Learning to Focus (My Way Out of the Fog)
Focus isn’t something you find—it’s something you feed.
When your mind feels like a browser with 42 tabs open... you’re not alone.
In creative and culinary work—where ideas, deadlines, and personal projects often overlap—it’s easy to feel foggy. You know you have something important to do, but distractions pile up. Focus becomes slippery.
And when you're in that state, advice like “just prioritize!” or “take a deep breath” can feel completely useless.
This is exactly where I found myself—stuck in a fog I couldn’t think my way out of. But instead of pushing through, I decided to step back. And what helped me wasn’t more effort. It was structure, and a little trick I borrowed from the kitchen.
When I Lost My Way in the Kitchen
Last year, I had to write the manuals for multiple culinary courses—under pressure, with very little time. I had the knowledge. I had the recipes. But I couldn’t focus. Every time I sat down to write, I spiraled:
“Where do I begin? What’s most important? What if it’s not good enough?”
And yet... I did it.
What helped wasn’t brute force—it was stepping into a different mindset. I stopped treating the task like a mountain and started treating it like a kitchen shift. I asked myself: What’s my mise en place for this?
The Turning Point: Mise en Place for the Mind
In professional kitchens, we prepare before we cook. Mise en place means everything in its place. It’s not just about having your ingredients chopped and ready. It’s a whole mindset—one that includes:
Mental readiness (focus, clarity)
Physical setup (tools, space, systems)
Ethical purpose (why you’re doing what you’re doing)
That’s when I had the idea:
What if I applied mise en place to my mind before a creative task?
That’s how The Focus Map was born.
The Concept: What Is Mise en Place, Really?
Literal Translation: Everything in its place.
Origin: French culinary term used by professional chefs to refer to setup before cooking.
Expanded Meaning: A mindset of readiness, clarity, and structured flow.
“Mise en place is the religion of all good line cooks”
More than just a prep step, mise en place is a philosophy. It’s about creating the conditions for flow before the moment of action.
🔪 In the kitchen, it’s chopping, labeling, cleaning your station.
🧠 In creative work, it’s clearing distractions, setting intentions, and defining the one thing that really matters.
It’s planning for action before you act.
It’s organizing your energy so you don’t waste it.
When we approach our creative life with the same mise en place mindset, we build focus instead of chasing it.
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Reduces overwhelm
Boosts focus & efficiency
Builds calm & confidence
Encourages mindfulness
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Requires initial time & intention
Can feel rigid if overdone
May seem unnecessary for small tasks
Hard to stick to when rushed
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Clear your workspace
Prepare all tools and materials
Eliminate digital distractions
Check your mindset and mood
Set your intention
Plan realistic steps
Breathe before beginning
.
Before You Begin: Mise en Place Yourself
Before initiating any task, dedicate a few minutes to mise en place within yourself:
How does your mind feel? What’s weighing you down?
How does your body feel? Are you tense, tired, or energized?
Do a double check—any discomfort or distraction?
“I love practicing mise en place before I start anything—as a small act of self-checking. Knowing how I feel helps me plan better, show up better, and stay present… or simply realize how off I am. Being conscious of where you are gives meaning to your actions—and compassion too.”
A Modern Distraction Crisis
These days, focus feels harder than ever.
We’re constantly distracted—scrolling, tapping, answering quick messages, sharing photos or content that often has no real meaning behind it.
We’ve replaced depth with speed, and presence with productivity.
Now, any task that requires full attention for more than five minutes feels… almost impossible, unless we intentionally protect it.
Ask yourself—when was the last time you sat down to listen to a friend and left your phone upside down or in another room? When was the last time you read something just to understand it, not to repost it or summarize it?
I’ve heard so many people say, “I’m not a reader—I’m more of a visual person.”
But this isn’t a fixed truth.
Reading, understanding, reflecting, and creating meaning from information used to be something we cultivated. It’s a muscle we’ve let go soft. But we can strengthen it again.
We just need the right space—and a little structure—to reconnect with it.
Climb the ladder from chaos to clarity—one step at a time.
That’s what inspired me to create The Focus Map—a printable, 15-minute reset ritual that helps you go from point A (chaos) to point B (clarity) by climbing a ladder of tiny, intentional steps.
There’s something powerful about writing this out physically. I talk more about this in the manual: the idea of “thinkering,” a word coined by Michael Ondaatje in The English Patient—thinking through doing, reflecting with your hands.
Ready to try it yourself?
Print it, sketch it, or copy it into your notebook. What matters is that you slow down and climb up.
It asks you to:
Name what’s stealing your focus.
Define what actually matters.
Break the task into mental, physical, and ethical mise en place steps
Plan your climb—from A to B—with purpose
And most importantly… do it by hand.
Let’s Connect
Did this resonate with you? Have you tried The Focus Map or your own version of mental mise en place? I’d love to hear what you discovered or what your current Point B looks like. Tag me on Instagram @aenichi or reply to this blog post and tell me: Where are you right now in your creative journey? What’s the one thing you’re climbing toward?
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A Note from Me
One thing I’ve learned is this: focus isn’t something you find. It’s something you feed.
And sometimes, what gets us back on track isn’t motivation—it’s a plan. Not a perfect plan. Just the next step.
So whether you're creating a dish, writing a course, or simply trying to clear your mind, give yourself permission to pause and prep. You might just find your clarity waiting at the top of the ladder.
