Focus

Happy Friday!

I welcome you to this week's edition on "Focus" (#232).

First and foremost, I urge you to watch this brief?advertisement. (It’s only a minute and a half.) Although this may be a decade old, it succinctly drives home the point. I can confidently assert that none of us are immune to the pull of distractions that manifest as a ping or a ring, particularly while driving, inadvertently shifting our focus from the road.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notes, “Texting is the most alarming distraction. Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.” The disturbing 2022 report indicates that 3,308 deaths resulted due to distracted driving. To put it into perspective, it averages to nine deaths per day in the US.?

My intention with sharing these statistics is not to dishearten you. Rather, the objective is to emphasize the ubiquity of distractions in our lives, not confined merely to driving. According to a recent article in?Fortune, “60% of the employees can’t go 30 minutes without getting distracted.”? Thankfully, distractions at our workplace won't precipitate fatal outcomes.?However, they do divert our focus, culminating in the loss of our most precious commodity – time.

Thus, I present you with some effective strategies to help maintain focus at work and in your personal life, here is a?PLAN?you can use.

Prioritize?– Prioritize, Prioritize, and Prioritize: Regardless of your role, everyone has more tasks to do than the available time in a day. It causes anxiety, stress, and disappointment. A good strategy is to document them first and then do an honest assessment of what you truly can accomplish. Decide on your priorities, and do not hesitate to adjust them as frequently as necessary.

Limit?– Limit distractions: Let’s be real, it may not be possible to completely eliminate distractions, but we sure can limit them. Believe it or not, some of them are within your control. Do you know that we check our phones every 5-6 minutes inadvertently. Review your cellphone, IM, and email notification settings and take steps to mute those notifications or set a do not disturb status. If you work in a noisy environment, consider investing in a noise canceling headset.?

Awareness?– Be aware of your peak focus time: In the book “Attention Span”, professor and author Gloria Mark states that we all have certain times of the day when our focus is at its peak. She encourages us to be aware of these times and to schedule tasks requiring the most thinking, hardest effort, and creative thought for those periods. For most people, these times tend to be mid-morning and mid to late afternoon.

Nurture?– Nurture Mindfulness Techniques: Employ techniques like the Pomodoro Technique, which advises working for a fixed amount of time, typically 25 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break. Engage in meditation or exercises that keep you centered and focused. These techniques quiet your mind and help you concentrate on your tasks more efficiently.

Let me leave you with this quote: “Attention is a limited resource, so pay attention to where you pay attention.” By Howard Rheingold.?

Stay safe, Stay healthy and Stay blessed. Thank you and have a great weekend.