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Archive for August, 2010
Why “Time Management” is No Longer Relevant
Search engines, billions of websites, targeted advertisement and easy access to digital content provide us with myriad ways of taking care of our most complex informational and entertainment needs. What is now scarce, and therefore valuable, is the user’s attention, which explains the intense efforts made to obtain it through focused advertising, pop-ups, short videos embedded in news portals and, most disheartening, spam.
-from THE ECONOMICS OF ATTENTION: MAXIMIZING USER VALUE IN INFORMATION-RICH ENVIRONMENTS
Managing your time used to be the same thing as managing your attention. If you designated some time to attend to something, it was more likely that thing would get done. This was back before the digital revolution so thoroughly changed the way information is generated and shared. In other words, before there were so many distractions. Now, the world is constantly available at our fingertips, with the plethora of radio, television, internet, scrolling marquees, skywriting & advertising, not to mention new ways to instantly communicate, and handheld digital devices that are becoming more and more omnipresent. Allocating time to something no longer means that it will receive your attention, and without attention, your time is somewhat irrelevant. Attention creates action, produces quality and facilitates productivity. Attention also has a dramatic impact on your life. What you give your attention to, is what determines your experiences.
Think about it…there are entire cultures built around subjects that probably don’t even register with you. Don’t you know people who are involved in things you know nothing about? Perhaps its monster trucks, or vampires, or science fiction, or quantum physics. There are people whose lives revolve around subjects that are barely a blip on your radar. Those people give their attention to those topics, and therefore have experiences around them. And you do the same. So, as William James noted, “your experience is what you choose to attend to.” And all of those experiences eventually add up to your life. But if most of the time, you don’t “agree” to give your attention; you are just constantly distracted and reacting to all of those things that are vying for your attention, then maybe you do not have as much control over your life as you might like.
So perhaps it’s time to reconsider the way you manage the details of your life. For most people, their primary tool is a calendar. A calendar is a time-based tool. Allocating your time on a calendar can help, but maybe it’s time to change your thinking. Consider a productivity system that will enable you to view, and therefore better manage, all of those details necessary to service your life. This is a better way of allocating your attention to them, and keeping them in your focus, making it more likely that they will get done. You can only manage things when you can see them, and you can’t see them when they are inside your head. If you can view your workload (or, more importantly, your whole life-load) in a meaningful way, and not just as random entries in your calendar, then those details are more likely to capture your attention, despite all the distractions. If they get your attention, it’s more likely that you will take action around them. Any good personal productivity system (of course I suggest my Empowered Productivity System, but you may already have a process that works well for you) has a comprehensive task management tool. I’m working on compiling a list with reviews, so be sure to check back. But in the meantime, here is a place to start.
For more beautiful photos from Shawn P. Thomas, check out his Flickr stream. Thanks for reading!
Turning Productivity into Passion, Part 2
A while ago I wrote about one of the greatest benefits of increased productivity: the extra time it allows you to give back to a cause you believe in. I am fortunate to be on the board of an Austin non-profit called GENaustin (Girls Empowerment Network). GEN’s mission is to foster healthy self esteem in girls by engaging them to explore and define their personal values and to build skills that empower them with confidence and the courage to make wise choices. They do an event every year called Career Week, where they invite professional women in to share information about their career path, with middle school girls. It’s a great opportunity to meet some fantastic girls, learn a bit about the work that GENaustin does, and share wisdom. This school-year the events are being held the weeks of October 25th and February 14th. The only qualifications are that you are a woman, that you live in the Austin area (or will be here during either of those weeks) and that you can speak about your career in a way that is engaging to middle-school girls (GEN staffers will give you tips and information to help you prepare). It takes only about 90 minutes of your time and can be scheduled at an Austin-area middle school that is convenient for you. GENaustin is targeting some professions specifically because they have been under-represented in the past, but anyone is welcome. And if you know any fabulous women in the following industries, we’d love to invite them to speak: financial/banking, doctor/nurses/medical professionals, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) careers/high tech professionals, veterinarians, teachers, business owners, women in uniform (police, fire, military, etc).
