1. Disconnect for a day (or two). No Internet connection ? perhaps no computer at all if using your computer is too much of a temptation to connect. Use an actual paper notepad and pen, writing and brainstorming and making pages of notes or sketches. Make phone calls instead of connecting via email or IM. Meet with people in real life, and get outside. Get a ton of important work done. No mobile devices except for actual phone calls.
2. Then connect for a day (or two). Take all the notes and work you did during your disconnect, and type them up and email them and post them online and so forth. Answer emails and get other routine tasks done, and then prepare for your next day of disconnect.
3. Repeat. You can vary the number of days you?re disconnected or connected, finding the balance that works for you.
While some may feel this will limit the work they can do, I think it?ll actually do the opposite: you?ll get more done, or at least more important tasks done, because you won?t be distracted.
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You?ll also find it a calming change from the always-connected. It?s a peaceful routine.
Conclusions
The purpose of these two routines isn?t to tell you how to work, because we must each find the style and routine that works for our particular job. It?s to show you that change is possible, and that if you think outside the usual, you can find some exciting possibilities.
You don?t need to do these things exactly the way I?ve outlined above, but you can find a blend that works best for you. Perhaps a hybrid routine that uses both concepts, or a once-a-week walking or disconnect period.
Integrating walking into your work routine can do wonders for your fitness and for your focus. That?s something you can?t find if you?re sitting all day.
Integrating disconnection into your work routine will allow you to get even more done, and to find peace of mind.
I urge you to consider both, and see how they can make your life better.
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section v.
others
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1: finding focus, for parents
?The field of consciousness is tiny. It accepts only one problem at a time.?
? Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Parents might have the most difficult challenges when it comes to finding focus. Whether you?re working all day and coming home to your kids, or you stay home taking care of all the household needs and very demanding children, there?s almost never a quiet moment, almost never a time when you can relax, find focus, attain inner peace.
I?m a father of six children, so I know. Kids tend to turn up the volume on life, increase the chaos of this already chaotic world by an order of several magnitudes. And while I?ve found that it gets easier as kids get older, it never gets easy ? they still need you to drive them around a million places, to help them with a million problems, to meet their basic needs and more.
That?s OK ? chaos and work are some of the joys of being a parent. But what if we want to find focus and still be awesome parents? There?s the challenge, and I?d like to offer a short guide to doing just that.
The Challenges
The biggest challenge is that parents wear many hats: we have jobs, have a household to run with its unending tasks, have personal things to do (workout, read, hobbies, etc.), possibly have civic commitments (volunteer, serve on a board, work with the PTA, etc.), and yes, we have children to raise.
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How do we balance these commitments? How do we find focus in one, when we are constantly being pulled at from the others? In my life, for example, I try to focus on work but have children in my home/office who want my attention. When I spend time with them, there?s the temptation to check email or Twitter. When I want to spend time alone, the siren?s call of work and the neverending call of my children make focusing on my solo activity a challenge.
