Focus is a Muscle. Muscles Require Exercise to Stay Strong
Cal Newport talks about Deep Work. Greg McKeown talks about Essentialism. Gary Keller talks about The One Thing.
All of these authors are speaking to the importance of gaining and keeping focus while reducing distractions in service to a specific work result – in the workplace, with a project, or for a personal goal.
The authors are also speaking about choice. You’ll hear people, maybe even yourself say: “I have no choice.” I call BS on this. It’s rare that we don’t have a choice. What we have are tradeoffs, specific decisions to make, a path to take. What’s hard about this is that we know by taking one path, by necessity we give up the other, and if we are operating from a scarcity mentality, that feels risky. We resist making the tradeoff decision and get stuck in the feeling that “we have no choice.”
Here’s an example of choice: when trying to get some work done – for our jobs, in our hobbies, or at home, there are so many decisions that have to be made along the way. We may be in the zone, but the phone rings. If we apply Dave Allen’s Getting Things Done framework (can it be dealt with in two minutes or less?) we may decide to take care of it in the moment. That’s a solid decision. AND, research has proposed that for every interruption we experience while in our work rhythm, it takes approximately 20 minutes to recover the efficiency in work and thought we had achieved before the phone rang. How often in a day do we have to make these choices? Knowing that, would you still make the same decision?
Of course, it depends.
If it’s a colleague with information on the work we are doing, yes, we answer the phone. If it’s unrelated and can wait, we should resist that urgent temptation and consciously, with awareness, not answer it. Our actions in this moment depend on many factors, and if we don’t actively exercise our ability to focus, we forfeit the type of productivity and thinking that can lead us out of overwhelm.
Next level, and here’s when this muscle really gets its workout: while working through the project at hand, coming up against a difficult area that requires deeper thought, it is so easy IN THAT MOMENT to give in to the ringing phone – or any other distraction, real or imagined. Our monkey minds are very adept at talking us into the distraction rather than continuing with the hard work. Remaining aware in that very moment and choosing to continue with the work, this is where the muscle moves from toned to strong.
Are we even aware that we HAVE a choice here?
How many of us in the course of the day actually consider and consciously act on this? There is already so much to evaluate and decide, we can stay in the trees and never see the forest. We often feel decision fatigue and overwhelm by noon, if not sooner. We’re completely tapped out by the time we get home. What we need is some defined time to rise up and see the forest. We need to intentionally create time for both kinds of work – the planning, strategic, big picture work, and the detail, nitty gritty, execution work. Both are important; both need attention, both require different types of energy from us. Creating that feels near impossible because we are already overwhelmed, and that feeling clouds our ability to feel like we can make the time to dig out. Becoming aware that we have a choice is where we start.
One solution is to create for ourselves a framework for managing work flow and distractions that works for us, for our employers and the work we need to complete. This is a go slow to go fast mindset that must get built, but once the foundation is in place, all other decisions and processes become easier, more streamlined, and we begin to operate within the new system with greater confidence and improved flow.
Seth Godin in his podcast with Tim Ferris talks about his decision-making process. At a young age, Seth realized that he would not be good at certain things in the workplace, so he decided early on that he would always be the guy who met his deadlines, who would deliver on what he agreed to do. He’s spent most of his life self-employed, and many of his deadlines are self-imposed. In the interview, Tim Ferris asks him how he has the discipline to keep the deadlines, and Seth talks about his rigorous adherence to a sense of professionalism. He’s very careful about what he commits to, and once he commits, he holds himself accountable. By doing this, he makes the decision once – he doesn’t waver on the decision or the deadline. It’s settled. All other decisions and work flow around this.
How can we apply this to our own lives, and what can get in the way?
Back to the phone ringing. Phones demand answering; the system is built to grab attention. If we aren’t comfortable with ignoring that input while we continue in our work, the distraction remains, tugging at us. This can create a mild or acute sense of unease, but nevertheless it remains in our consciousness and contributes to a reduced ability to focus. To mitigate this, we can build systems for ourselves that address true urgency, perceived urgency and filter out the non-important work that assaults us every day.
Solutions? Turn off the ringer. Start cultivating time for deep work and communicate it. When Greg McKeown wrote Essentialism, he used an email auto-reply that told everyone that he was in “monk mode” and would get in touch when he resurfaced. He was clear about the work he wanted to do AND keeping relationships intact.
