I just completed the tomezoe step of brewing a batch of saké. It was the longest and final cooking step in a process that isn’t particularly hard, but takes a small amount of attention at precise, but irregular intervals. There are still more steps to finalize the saké into something that is drinkable, (including racking, clarifying, bottling and aging) but after this step today it will begin its final fermentation and turn fully into alcohol, which felt meaningful in some way.

My theme for the year (arbitrarily chosen at the annual cultural resolution time know as ‘New Year’) is Focus. I think when I decided this, I had an idea that I meant something along the lines of practicing meditation, being present in the moment, and more Zen in my day to day activities. While I still mean these things, I don’t think I’ve been too successful as of yet, frankly, because I’ve been too busy to focus on it. But as I have been slowly and methodically making this saké over the past few weeks I’ve reflected and think perhaps there is another kind of focus I’ve been rather good at in my life; One that involves many small periodic check-ins and small steps to get where you aim.

Focus, in the traditional sense has the notion that direct and concentrated application to a single thing, without distraction, yields accomplishment. While I want to develop an increased ability to sink into a ‘flowstate’ and do this kind of focus intentionally, I wonder how many things in life (especially modern life) really work this way. I think much more often, growth comes from the collection of small focuses on a long list of tasks that individually aren’t very great but collectively mean a lot. I’ve been doing this for three years in grad school and all of a sudden, look! I’m about to graduate. While I don’t consider myself so great at the first kind of focus, I think I’m rather good at the second. So much of my life has been successful from small consistent successes that build. The setbacks are barely remembered and inconsequential.

Saké brewing is an interesting mix of the two kinds of focus. On a spectrum, Wine making is a little closer to the long-term small steps, while Beer is a little closer to the single deliberate act of attention. With wine, you basically put yeast and juice in a bucket and come back every once in a while, to stir. Beer on the other hand involves one big brewing process up front with many steps and then you forget about it entirely. (that is until it comes to bottling…for both processes…I’ll omit that for the saké of my analogy). Saké is both. Especially today, which was in itself a specific event that required a great deal of concentrated effort, saké making has aspects requiring focus in the normal sense. But also, over the 2 month process you have to steam rice at intervals along the way and consistently keep monitoring the schedule and coming back to add more and do more. Thankfully I’ve finally hit the point where I can just leave it like beer to ferment until bottling, but the process wasn’t wholly one kind of focus or the other.

As we are roughly 1/4 of the way through the year, this is a good time to check in with my theme, refocus on focus, and adjust my goals as a whole. I’m not sure I’m actually trying to say anything with here other than reflect on the analogy of the three types of home-brewing to ways we focus, but as the year continues, I think it’s good to keep in mind that I’m not entirely missing the mark. There is a whole other related conversation I thought about writing on regarding substances and their effects on effectiveness (Caffeine, ethanol and other more potent compounds) but I decided to stay in this direction and leave that topic for another time. Needless to say, I’m interested to see where the year will take me and how focused I will have been in another quarter. See you then!