Attention deficit
I’ve had an Apple Watch for a couple of weeks now and my biggest take way so far: I don’t feel the need to constantly pick up my phone to check the time or calls/text/notifications, only to find myself down a rabbit hole of checking in on everything else that’s going on — Email, Calendar, Twitter, Slack, etc.
Our phone is a distraction in not only wasting our time, but wasting our attention:
“Researchers in the new field of interruption science have found that it takes an average of twenty-five minutes to recover from a phone call. Yet such interruptions come every eleven minutes — which means we’re never caught up with our lives.” — Pico Iyer, The Art of Stillness
Something I’ve learned from meditating is to take a step back and properly process thoughts and emotions. It sounds simple, but it’s harder than you think, when you’re not thinking about it.
When we’re sitting in front of a screen all day, everything begins to blur into a flow of information, but its the transitions in-between that can be most important to pay attention to:
- When finishing a task, think about how it went and how it fits to your overall goals
- Right after a meeting, or call, review notes and fill in gaps, think about next steps
- When a random thought comes to mind, make a note of it to think through later on
- If there is a gut feeling you have that you’re confused about, take a few minutes to analyze what it’s all about
- Every hour, take a break for a couple of minutes — stand up from your chair and just take some deeps breaths
Read some of my other thoughts around personal growth and working better. And keep updated of all the things I’m thinking about and working on via my newsletter.
