Manage Your Attention

Where is your focus?

Stephen Covey said, "The main thing is to make the main thing the main thing."

How might you do this?

Perhaps consider a shift from Time Management to Attention Management. It doesn't matter if you "manage" your time if you allow distractions which shift your focus to other things. Where you point your attention is what gets done.

If you want to manage your attention, here are some ideas:

👉 Block off time on your calendar to focus on getting important work done.

👉 Block off time on your calendar to plan the day or week.

👉 Give yourself permission to honor and protect the time blocks you set and do not allow anything to get in the way.

👉 Turn off desktop and phone notifications or at least silence them for a period of time, especially while you enjoy focus time (above two ideas).

👉 Use a timer to apply the Pomodoro Technique (25-minutes of focused work followed by a five-minute break - take a longer 15-30 minute break after four consecutive work periods).

👉 Avoid the myth of multi-tasking - you are actually context switching and not really doing two things at once (our brains don't function that way).

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In addition, you might want to tell people what you're doing and why. This will enable them to know what to expect and how they might support you.

When you make the main thing the main thing, you become more effective and perhaps more efficient, too.

That means you get more done and perhaps also in less time.

It also means you get to make a choice about where you direct your focus and how you manage your attention.

Start with one of these ideas and go from there, maybe adding one every week or two.

Make the main thing the main thing.

Create your life.

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