Focus Is Good (As Long As We’re Focused On The Right Thing)

I have been busy airport hopping this week. Why do we spend so much time, money, and effort on airport security? I understand the horror of 9/11, but we seem to have over-focused on one piece of an enormous pie. What about the unlimited number of other ways America could be terrorized? Focus is a good thing, unless it blinds us to all other possibilities. Sometimes we need to set the pencil down and look up from the paper.

Now I know (or at least hope) that the government is paying attention to other potential targets, but if I can think of things that don't appear to have attention directed at them, I'm sure others can as well. If you're thinking that there is just too much to keep an eye on, then I ask why spend millions or billions on just one of them?

The over-focus thing doesn't just apply to terror threat mitigation. The thought applies at work, at home, in a game, you name it. Focus is good, but looking around every now and then to make sure we're keeping our eye on the proper ball might be the key to survival.

Just ask a gazelle on the Serengeti. Lions have a way of creeping up.

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