The War Against Distraction
Recent research in the US has found that in the average workplace employees
· Spend 2.1 hours in distraction
· Are interrupted every 11 minutes
· Take 25 minutes to refocus their mind back on the project they were working on before they were distracted
With the extreme long hours we work in Asia, the above US statistics will be significantly lower than our own averages.
Distraction in our daily lives is now immense and shows no sign of decreasing. Thanks to technology, and organizational de-layering, our workload is significantly higher than that of previous (retired) generations. With this in mind, the need for productivity reflection and focus is now more crucial than ever as we work on multiple tasks and multiple deadlines.
As an experiment I have left my communication devices on whilst writing this blog update. In the time is has taken me to write the above paragraphs I have received 3 emails, 5 twitter updates, 4 facebook updates, 3 whatsapps, a phone call from a marketing company and an ‘urgent’ viber message.
So what can people do to help themselves focus amongst the barrage of distraction?
Well, one way is to disconnect for 30 minutes, step away from your usual environment and give yourself a little reflection time on what’s going on, what needs to be done and prioritise. The reason I write this is that it’s now becoming so difficult to ‘see the wood for the trees’. With information overload, constant requests and ‘fire-fighting’ it can be difficult to keep track of what’s really important.
Many people have a ‘to-do’ list and whilst these sometimes work, it’s also as important to keep an ‘achievements’ list. The reason is that, after a day of constant distraction you may remember what you achieved, but if you try to remember 2 days later (or if your boss asks you 2 days later!) it’s often difficult to remember all of those great key ‘wins’. This is a disaster in self-marketing!
Young professionals generally have the largest issue with disconnecting as they are so used to being online and contactable 24/7. Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is the name given to this fear.
People are used to checking their Twitter / linkedin / facebook / weibo / snapchat / wechat constantly, because something interesting just might be happening.
It’s not “interruption,” it’s connection. But really it’s not “connection” either. It’s the potential for a different connection. It may be better, it may be worse but it’s unknown until they check.
Remarkably, at a biological level, our neural pathways are being changed by the constant demand to know why that little green, blue or yellow light is currently flashing on our phones. Thanks to neuroscience, we’re beginning to understand that when we access that snippet of information driving the smartphone light, we excite neurons in the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain, which releases the neurotransmitter dopamine into the brain’s pleasure centers. This in turn causes the experience to be perceived as pleasurable. As a result, some people can become obsessed with these pleasure-seeking experiences and engage in compulsive behavior such as the need to constantly check email.
This behaviour was really made public by the ‘Crackberry’ addiction. In the mid-2000’s one US lady banker in late stages of labour was famously admitted to the delivery room still frantically tapping away on her blackberry.
Recently, recognized learning and development experts, Boud, Cressey and Docherty have developed the concept of ‘productive reflection at work’, which takes a collective approach to reflection and which they claim is the ‘key to learning to improve production and to making life at work more satisfying’ (Productive Reflection at Work: Learning for Changing Organizations 2006). The essential element of the learning achieved through this approach is that it is focused on workplace activity, it is ‘reflection in and on the work being carried out. This is what we term productive reflection’ (2006, 4).
They claim this new approach is particularly valuable, because, ‘Yesterday’s trainees in vocational education and training must now become lifelong learners with greater emphasis on problem solving, interpersonal skills and contextual understanding and capacity for reflexivity’ (2006, 5).
So here I’d like to ask 3 questions?
What’s the worst thing that could happen to you by disconnecting for 60 minutes?
If your leader gave you 60 minutes of complete, uninterrupted ‘focus time’, what could you really achieve with that?
As a leader in your organization, to enhance the productivity and focus in your team, what can you do to help your people at this critical time?
Our coaching and training helps professionals focus and achieve more.
Please send me any comments you have. Any typos or grammatical errors contained here are all my own work!