How do you communicate this in the workplace? There is a natural tension to figuring this out. If we aren’t responsive or available to our managers and employees, then we can become the dreaded bottleneck. AND, if we don’t have time to actually do our work or do it well, we aren’t adequately serving our organization. It is awkward to tell others “I’m not available right now.” And if we don’t have significant enough influence on our work culture, it can be hard to suggest a change.
While these nuances within the workplace exist, it doesn’t absolve us of our own personal responsibility in trying to cultivate better systems for ourselves. While difficult, you only have to start with one small thing. It may be an hour where you hang a do not disturb sign on your door or cube, or a conversation with your manager or colleagues. Since we are all suffering from this environment of “always on,” you can be confident that many people are trying to come up with solutions that work and are likely open to creating a better way.
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A Framework
We each have many opportunities for this type of decision making that can benefit our lives and reduce the sense of modern day overwhelm. This requires both intention and attention. Here’s a framework that can help, one that can be adapted to suit your individual situation.
Step 1: Listen to and trust your inner voice. What regularly do you feel needs attention that you haven’t stopped and addressed? In what instances do you find yourself moving from engaged to overwhelmed? Are there specific triggers? We know what needs our real attention and yet feel constantly hijacked. When we can’t focus on it, it creates an internal tension that erodes our sense of well being and efficacy. Out of Control = Overwhelm.
Step 2: Develop clarity of purpose and goals. This is applicable in the workplace and for the big life goals. At work, our goals are often defined for us. But when they aren’t, or when we are seeking to outline our larger life goals – information comes from exploration and experimentation. For those who undertake this process at the macro level, get ready to play the long game. We all have to start somewhere. At work and in life, mistakes and failure are part of the learning process; all contribute to clarity in one form or another. It doesn’t have to be comfortable or fun. It sucks to go through it in the moment…but with a learning mindset, the reward of deeper clarity will come. This leads you to your next step.
Step 3: Identify your Personal Best Work Schedule. We all have rhythms of work, natural schedules that suit us. There is extensive research on early risers and night owls and the ebb and flow of energy. We now know that, whenever possible, we should be intelligent in how we structure the work we need to do. Our daily energy cycles offer a real opportunity for this strategic attention to work. It’s why so many leaders avoid emails and social media in the morning so as to not compromise their capacity to focus. They know that they can harvest these hours by doing deep and focused work. Its why many successful people get up very early in order to maximize this time and minimize the other inputs and distractions.
We should look at days, but we should also look at weeks and months. If we are able to observe and harness our own unique cycles, we can enjoy the ride rather than fight against it. My father had days of creative bursts, followed by reflective lulls. He resented that ebb state, he preferred the high energy, creative flow state – it was more fun. The two were inextricably linked, though – both were required. Becoming aware of your own cycle and embracing (not lamenting) your personal ebb and flow– that’s another choice; and decisions made from this knowledge remove other decisions = less overwhelm.
Step 4: Keep Practicing. This is a practice. Like any new habit, getting started is messy and imperfect. Embrace the process anyway. The wins are hard won, but as we start to see results, it encourages us to keep at the process. No time should be wasted in any regret for not getting it right – we just regroup and begin again. Use the mistake or error to learn and move on. By strengthening this muscle, we begin to comfortably cut out of our lives the nonessential tasks and busywork and confidently take the actions that lead us to greater productivity on the right kinds of work. The muscle becomes strong.
What one thing can you do to begin or continue cultivating focus and reducing overwhelm in your life? I’d love to hear your comments.
Photo by Len De La Cruz via Unsplash
Note: So much good thinking on this out there. Some resources:
- Essentialism by Greg McKeown. If you only do one thing…read this book. So good.
- Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
- The One Thing by Gary Keller
- Getting Things Done (GTD) by Dave Allen
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey
- Podcast: Tim Ferris/Seth Godin https://tim.blog/2018/11/01/seth-godin-this-is-marketing/
- Article: Interruptions at Work Can Cost You Up To 6 Hours a Day https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2015/06/01/interruptions-at-work-can-cost-you-up-to-6-hours-a-day