In a world of distractions, where information bombards us from every angle, our attention is worth more than ever. It is the currency of the digital age, and how we spend it shapes our reality, influences our decisions, and ultimately defines our lives.
I’ve been on a book binge around the subject of “attention”. Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself drawn towards books like Deep Work by Cal Newport, Make Time by Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky, and I just finished the book Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher. While Rapt had some pretty important points to make, I didn’t find it as engaging, focused, or practical as the other two books. That withstanding, it did underscore an important point that all three books make quite well: what you pay attention to determines who you are and what you accomplish.
What You Pay Attention to Determines Who You Are
Rapt was far more philosophical than the other two books and it had a clear message for all of us.
What you focus on becomes your life.
Psychologists like Gallagher often liken attention to a spotlight, highlighting certain aspects of our environment while leaving others in the shadows. What we shine that spotlight on determines our experiences and shapes our thoughts and emotions.
For example, when you have to be at work on a gorgeous spring day, you can choose to focus on the fact that you’re missing an incredibly nice day. If you do, you’ll likely end up in a very poor mood, stewing over the fact that you’re stuck inside. Or, you can focus on the interesting project you have going on at work today and the walk you were able to take over lunch that fueled that project. If you do, you’re likely to be in a fairly good mood at the end of that day.
The Only Way to Get Time is to Make Time
One of the best ideas that Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky had in the book, Make Time, was the idea of “highlights”. Each day as we’re writing out our to do list or planning our day, they suggest we pick a highlight: something we’ll concentrate on finishing that day. Typically, the highlight is something that takes us 60-90 minutes and leaves us incredibly satisfied if we finish it. It might be part of a big project, spending time with our kids, or drinks after work with friends. Your highlight helps you plan your day around the thing that you feel matters most, instead of letting everyone else monopolize your time.
If you can get really good at making time for your highlight, then day after day, you start to spend more time on the things that matter to you. What you focus on becomes your life.
Scheduling Rocks
I have been using another tool from Newport’s book Deep Work for a few weeks now and it has completely ratcheted up my ability to be productive: scheduling blocks of time. Newport suggests that you write out every hour of your day, then plan out what you’ll do at each timeframe. You can lay out your existing commitments, then find time for your highlight, then batch together smaller tasks to get them done quicker.
I have found that just the act of laying out my day is incredibly motivating. If I’m able to finish any of my tasks early, I can either take a break or start tasks early. I’m able to tell right away if my to do list is too long, so I can make prioritization decisions immediately. That way, I don’t end the day feeling like a failure. I knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t get to x, y, or z.
Inevitably something will come up at some point in the day and I can always replan it. Many times, however, I’m a little ahead and so a direct report showing up with a problem doesn’t stress me out because I know I’ve got plenty of time to help.
Choose What You’ll Focus On
I don’t think I’ve ever gone down a rabbit hole of similar books like this before. I’m usually all over the place and I relish reading a wide variety of subjects. These books on focus have somehow helped me, uh, focus on how to be more intentional with my time and I am LOVING IT. If you do one thing differently today, choose a “highlight” and carve out some time to focus on it. See if you feel as good about your day as I have been. If what you focus on becomes your life, make it something good!
