Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

 

As a businessperson, civic leader, dad, and person of faith, it's important to me that I know what the main thing is and that I keep the main thing the main thing. Life is complicated and full of nuances, so unnecessarily generalizing things is not helpful. But the only way to navigate all the details is to focus on what's most important.

This may seem blindingly obvious, but too often we are truly blinded by something besides the main thing, which takes us off course, sometimes to negative or even disastrous effect. It may seem simple but it is not easy to maintain a laser focus, distracted as we are by our egos, our tribal allegiances, or our need for basic essentials like affirmation and comfort.

Contemporary politics is a good example of this. When we lament that things have become so divisive in our country, I think what we mean is that we really want to make progress, and yet we keep getting caught in litmus tests and retribution and winning. When was the last time that you conceded that you were wrong on an issue, or that at the very least you didn't have all the information and therefore needed to withhold judgment and keep an open mind?

Whether we are scientists, urban planners, or everyday citizens, uncertainty and differences of opinion are good things to sit in and work through, towards a greater good, whether it is intellectual breakthrough, equitable cities, or a more just society. Instead, we despise the possibility that an issue is more complex than "I am right and the other side is wrong," and we get ourselves worked up based on that negative feeling, so much that we have lost the plot.

Keeping the main thing the main thing, in the real world that is messy and difficult, requires a willingness to keep an open mind when others have made up their mind, and a willingness to give room to crazy ideas from crazy people when others would have you repudiate them. To me, the things that I consider the main thing are important enough to me that I am willing to forego comfort, popularity, and self-righteousness to pursue them. I urge others to do the same.