Attitude

Getting easily distracted at work and at home takes a toll on productivity. Our failure to practice attention management makes it harder and harder to live a life of choice, rather than a life of reaction.

Distractions are abundant in our lives, both at work and at home. In our modern, technological world, there is always someone or something trying to steal our attention away from the task at hand: email, text messages, relentless push notifications, other people, and our own “busy” brain reminding us not to forget everything we have to do. It’s important to control our attention so that we can be productive and achieve the results that are most significant to us.

Are You Easily Distracted? Attention Management Can Help

Your attention determines the experiences you have, and the experiences you have determine the life you live. Or, said another way: you must control your attention to control your life. Today, in a world where so many experiences are blended together—where distraction is rarely more than a few minutes away—has that ever been more true?

However, it’s possible to develop and strengthen good attention management skills. By managing your attention, you are more readily able to increase your productivity, and to focus on the things in life that matter the most to you.

Control Your Technology

The first step to keep you from getting easily distracted is to control your technology. Remember that we purchase our technology tools for our convenience, not so everyone in the world can interrupt us at any time! Start by turning off those notifications. As often as possible and especially when you’re working, keep your phone silent and out of sight. Constant alerts and notifications have accustomed you to distraction, and this is chipping away at your attention span, your patience, and your ability to apply your brain power in a meaningful way.

Control Your Environment

Second, you have more control over your environment than you might think, and it’s time to exercise some of that control. Even if you work in an open-office setting, you can set some boundaries. For example, find ways to communicate to coworkers when you don’t want to be disturbed. Make a “Do Not Disturb” sign to hang on your office door, the back of your chair, or a cubicle wall when you are trying to focus, so you can get deeply engaged in your work without someone interrupting to ask, “Got a minute?”

To control your environment, you also need to manage clutter. A cluttered workspace is a subtle source of stress, and it means that other work and other issues will be distracting you while you are trying to focus on the task at hand. If your desk is messy, at least put the “mess” in a pile, in a box, or in a folder marked “to process.” This will reduce the chances that the clutter will steal your attention. You can do the same with files cluttering your computer desktop, and use your email inbox for receiving messages, not for storing them.

Control Your Habits

The third part is the trickiest: learning to replace your unhelpful habits. When we get distracted every few minutes all day long, distraction becomes a habit, so that every few minutes we get distracted! You can learn to recognize how often you are being distracted so you can let go of that habit of distraction and improve your focus, your attention span, and your patience.

Fight Back Against Distractions with Attention Management

Practicing attention management means fighting back against distractions and creating opportunities throughout your day to support your priorities. Building good attention management habits will help you start to reclaim your life and devote more of yourself to what’s really important to you. Don’t allow distraction to derail your aspirations and intentions. Instead, control your attention to control your life.

-Maura Nevel Thomas

If you want to learn more about Attention Management, click here!

A version of this article previously appeared on MauraThomas.com.

You can preview and purchase the book here>>

How long have you struggled with a goal or tried to achieve success, never to see it happen? Have you stopped to think why? There is a way to win, and it begins with a strong and positive mindset. Our newest release, 88 Days to Any Goal, shows that magic can happen when you're fully committed!

Why 88 Days?

Research has shown that people tend to work harder when they're closer to their goals. This means that with every step you take towards your goal, the harder you'll push yourself to get there. To ensure that you're taking necessary action, you need to set up a system that you follow consistently. It can take close to 88 days to fully implement a system, and during that time, the behaviors and actions you take will become habits. Those habits are what set you up for success. Here are three steps to help you get started:

1. Follow the Critical Few
When going after a goal, there are many good, trivial things you can do to inch forward. However, in order to succeed, there are only 2-3 things you must absolutely do if you want to reach your goal. How can you determine what these critical few items are?

Action: First, write down your objective, being as specific as possible. Next, list out all the steps you think you'll need to take to reach your goal. For each step, write down the daily habits and behaviors you'll have to follow. Finally, review this list and circle the top 2-3 things that are most critical.

2. Face Challenges to Your Goal
As you start working towards your goal, it's important to think about the road ahead and what obstacles you might find. When you are aware of potential challenges, you can prepare with possible solutions.

Action: Take a moment to write down challenges you think you may face as you get closer to your goal. For each challenge that you identify, write down a solution to help you through.

3. Plan, Do, Review and Adjust
Although it can be very exciting to start on the path towards a new goal, it's the day-to-day behaviors that will actually get you there, which means focusing on your plan.

