A Sense of Control

When you have fewer things to react to or you make it harder to react to them, you’ll be less reactive.

It's is the practice of controlling distractions, being present in the moment, finding flow, and maximizing focus, so you can create a life of choice, around things that are important to you.

It is the ability to recognize when your attention is being stolen (or has the potential to be stolen) and to instead keep it focused on the activities you choose. 

Attention management offers a deliberate approach that puts you back in control, by managing both external and internal factors.

Practicing attention management means fighting back against the distractions and creating opportunities throughout your day to support your priorities. 

• Sensory distractions (External): The things happening around us, like colleagues talking, phones ringing, people moving around us, music playing, etc.
• Emotional distractions (Internal): The thoughts that make our attention drift from what we’re doing. For example, remembering a phone call you need to make or thinking about a future meeting.

“It’s not the chatter of people around us that is the most powerful distractor, but rather the chatter of our own minds.”

Ages ago, when people were busy trying to survive, boredom wasn’t a choice. They spent all their time securing food or shelter.

We are now overstimulated — easy access to infinite entertainment options is feeding boredom rather than discouraging it.

People embrace busyness  because they are having a hard time being alone and enjoying it. 

Being busy is a tricky form of entertainment however — we don’t feel the boredom, but it isn’t fun either.

“Like,” “Share,” or comment on your friend’s business content.

It’s easy, free, and strengthens your friendship, and their business.

Instead of taking leftovers home to have them spoil, consider giving it to someone in need.

... or it will control you. We can’t control our environment everywhere we go, but we have more control than we usually choose to exercise.

If you banish distractions and control your calendar you can make sure your environment is ripe for productivity.

We all know how fallible our brains can be yet we routinely trust ourselves to remember and follow through on things.

If it’s important, write it down. Reminders, post-its, and calendars are all good tools.

"The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive. "

To get better at concentrating, start small.

• Choose only one task or point of focus. Clear all other things away or shut them down.
• Look at your environment. Do you work better in silence or with ambient noise? Is your chair comfortable enough?
• You can also train yourself to be more mindful by focusing on your breath or any other sensation for three minutes.

If you're distracted because of internal turmoil, be kind to yourself. Remind yourself that's what's going on. Talk about it to someone or just to yourself.

If you do get distracted, notice it and gently bring your attention back.

The way we define the concept of "productivity" really influences our perception.

For a lot of people, this word suggests something cold and corporate, that speaks about efficiency and becoming a robot.

It has to do with focus and allows us to accomplish everything we want to do in a smaller amount of time, so we have more time for what’s actually meaningful to us.

Because being able to focus on things, we see more meaning in them.

Your environment affects your personal relationships. Technologies like social media are making conversations harder and less engaging. But getting rid of it isn't necessarily the cure-all for most of our social interactions.

 If you have you've been feeling disconnected you can develop your conversational skills if you persist.

Be engaged and listen to what they are saying. Show interest, ask questions and clarifications. This shows others that you care about what they are saying, and about them in the bigger picture.