In this chapter, we’ve looked at a lot of issues around the idea of focus and attention. I have encouraged you to pursue meditation as a tool for mental sharpness and clarity, extolled the virtues of maintaining an exocortex, and warned against the dangers of distraction.
So, what does it take to stay sharp? The biggest thing is self-awareness—remembering that you need to deliberately work at staying sharp. Left to our own devices, our default settings aren’t ideal for programming and knowledge work.
If nothing else, remember to do these three things:
Learn to quiet your chattering L-mode.
Deliberately work with and add to thoughts in progress, even if they aren’t “done” yet.
Be aware of just how expensive context switching can be, and avoid it in all its myriad forms.
If you start trying to tackle at least these areas, you will be well on your way to managing your focus and taking control of your attention.
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I’m picturing the old video game Frogger, with the same messy results.
Meditation is a common theme, even if it’s not explicitly stated as such. The Judeo-Christian Bible advises that we should “Be still and know that I am God.” It’s that “being still” part that proves difficult, regardless of one’s beliefs.
The Experience of Transcendental Meditation in Middle School Students: A Qualitative Report [RB06].
As with many issues, this one may expose some generational bias as well; Millennials seem to have less of a problem with this than Boomers, for instance.
Thanks to Steph Thompson for suggesting this metaphor.
From Jerry Weinberg’s The Secrets of Consulting [Wei85].
And donated nearly 7,000 of them to form the core of the Library of Congress in 1815.
There are plenty of mainstream press articles on the topic, such as “Life Interrupted” Life Interrupted [Sev04] and “Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic” Slow Down, Brave Multitasker, and Don’t Read This in Traffic [Loh07].
Although it makes a great story, the underpinnings of this study were questionable. See http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002493.html.
“Distracted No More: Going Back to Basics” by Paul Ford, All Things Considered, November 23, 2005.
Available from http://freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=7013.
See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-stone/just-breathe-building-th_b_85651.html.
Actually, that isn’t so far-fetched, according to some studies. Whether it’s a pellet or a good email, you’ll keep hitting the button. It’s called intermittent variable reward reinforcement, and we fall for it just like the pigeons and lab rats.
Task Interruption: Resumption Lag and the Role of Cues [AT04].
According to a Jon Peddie Research survey, “Whether you measure productivty in facts researched, alien spaceships vaporized, or articles written,” quoted in The Virtues of a Second Screen [Ber06].