Can a goldfish focus?

A dive into how I’m achieving zero-distraction

"Humans these days have the attention span of a goldfish."

For me, this is - guilty as charged. Is it true for you?

So, I've been trying to build my attention muscle for a while. It's been tough.

But here's a small ray of hope - something that's working for me.

The Process:

1. I have figured out my golden hours - it's 8:45 am to 11 am.
2. At 8:45 am, I set a 45-minute timer (some call this the Pomodoro).
3. I commit to a kind of zero-distraction approach to the task at hand for the duration of the timer.
4. I say 'kind of' because distractions do come up, and I address them immediately by writing them down, then go back to doing what I was doing.

The Follow-up:

But it doesn't stop there - after my timer, I ensure that I carry out my distractions.

The visual below is about the distractions this morning - this time they are about looking something up on YouTube.

The Outcome is not just what you think.

I initially started with setting a 25-minute timer - the maximum I now go for is 1.5 hours with just 5 stretches to ease my back.

But the biggest payoff is not just the improvement in attention; it's the sense of not being at the mercy of my distractions, even if it's just for a small sliver of time in the whole day.