This was fascinating, David. As a classical pianist who grew up practicing for 4+ hours a day, I've been shocked to see my attention span shrink over the past 10 years.
Some of the things I've been doing to keep it from falling to that scary 47-second average:
- I never check email on my phone.
- I have a rule: input before output (or create before consume). That means no email or social media in the morning before writing.
- I use Readwise to save articles to read later, in the evening. Half the time, I find I'm not that interested to read them after all.
- Batching random info searches. Instead of looking things up as soon as I think them ("does whole cream break a fast?"), I keep a scratch pad at my desk and write down the questions I'm curious to know and schedule a time to look them up.
- I've had success using an app like Focusmate to have the accountability of someone sitting on the other side of the screen while I work on a specific task.
I love these tips. As an independent consultant, I've struggled with the sense that I might miss an inquiry requiring a rapid response, but in the last year+ that I've avoided phone-based email I've only had one small project that I wasn't able to respond to in time. I could still do (much) better at focusing; when on my computer I tend to notice when I get a message and engage too soon.
I've also started having the conversation about communication norms explicitly with clients up-front: "Part of the value that I bring and how I keep my rates reasonable is that you are only paying for focused, productive time on your project. You don't pay for my lunch break, bathroom break, or when I have to take a break to let the plumber in and show her which sink needs unclogging. The corollary of that is that it may take me a little longer to respond, as I may be in meetings with other clients or otherwise unable to respond immediately. If you want to reserve specific time as "on-call" where I commit to being completely available to you, we can talk about that as an add-on." So far no one's opted for the add-on, and it's made me feel more confident managing my schedule better, rather than grappling with guilt over my "slow responses."
Thanks for this post—I wanted to watch the event in real time but wasn’t able to, so I really appreciate the link and the summary.
Re your point about turning off notifications, I strongly agree with this approach. The only ones I get in real time are for space station passes, for the obvious reason.
"... the therapist falls into this trance, and ... the treatment will be doomed. It is practically impossible to overcome any form of anxiety without using exposure techniques. ... exposure will be mandatory."
I turned off all my notifications on my email and teams a while ago and now I genuinely don't know how people work with them on. Especially when they pop up in a window and/or make a noise. Absolutely maddening!
Thank for these takeaways, I find I have to continually remind myself that just because something wants my attention, doesn't mean it should get it! With the possible exceptions of my husband and toddler!
Just wanted to jump in to say that it's 1 week later and I still find the statistics around the number of interruptions to be staggering, whether it's the average of 77 times checking email, or that one employee who switched apps over 1,000 times throughout the day. Also, it was a really helpful way to end the talk to list all your switches. It was like a lightning round of practical implications.
Heart rate. I wonder what’s the relationship between managing attention and managing our body‘s activation. 🤔
I have a post trauma disorder, where your body’s activation can quickly go to extreme stress levels (fight/flight) or to the other end (shutdown). In the trauma program I was shown how to find/use a calming imaginative scene. They measured our vital signs weekly, so I did experiments.
Week 1: Imagine trauma scene. Measure heart rate. 20 seconds to imagine my botanical gardens tropical house scene. Measure again. High low. Week 2: The reverse order. Low high.
This was fascinating, David. As a classical pianist who grew up practicing for 4+ hours a day, I've been shocked to see my attention span shrink over the past 10 years.
Some of the things I've been doing to keep it from falling to that scary 47-second average:
- I never check email on my phone.
- I have a rule: input before output (or create before consume). That means no email or social media in the morning before writing.
- I use Readwise to save articles to read later, in the evening. Half the time, I find I'm not that interested to read them after all.
- Batching random info searches. Instead of looking things up as soon as I think them ("does whole cream break a fast?"), I keep a scratch pad at my desk and write down the questions I'm curious to know and schedule a time to look them up.
- I've had success using an app like Focusmate to have the accountability of someone sitting on the other side of the screen while I work on a specific task.
I love these tips. As an independent consultant, I've struggled with the sense that I might miss an inquiry requiring a rapid response, but in the last year+ that I've avoided phone-based email I've only had one small project that I wasn't able to respond to in time. I could still do (much) better at focusing; when on my computer I tend to notice when I get a message and engage too soon.
I've also started having the conversation about communication norms explicitly with clients up-front: "Part of the value that I bring and how I keep my rates reasonable is that you are only paying for focused, productive time on your project. You don't pay for my lunch break, bathroom break, or when I have to take a break to let the plumber in and show her which sink needs unclogging. The corollary of that is that it may take me a little longer to respond, as I may be in meetings with other clients or otherwise unable to respond immediately. If you want to reserve specific time as "on-call" where I commit to being completely available to you, we can talk about that as an add-on." So far no one's opted for the add-on, and it's made me feel more confident managing my schedule better, rather than grappling with guilt over my "slow responses."
Thanks for this post—I wanted to watch the event in real time but wasn’t able to, so I really appreciate the link and the summary.
Re your point about turning off notifications, I strongly agree with this approach. The only ones I get in real time are for space station passes, for the obvious reason.
Let's collaborate?
https://greglukianoff.substack.com/p/announcing-the-new-coddling-documentary/comment/49639195
A
Mayo Research Clinic Director to NYTimes.com: "[among US licensed Mental Providers]we’re not treating people with what actually works"
nytimes.com/2017/10/11/magazine/why-are-more-american-teenagers-than-ever-suffering-from-severe-anxiety.html
B
https://feelinggood.com/2013/10/07/reverse-anxiety-hypnosis/
"... the therapist falls into this trance, and ... the treatment will be doomed. It is practically impossible to overcome any form of anxiety without using exposure techniques. ... exposure will be mandatory."
I turned off all my notifications on my email and teams a while ago and now I genuinely don't know how people work with them on. Especially when they pop up in a window and/or make a noise. Absolutely maddening!
Thank for these takeaways, I find I have to continually remind myself that just because something wants my attention, doesn't mean it should get it! With the possible exceptions of my husband and toddler!
Thanks for sharing. PS Range has really made me think differently about my career. It is a great resource.
Just wanted to jump in to say that it's 1 week later and I still find the statistics around the number of interruptions to be staggering, whether it's the average of 77 times checking email, or that one employee who switched apps over 1,000 times throughout the day. Also, it was a really helpful way to end the talk to list all your switches. It was like a lightning round of practical implications.
Heart rate. I wonder what’s the relationship between managing attention and managing our body‘s activation. 🤔
I have a post trauma disorder, where your body’s activation can quickly go to extreme stress levels (fight/flight) or to the other end (shutdown). In the trauma program I was shown how to find/use a calming imaginative scene. They measured our vital signs weekly, so I did experiments.
Week 1: Imagine trauma scene. Measure heart rate. 20 seconds to imagine my botanical gardens tropical house scene. Measure again. High low. Week 2: The reverse order. Low high.