If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to be a volunteer for a worthy cause, now is your chance! If you’re interested, please contact me directly at maura at regainyourtime dot com, or the Career Week Coordinator at GENaustin, Tiffany Merkel, at tiffanym at genaustin dot org.
Here is a little more about my involvement in GENaustin, and please check out their website!
I Won! Would You Read This Business Book?
Well, the votes are in and thanks to all the wonderful support from my friends, clients, and colleagues, my book proposal was selected as the winner in the Business Book Pitchfest, sponsored by Networlding and Crowdspring. I am truly humbled by the support and grateful to every person who voted for me. I’m excited to put my work together in a book, and about the opportunities for new partners, customers, and directions that a published book could bring.
I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, and first is deciding to self-publish (with a small boutique publisher) or pitch to an agent or a large publishing house. I look forward to learning about the publishing industry, and if you have any insight for me, I would be very grateful for you to share your wisdom with me. Please contact me directly at maura at regainyourtime dot com.
A short description of the book-in-process is below, and I’d also love to hear from you if you have specific challenges or areas of interest related to this topic, that you would like to see addressed in the book. Would you read this?
Book-in-Process: Control Your Attention, Control Your Life: Succeeding in the Attention Age
Summary:
Change is upon us. Technology is evolving faster than ever before, and the sheer volume of information to manage is staggering. Digital Convergence is changing the way we communicate and learn. Although technology evolves very quickly, our brains evolve very slowly, and the rapid advance in technology over the last 40 years is shaping that evolution. It is literally rewiring our brains. The old ideas of multitasking and time management in the “Information Age” are being replaced by new ideas of focus and the Attention Age. The secret of productivity, of getting things done, of living the life we want now comes down to the ability to manage our attention. This goes way beyond time management, and it’s much more complicated than a calendar and an address book, or even the latest gadget or app. It requires greater knowledge of how our brains work, an understanding of the demands on our attention, and a rich, but uncomplicated, arsenal of behaviors, techniques, and technology. This book will contain step-by-step instructions to learn to control attention by effectively managing the details of a busy life (commitments, communication, and information), discussing not only a behavioral methodology but also incorporating paper, PC, Mac, handheld, and cloud-based solutions.
I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for reading, and for voting!
What Martial Arts Teaches Me About Productivity and Control
I have the honor and the privilege of being a student of the Shoshin Ryu School of martial arts. I’ve recently returned from the annual Nationals conference, this year in Boise, Idaho, where students and sensei from the dojo all over the country gather for 4 days of intense training. It’s so inspiring and I always return with so much to reflect on.
One of the lessons, from Curry Sensei of the Alaska Dojo was “Eliminating Chosa” which was about refining your movements to remove wasted effort. It reminded me that efficiency is useful regardless of the application. In martial arts, conserving your energy by eliminating chosa can provide you with the extra burst you need to win a fight or escape an attacker. Throughout your day, how many times do you switch tasks, right in the middle, because something else called your attention? Switching between tasks greatly increases the time it takes to complete any task and also decreases the quality of your output, just like wasted movement in martial arts. Perhaps in your work day, the consequences aren’t as dire, but you still need more effort and get less done.
Another lesson was from Soucy Sensei of the Connecticut Dojo and he reminded us that if you understand the way that your joints and limbs move, where they are strong and where they are weak, you can control them and use that control to gain the advantage in a match or a self-defense situation. I believe his words were, “control or be controlled.” This is so true not only in martial arts, but it also reminded me of the value of controlling your attention. There are so many things competing for our attention, trying to take our attention from us, that if we don’t exert control, we are at risk of spending all of our time just blowing in the wind of reaction, too infrequently being purposeful and making choices about how we spend our time (more on that here). Just like in martial arts, if you can only react and defend, you can never take control of the situation.
Nationals reminded me that my practice with Shoshin Ryu is not only about sport or self-defense, but also about personal growth and discipline…an exercise for the mind and spirit as well as for the body. I am so grateful to all the Shoshin Ryu teachers and students for allowing me to participate and helping me to advance my art.
Thank you for reading!