Attention Management by Maura Thomas

Author:Maura Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2019-07-17T13:47:58+00:00

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How to Master Attention Management

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.

—Will Durant, paraphrasing Aristotle

Ready to take your attention management skills to the next level? If you’ve made good progress with exerting more control over your technology and your environment, then you’ve taken the first steps toward retraining your mind. The behaviors we’ll talk about in this chapter build on those steps, and they’ll have an even deeper impact on your life.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to implement them all at once or become master of them all. Just getting started will give you an important edge in your life and career. Remember that the ultimate goal of attention management is to unleash the full benefit of your wisdom and brainpower, allowing you to achieve more of your significant results and live a life of choice rather than a life of reaction and distraction.

Control Your Habits

Sometimes we really are our own worst enemy! If you’ve tried any of the strategies described in the last chapter, you may have experienced that cutting out distractions can initially make you feel antsy, anxious, or downright uncomfortable. That’s because you’ve been conditioned into a state of constant distraction. But there are ways to rebuild your attention span and regain control over your focus.

Even if you believe that you thrive on the chaos, you’ll find your performance improves when you balance the chaotic times with moments of calm and periods of deep work. You’ll also become more satisfied and enjoy more meaningful interactions with other people. Here are some ways to start shifting your behavior and find a more productive balance.

•Set a timer for short stretches of time, even just ten minutes. During this time, eliminate all distractions by controlling your environment and your technology. Pick an activity, close out everything else, start the timer, and single-task. Once the time is up, you can take a break or continue working if you’re on a roll. Following the break, reset the timer and start the process over. At first, even ten minutes may seem like an eternity, but over time, it will become much more comfortable, and you can increase the stretch of time to fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes and more. Following this practice will help you build up to longer and longer periods of uninterrupted work.

•Give yourself some quick pockets of quiet time. See if you can sit relatively still, without speaking, without any devices, and without napping—just letting your mind wander or absorbing the environment around you. This gives your brain the downtime it needs to process information, reflect, and generate insights.13 At first, you might be unable to do this for even one minute! But it gets easier with practice. Try enjoying your quiet moments outside.

•Get started with mindfulness. You can be mindful (fully present) without meditating, but an easy way to get started with mindfulness is through short, guided meditations. Many apps can help you with this (try the Buddhify, Simple Habit, or Headspace apps). Even just two- to five-minute guided meditations can help.

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