Minding Your Business in Times of War: Why Focus Is a Radical Act

By Julia Press Simmons

In times of war—be it global conflict, cultural upheaval, or political madness—the easiest thing to lose is your focus. Your peace. Your sense of direction. You scroll the news for updates, ping-pong between outrage and despair, and wonder: “Should I even be worrying about my dreams right now?”

But here’s the hard truth: Minding your business during times of war is not selfish. It’s strategic. It’s revolutionary.

We’re not talking about burying your head in the sand or pretending the world isn’t on fire. We’re talking about discipline in the face of chaos. Focus when distractions are damn near weaponized. It’s about protecting your lane, building your brand, and chasing your vision when everything around you screams collapse.

1. Protecting Your Peace Is a Full-Time Hustle

When bombs are dropping—literally or metaphorically—your nervous system becomes collateral damage. Doomscrolling isn’t just a bad habit; it’s a slow poison. That’s why you need boundaries like your life depends on them. Because, in a way, it does.

Your mind is your money-maker. Your creativity, your productivity, your innovation—they only thrive in peace. Not in panic. Not in paranoia. Not when your energy is being siphoned by every headline.

Turn off the noise. Turn up your mission.

2. Your Dreams Still Matter. Period.

It’s easy to feel guilty for pursuing success when the world is suffering. But here’s the kicker: You can be informed, compassionate, and still unapologetically ambitious.

You can care about Palestine, Ukraine, Congo, Sudan, Iran—and still care about launching your course, finishing your novel, or hitting that Q3 revenue goal. Your success does not come at the expense of justice. In fact, sometimes your success is the resistance. Especially if you’re a Black creator, a woman, queer, disabled, or from any community that’s historically been silenced.

Thriving in a system designed to drain you? That’s protest with a profit margin.

3. We’ve Always Had to Boss Up Through Bullsh*t

Let’s not forget: Black people, brown people, Indigenous people—we have always created magic during crisis. We’ve launched businesses in recessions, made art in ghettos, and raised babies during revolutions. We don’t get the luxury of waiting for perfect timing.

So when the world feels unstable? That’s our default. And we still build.

You don’t owe the world your burnout. You owe your ancestors and your future self your best shot at something better.

4. What You Create Now Will Matter Later

History remembers the war—but it also remembers the poets, the painters, the thinkers, the builders. The ones who dared to imagine more.

Don’t underestimate the power of that newsletter you wrote. The book you’re drafting. The healing you’re prioritizing.

Your work is not irrelevant. It’s archival. It’s legacy.

One day someone will look back on this era and study the stories, art, businesses, and movements we dared to build while the world was in flames.

So write the blog. Drop the product. Plan the tour. Take the damn break. Light your candle and return to your to-do list like your name is carved in gold.

5. Discipline Is the New Flex

Not aesthetics. Not clout. Not hustle for hustle’s sake. Real power lies in consistency. Quiet, intentional, show-up-anyway discipline.

That’s how you boss up when the world is on fire.
That’s how you turn rage into revenue.
That’s how you build something that can’t be canceled by chaos.

Boss Up Reminder:
Staying focused doesn’t mean you don’t care. It means you know that your brilliance is part of the battle.

So check on your people. Donate if you can. Speak truth when needed.
But don’t forget to handle your business.

Because when peace returns—and it will—you’ll be ten steps ahead. Not because you ignored the war…
…but because you remembered you were born to win it.