold on… What book will train my focus the most?

Whatever you’re drawn to will do. The time to read boring classics (and question your choices) will come, there’s no need to force it.

Personally I’ve been reading YA fiction most of my life, and only recently (after building up a strong habit of reading books) have I tried reaching for some classics.

And even now they can be quite a challenge.

If you’re interested in my approach towards reading – I’m currently in the stage of trying out all kinds of works of fiction and philosophy (I just ordered The King In Yellow, The Alchemist, and my friend gifted me Zen on The Trail).

I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

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Thanks for reading,

~ Łukasz Skoneczny, Unwritten Tomes

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