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# Jigsaw Puzzles. Non-Stories. The Focused Life?
- URL: https://thedailyeudemon.com/jigsaw-puzzles-non-stories-the-focused-life/
- Published: 2024-01-02T05:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-03-17T13:24:44.000Z
- Author: Eric Scheske
- Tags: Focus, Briefly

My father-in-law is 93 and really sharp. One thing he does to keep sharp: jigsaw puzzles. He times himself and works them serenely but with focus.

The mental exercise drips with lessons explored by Dr. Kevin Majerjes at [Optimal Work](https://optimalwork.com/?ref=thedailyeudemon.com): short bursts of sustained focus, little goals that keep you motivated during the burst, engagement in an activity that lessens the desire to multitask.

Jigsaw puzzles have a lot of benefits ([touched upon here](https://thedailyeudemon.com/maybe-we-should-start-doing-jigsaw-puzzles/)). I'm not inclined to start doing jigsaw puzzles, but I have started something similar: writing "non-stories" within tight time constraints (30 minutes, normally). I find an article at the *Spectator* or *Epoch Times* that I like, then sit down and write a non-story about it in 30 minutes. Sometimes, I find interesting material from a book and do the same thing.

I *think* the effect is kind of the same thing that my father-in-law achieves with his jigsaw puzzles. Short burst, the little goal of "putting together" the first draft of the article within 30 minutes, a lighter activity (they're written like newspaper articles, not weighty essays) that sustains focus.

Anyway, my Botox piece came from the *Spectator*. [The non-story about winter resolutions came from *The Epoch Times*](https://www.catholic365.com/article/35064/perhaps-we-should-make-winter-resolutions-instead-of-new-years-resolutions.html?ref=thedailyeudemon.com). [The non-story about the magician](https://thedailyeudemon.com/magician-induces-hallucinations-after-the-show/) came from the (surprisingly interesting and fun) [*Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures*](https://amzn.to/3O9FOdY?ref=thedailyeudemon.com).