Action: Make sure to review your plan weekly, make adjustments as you go along, and continue following it. Ask yourself if there are gaps that you can fill with activities that support your goal, and confirm that your schedule is focusing on those critical few items.

Start your 88 day plan with 88 Days to Any Goal>>

Businesses love to brag about their customer service. As a consumer, think about a recent customer service experience you have had. Was it something you would brag about? According to Forbes, while 80% of companies believe they deliver “super experiences,” only 8% of customers agree. This outcome has cost businesses more than $75 billion per year! Providing great customer service should be the cornerstone of any company; and yet, studies have consistently shown that businesses are not delivering.

Great service requires both creativity and a willingness to change. Here are three stories that show what great service looks like and what it can do for your customers and your business.

1. Great Service Turns Customers into Raving Fans.

One day the ice maker in my mother’s refrigerator had a bad water leak. She called several appliance repair companies, but couldn’t get anyone to come out. Then she saw an ad that read “Same day service.” When she called, a friendly voice said, “We’d be happy to fix your refrigerator today, Mrs. Blanchard.” My mother was blown away. The polite repairman showed up later that day and fixed the leak at a reasonable cost. As he was leaving, he handed my happy mother a card and said, “Anytime you have a problem with this refrigerator, you give me a call.”

What do you think my mother was doing for the next three days? She was calling all her friends to tell them about the service she had received—and giving the man’s name and phone number to anyone who would listen. She had become a raving fan.

2. Great Service is a Choice.

My friend Harvey Mackay was waiting in line for a cab at the airport. When one pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that it was polished to a bright shine. The smartly dressed cab driver jumped out, opened the back passenger door for Harvey, and said, “Hi! I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags, please read my mission statement.” He handed Harvey a card that read:

Wally’s Mission Statement:
To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest,
and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

When Harvey sat down inside the cab, he noticed the inside was as spotlessly clean as the outside. “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf,” said Wally as he slid into the driver’s seat. “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, and Sports Illustrated.” He then asked Harvey if he would like to have the air conditioning turned on, and offered to either tell Harvey about the city landmarks as they passed or, if he preferred, let him ride in silence.

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a taxi cab! I’ve probably told that story to more than 50 cab drivers over the years—but there were only two who took the idea and ran with it. And whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call.

3. Great Service Begins with Anyone.

When I travel, I often ask for a wake-up call. At most hotels, the call comes and you pick up the phone and nobody is there. Sometimes you get a recording. If you actually get a human being on the other end, you hardly know what to say.

So imagine my surprise when I was at a Marriott in Orlando and picked up the phone one morning and heard, “Good morning, Dr. Blanchard, this is Teresa. It’s seven o’clock! It’s going to be 75 degrees and beautiful in Orlando today—but your ticket says you’re leaving. Where are you going?”

Taken aback, I stammered, “I’m going to New York City.”

Teresa paused and then said, “Oh no! The weather map says it’s going to be 40 degrees and raining in New York City today! Can’t you stay?”

Now where do you think I want to stay when I go to Orlando?

I’ve said for years that if you don’t take care of your customers, somebody else is waiting, ready, and willing to do it. The best competitive edge for a business isn’t their product or their price. It’s how they treat their customers.

Take action: Brainstorm new and creative ways to give your customers a service experience they will remember fondly.

Shop The Simple Truths of Service>>

Decision-making, no matter how big or small, takes a toll on your brain – with each decision, it becomes harder for you to weigh the consequences. Once decision fatigue sets in, your brain looks for shortcuts and settles for the path of least resistance. So what can you do to combat decision fatigue? Simplify your decision-making process! Author Joe Calloway shares a story about an effective way you can do this:

Sir Peter Blake led Team New Zealand to successive victories in the America's Cup yacht competition in 1995 and 2000. The key to this success was that Blake focused the team on one question, which they asked about everything they did: "Will it make the boat go faster”?

Everything they did and every decision they made had to go through the filter of "Will it make the boat go faster”? This applied to equipment, training, nutrition, crew composition— and more.

We can all simplify and focus using our version of that question. Look at your daily choices and ask yourself your own version of "Will this make the boat go faster”?

• Will this get me where I want to go?
• Will this help me to create positive relationships?
• Will this assist me in reaching my goal?

We all have a "boat" we want to go faster. Be sure you are focused on doing things that will help you accomplish your goals. In the process, you will prevent decision fatigue by knowing exactly what you are aiming for.

From Joe Calloway

Learn more ways to Keep It Simple>>

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