RE: Impatience and Bad Planning: Working With Endless Interruptions and Distractions
"Bad Planning on Your Behalf Does Not Constitute an Emergency for ME!" < I love this saying!! . . I used to use it all the time when I was asked to rush something by a coworker who procrastinated completion of a project. It's so true!
As I read your post, I found myself nodding in a agreement - I do get interrupted. BUT, when I really thought about it, I realized that most of my 'distractions' I allow!
There is a delicate balance between being 'on top of things' and permitting real focus. In 2015, I read that the more people get better at multi-tasking, the more they LOSE the ability to focus. This was SO true for me, because I couldn't focus on one thing for more than about 20 mins!
After reading that article, I decided to start practicing the art of focus. Forcing myself to check email and phone messages only a few times a day. I utilized the 'do not disturb' options on work platforms during my high-productivity times. All of these tactics helped and I'm pleased to say that I can truly focus for about about an hour before my brain drifts.
Perhaps more practice will yield longer times of focus - I can only hope.
@jannell, thanks for your thoughtful comment!
I was "doing Korporate Amerika" when multitasking became such a buzzword... and I was always thinking "what total bullshit this is!" I have basically rejected that idea as "real" pretty much since day one.
On the other hand, my mind is wired according to what our culture likes to call "ADHD" which means I can go two ways... endlessly distracted... or hyperfocus. When I am in hyperfocus mode, I can accomplish in three hours what most people do in three days. However, creating the condition that allows for that to happen is hard... I work from home, but even so... my wife has to be on an "away call" and I unplug the phone line and turn off the cell devices and deactivate all my notifications.
That allows me to be super effective in one aspect of my life... but everything else goes to hell. At the end, though, it leaves me wondering why our entire existence is set up in such a way that we never really get to be very effective at ANYthing.
Ooo - I hear ya on this one: