Each time your phone gives you a notification of some kind, do you grab it and look?
Do you splinter your precious attention and give it over to every person, robot, corporation or machine that wants a piece of it?
To do high-quality work, it requires focus. To be your best, you need to put sustained attention on what you are doing/creating.
Every time you shift your attention from one target to another, you are reducing your cognitive capacity.
Reduce the number of things you have to pay attention to.
Protect big blocks of time from distraction.
Take charge of your attention.
You are so right! Too many people, young and old are being distracted by their phones. Especially when driving, it’s got to change.
Exactly. During work hours text messages of a personal nature should be ignored, unless they are family emergencies. Phone calls can go to voicemail and be answered later. Voicemail greetings can give instructions on what to do in case of an emergency. Emails can wait until email sorting time. All other messages on the phone during productive hours should be ignored. This is VERY HARD for some people but I see phones as the biggest distraction that most people have. A good question to ask when these distraction arise is, “Will this propel me forward in my current productive activity at this time or will it just be a distraction?” We must build that self-discipline to ignore the unimportant and focus on the task at hand.
I too am thankful for my health and fitness! And I am grateful for your helpful insights, Larry!