Distracted? How to Find Focus in a World of Memes and (Dis)Information
What I learned from rereading Cal Newport’s book Deep Work
I’d become a world champion time-waster.
My work rhythms changed. A new features team came in at the newspaper which had given me regular freelance work for years, and suddenly the work slowed to a trickle, and then stopped.
It wasn’t unexpected, and I was ready for a change. I had ideas I wanted to work on, new directions to pursue. I was excited, at first.
But without deadlines to motivate me, instead I went into a trance. I’d sit at my desk all day, checking social media, answering emails, doing e-courses or quizzes, all the while promising myself that after this one last thing, I’d begin my serious work. Which somehow never got done.
Each day I’d start again with the best of intentions, then look up one fact I needed online. An hour later, I’d be watching a TED talk, with no clue as to how I’d got there.
I am not alone in this.
We live in distracted times, and many of us feel overwhelmed by choice, bombarded by information yet unable to stop scrolling for more. FOMO drowning us all in a sea of memes.
