Imagine you’re setting up a shot with your camera or phone. Perhaps you’re on vacation, taking a walk, and pausing to frame a scene where you try to capture everything in a single shot: the beautiful sunlight, the shadows, a tree in the distance, and a few birds singing together. But something looks off. The more you tried to cram in, the more it felt like nothing instead. It reminded me of how my own days often feel, too many priorities and not enough focus and clarity. That’s when I learned about depth of field. A shallow depth creates focus and blurs the background to highlight what truly matters.
Just like the way we live, and like chess, you cannot move every piece all at once and expect it to be good. I explored this idea further in ‘How Chess Mirrors the Pace of Slow Living‘ if you’d like to read more. Not all of them are meant to move right now. Every piece has its place, knowing when and why to use something. I learned to play chess when I was a little boy; my father taught me. And now I don’t see it as just a game; I relate how it’s played to our daily lives.
Focus is a Choice, Not a Default, Depth Means Focus
Sometimes I hope I can figure everything out, what I should do next, so I don’t have to stop and feel bad about myself. It seems like I don’t have the clarity, just like when I am learning how to use a full-frame camera. It doesn’t just happen. It’s something I have to start and create. Sometimes things get overwhelming, and I have to decide what’s most important in this moment. Sometimes clarity doesn’t come from thinking harder, but from moving differently. As I wrote in ‘Walk Your Way to Clarity‘, a walk can often help to reset the frame.
Some of you may have noticed, why I did not blog after so many days? I used to write twice a week. Well, I was trying to learn something else that would speed up and optimise this website, so I had to temporarily put writing (which is also what I like to do) aside. So I focused on one thing at a time. A camera doesn’t automatically know what you want to capture, even though you’re using A mode. I wrote more about this tension between control and automation in ‘Manual Mode or Auto Mode‘, especially how owning your settings mirrors owning your decisions in life.
You have to choose the subject, and the settings, and you frame the scene. If you try to keep everything equally sharp, your photo could look flat, lack story, or be messy. I wrote more about this in one of my previous posts. Just like in modern life, we’re told to do everything: relationships, work, side hustle, health, socialising, and so on. It will only dilute the results if you try to give equal attention to everything. Eventually, this will drain all your energy. The perfectionist me, trying to keep every area in perfect clarity, the one person who feels guilty for focusing on one area I wish to tell myself and my future self that you don’t owe energy to everything but to what truly matters to you. A reminder for when you are overwhelmed when you are stuck in indecision, whether you are making progress or not.
What or Who Should Be Your Front Row?
Depth is about layers: what’s clear and what is intentionally blurred gives the subject pop, focus, and priority. When I started writing here @ GSYeoh.com, I wanted everything to be perfect, like other professional websites I admired. I procrastinated trying to learn everything. Instead, it got me stuck. The truth is I can’t do it all with my full-time job. But even when I was free, I still hesitated.
The imperfections create truth, the shadows add emotion, and the blurry background gives context. Like I shared in ‘What if Your Life is Already a Masterpiece, Just Unedited‘, the messy, unclear parts of life often add the most depth; we don’t always need to sharpen every corner. It is the mix of sharp and soft, certain and doubt, now and not yet just like in the photo I took when I first bought my camera.
If you are like me and have so many doubts, the person trying to clean up their life before sharing, I wish this could give you some comfort. You may want to edit your work, after so many revisions that could only make things hard. Because you don’t have real feedback, and so you are stuck. I cringe at the writing I posted a few months ago. In ‘How Writing Clarifies Your Thoughts and Beliefs‘, I explored how the act of writing is not just expression; it is a process of understanding, forgiving, and focusing. If I cared too much, I would never continue writing, criticising my own writing.
I told myself I needed to finish off certain tasks before I could learn and complete the next tasks. For example, I knew the importance of optimising the speed or performance of the website at the beginning, but that is not important yet if I don’t start to write. So I started writing first. If you are starting something new, trying to workout, or learning a new skill, it’s important not to overwhelm yourself and try to do everything at once but end up doing nothing fully. I realised if I wanted to do everything all at once—speed, layout, structure—before I could move forward, there was no perfect starting point. You choose the frame, start where you are, and start with one step like the pawn does. You might not see the value of small effort, but it is moving in the background and preparing you for something greater, waiting for you to cross the line and become a queen. Reading one page a day is still progress; who knows, you might be able to complete reading the whole book in a year. The consistent small step that counts.
You are the Player
I was once stuck, felt powerless, demotivated, waiting for the right time, when I finally had whatever I needed, I would start. Conclusion? I never started. I bought this domain back in 2018. I’d been paying renewal for the domain and hosting and just left it idle. Months after months, years after years. I realised it was so tough to get started after procrastinating for so long. And when I was about to kickstart the buried project, I was very negative. “Will anyone still read on a website now?” “What should I write?” “Does it matter?” “Will anyone benefit from my writing when I have nothing to show?” In ‘What if Being Misunderstood Was Proof You’re on Your Path?‘, I shared how self-doubt can actually be a quiet sign you’re doing something meaningful, even when no one else sees it yet.
I did some Googling about this, and there were mixed responses, both positive and negative. But I still chose to continue writing. Even if this blog is not as popular as the big ones, I still hope it will benefit anyone, even one person reading thiswho needs to know that it is not too late, whether it is the right time or not. Because, you don’t have to follow someone else’s script, pace, or priorities.
When you are feeling unclear, behind, or overwhelmed, the truth is here: it’s you. You are in control of the frame you want to set. You choose your priorities, you choose where you want to put your focus on, what to F it… I mean f-stop, like f/1.4—what is important and what’s not. And when to shift your lens. You may not have clarity on everything all at once. But once you take the small step, you will discover more at your own pace. When you are in focus, you may miss out on the rest at first, but you can slowly adjust what you need to do next when you zoom out when you have a clearer picture.
Let go of perfection. Letting go of perfection reminded me of ‘The Day I Sold My Luxury Watch‘ when I realised that value is not always found in what looks polished, but in what feels real. As you go, you develop strategy, and goals, and adjust whenever needed. Give yourself the permission to blur the background—the guilt, perfectionism, noise, give yourself the chance to make mistakes, to fail, to discover, so you can focus on your subject.
One Last Frame
You don’t need to have everything figured out before you begin. Even when your friends and colleagues look like theyhave, clarity is not automatic; you set your own frame. It is subjective. Not every piece needs to move right now. Progress happens when you choose one focus, take one step, and trust the rest will unfold over time.
Be kind to yourself. Blur the guilt you have had over the years, the noise that tries to get your attention every time steals your time, and the pressure to be perfect. Frame what matters. Move with intention. And remember, even a pawn can become a queen. If this spoke to you, you might enjoy reading these pieces: ‘Why Sharing My Work Feels Like Sharing My Soul‘, ‘Compassion as a Catalyst for Creativity‘, and ‘What Walking Teaches Us About Our Future‘.
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