Your Attention Is Limited

Your Attention Is Limited

What time in the day do you start getting tired ?

When do you find that your attention in calls and meetings is at it’s peak ?

When is your focus at your weakest ?

As you reflect on these you will realise that our attention and focus is like a torch light. It is strong at the start when the battery is fresh but fades away as the battery power dies out.

Hence we find that in some meetings we are productive and decisive and in others are we are slow and unable to fully engage.

Your attention is limited. Every action you take, every thought you have depletes your attention and makes you defocused and less productive.

Knowing this how should you schedule your day

1.     Eat The Frog – Start with the challenging tasks first . The complex presentation. The deep analysis. The new project. Focus on it and spend your best time on the most important and vital projects.

2.     Short Breaks – Imagine your work is like a workout for your mind. After every hour the mind is tired and needs rest. Take a 5-10 minute break. You can sit down and do breathing exercises focusing on your breath. You can take a short walk. You can lie down quietly if you are working from home. Recharge your battery.

3.     Do not make decisions when you are feeling low energy – You are quite likely to make the wrong decision. If feeling low energy make a note to come back and decide when your mind is clearer.

4.     Have 2-3 important big actions for the day that you want to focus your energy to deliver and create. These are your focus areas that you want to concentrate on and ensure you mark out this time as important and reserve your focus on them

5.     Decline the less relevant tasks and meetings – Say no to everything that is less important and does not deserve your focus. Simplify other decisions in life on what to eat, wear etc. Every decision depletes your focus and attention

Your mind is more brilliant than any computer ever created. However it does get exhausted from the number of decisions you need to make everyday. Choose the 2-3 areas that matter and reserve your highest energy for them.

Your attention is limited. Use it wisely.

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