Day 13 — Multi-day focus. I get distracted somewhat easily, and…
By: Scott Barron
Tags: Productivity Hacks, Focus, Deep Work

Working distraction free (Photo by Ken Tomita from Pexels)

I get distracted somewhat easily, and I’ve found that my distractability had\s increased exponentially with the rise of the newer technologies and the choices afforded. There are always new articles to read on medium, movies to watch on Netflix, notifications and emails that pop up on my phone. We live in a distracting world, and there is no doubt that with so many things vying for out attention, focusing on what you want and need to do is more difficult than ever.

You might think that you can have your cake and eat it too. Watch Netflix while writing that sales report (I am very guilty of doing this). Let’s face it though — we’re kidding ourselves. Despite what we may believe, the ability to multi-task doesn’t make us more efficient. In fact it multiple studies have shown the exact opposite. Multi-tasking is an illusion and a fallacy. Invariably you just focus inefficiently (and probably ineffectively) on a single task at a time, and rapidly switch your focus between tasks.

Avoiding distractions & attention residue

Avoiding distractions is easier said than done for a lot of us. While I may want to lock myself in a basement for days on end, invariably my children will demand to be fed, or will have an argument with each-other which can only be resolved by a parent. But distractions can be minimized, and mitigated with careful planning. Likewise, many self help books advise against multi-tasking, for a more focused, task based approach citing increased efficiency.

Only a select few highlight the subject of attention residue.

Attention residue is the attention that gets left behind on the previous task when you switch to a new task. That part of your attention span is essentially stuck in no-mans land. Unable to be moved or utilized until the effect has worn off. This may be minutes of hours later, depending on how intensely focused you were on the previous task.

While I’ve observed this phenomenon in my own work life, I never really appreciated how detrimental to my performance it was until relatively recently — so I conducted some experiments.

Deep Work

In his book “Deep Work”, Cal Newport discusses intense focus for extended periods of time. The theory goes that many individuals who have achieved excellence in their chosen fields have dedicated long hours, for days on end to the deliberate practice of their craft.

These people essentially go through cycles of putting themselves in situations of (sometimes extreme) isolation to avoid distractions, and minimize multi-tasking to achieve a desired outcome. Write a book, further their studies or learn a new language.

The create situations of almost extreme focus on what they’re working on that the rest of the world might as well not exist. That, it appears is the cost of true excellence.

Multi-day focus

The piece of the puzzle that was missing for me was the importance of focus spanning the entire day (often multiple days). Completing a daily task and then moving onto another task is not as efficient as doing that daily task 7 times in a single day (and then leaving it for a week). Likewise, if a task may span several weeks, with some time dedicated to it every few days it will take considerably longer (and require a lot more mental effort) than if it were attacked head on, and conquered over the span of just a few days. Assuming of course that during those few days you concentrate on nothing by that single task.

Based on my observations of my own behavior, it appears that attention residue may remain throughout the day even once a task has been completed. There appear to be situations where it may even bleed into the next day. This isn’t something that I had expected, or really appreciated until I payed greater attention to my own thoughts on what I had been working on.

The outcome from all of this is that I’ll be approaching my tasks in a much more “deep” way. I will dedicate multiple days to getting a task completely knocked off — rather than just chipping away at it. I’ll avoid distractions, multi-tasking, and hopefully increase my efficiency along the way.

Stats

Cash Reserves: $10,652 USD

Total Messages Sent: 36 (2 today)

Current Leads: 2

Current Customers: 3

Total Money Spent: $418 USD (No change)

Outstanding invoices: $1,998

Revenue Received: $1,070 (No change)

Feeling: Extreme focus

Thoughts: Focus focus focus