17 Focus Your Attention

All of life is the study of attention; where your attention goes, your life follows.

JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI

Focused attention is the key to high performance. The “attraction of distraction,” the lure of electronic and other interruptions, leads to diffused attention, a wandering mind, a lack of focus, and, ultimately, under-achievement and failure.

Current research proves that continuously responding and reacting to e-mails, telephone calls and texts, and instant messages (IM) has a negative effect on your brain, shortening your attention span and making it difficult, if not impossible, for you to complete the tasks upon which your future and your success depend.¹

Developing an Addiction

When you check your e-mail first thing in the morning or when you respond to the bell or other sound that indicates an incoming e-mail or message, your brain releases a tiny shot of dopamine. This shot gives you a pleasant “buzz.” It stimulates your curiosity and causes you to react and respond immediately. You instantly forget whatever else you were doing and turn your full attention to the new message.

Like the sound of bells ringing when you win while playing a slot machine, the sound of the e-mail or IM triggers the reaction of “What did I win?” You immediately stop your work to find out what your “prize” is.

When you start your day with a few shots of dopamine triggered by your e-mail or IM bell going off, you find it extremely difficult to pay close attention to your important tasks for the rest of the day.

The Multitasking Illusion

Some people believe that they can engage in multitasking, going back and forth between e-mails and important tasks. But people can focus only on one thing at a time. What they are really doing is called “task shifting.” They are shifting their attention back and forth, like swinging a searchlight from one object to another.

After an Internet interruption, it takes about seventeen minutes for you to shift your total attention back to your task and continue working. This is precisely why so many people today are working harder and harder, shifting from e-mail interruptions to work and back again, all day long, and getting less and less accomplished. They also make more mistakes.

The Proven Solutions

The solutions are simple and are being adopted by the most productive people in every industry. First, don’t check your e-mail in the morning and immediately trigger the all-day dopamine addiction. Leave your devices off.

Second, if you must check your e-mail for any reason, get in and out fast, and get back to work. Turn off the sound on your computer, and put your phone on “vibrate.” Stop the stimulations that trigger the flow of dopamine and lead to continuous interruptions.

Finally, resolve to check your e-mail only twice a day, at 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., and then turn it off again each time. Provide a telephone number where someone can reach you in an emergency.

Whenever you are in a meeting with one or more people, follow the same protocol. Leave electronic devices off. Never insult the persons you are meeting with by working on your laptop or answering your phone. Pay 100 percent attention to the other people. This applies at home as well.

Double Your Productivity

Here is a simple way to double your productivity. First, plan each day in advance, select your most important task, and then start on that task first thing, before you do anything else. Second, work nonstop for ninety minutes with no diversion or distraction, and then give yourself a fifteen-minute break. Third, start again and work another ninety minutes flat out. Finally, after this three-hour work period, you can then reward yourself with a shot of dopamine by checking your e-mail.

When you develop the habit of completing three hours of important work each morning, first thing, you will both double your productivity and break yourself of the habit of checking your e-mail all day long. You will regain full control of your life.