Focus is how humans get things done. It’s imperative to success whether you are practicing an instrument, preparing a souffle, or planning a major team project. My husband and I have been focusing on our goal of moving to California for two years, and recently on the sub-goals of downsizing, packing, and planning the road trip. This focus has brought us within 2 weeks of that move with only a few minor glitches.

Distractibility is also a desirable human trait. It allows us to change our destination from the grocery to the lake when the weather is distractingly gorgeous, stop and watch the parade we hadn’t expected, or take a walk with a friend we run into while headed elsewhere. It also allows us to modify our focus on longer-term projects. Too much focus on planning the Thanksgiving dinner for 15 while ignoring the distraction of your whiny daughter could lead to disaster when she ends up confined at home with a communicable disease the day all the elderly relatives arrive.

With 7 days and counting until the drive to California, my husband and I found ourselves in Brookline on Saturday for only 4 hours, with a list of last-minute chores. Our older son, who was starting a job in Baltimore on Monday, was in town, so we took him to lunch, with lots of discussion items related to his transition on the agenda. He mentioned that his car had been giving him some trouble, that he had noticed an oil leak, and that he had bought a case of oil and was adding it periodically during the drive from Maryland to Massachusetts. We told him he should get that fixed as soon as he got back to Baltimore.

Why did we give him such bad advice? We are both well aware of dangers of driving a car that leaks oil. I surmise that we were so focused on other, immediate goals that we did not let the distraction of this car news derail us. We had to be at camp that night, he had to be home Sunday night, after that the car could be dealt with.

As you will have guessed, the motor seized up in Connecticut. Our single-minded focus has already cost us plenty of money, but we feel lucky considering the more serious consequences that could have resulted from our failure to adjust. Luckily, our son and all the others on the road with him at the time were unscathed.

The next time your partner asks you to skip the exercise routine and linger in bed on a weekend morning, give serious consideration to practicing distractibility. It could come in handy.