Rich's current Twitter status:My Dr. Can't believe how great all my bloodwork came back, maybe abusing my body is a form of exercise...
So, the second part of the Attention Age doctrine is coming out very soon.
I hope you’re as excited to discover my secret solutions, as I am to give them to you.
I promise these secrets will change the way you live, work and think - so you can breathe... relax... smile... and make more money, while also enjoying the great gift of life.
But in order for you to really grasp, absorb, and - more importantly - apply the solutions that I’m going to give you, you need to truly understand "The Attention Age” and why we are in it.
I explained the Attention Age (AA) in the first part of the doctrine, but in hindsight I really would’ve liked to have said more. The purpose of this post, and a few more to come, is to explore and dissect the AA itself. To give you a tour of the “ADD-World” we now live in.
Three concepts discussed in part one of the doctrine: Information Overload, Interruption Overload, and the Paradox of Choice.
These are the three main characteristics of the Attention Age—we are so connected, we are disconnected. We are so frequently interrupted, we are becoming less intelligent. And we have too many choices and options that we tend to make poor decisions.
The world we live in today provides endless content sources of information, and it is more than likely that you will be interrupted during anytime of the day - whether you’re in the office, having dinner, at your first born’s christening, or even while you’re using the bathroom.
Not only are we bombarded with information, but we are also competing for everyone’s undivided attention.
Think about this:
We are depleting attention at one end, and demanding it at the other - from cell phones, text messages, e-mail, you name it.
So our attention is our most scarce and valuable resource. It's more important than intelligence in many cases, and is considered to be one of the (if not the) prime factors in determining how successful you are in your career.
Optimizing your attention, and focusing on the correct people and objects in life, can truly make or break you. It really defines who you are and indicates what you will accomplish in life.
As Herbert Simon once wrote,
“In an information-rich world, the wealth of information means a death of something else: a scarcity of whatever it is that information consumes. What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it.”
I would simply add information overload, interruptions, too many choices, clutter, maxed-out bandwidth, psychic ram, and fear of missing out on new opportunities—all consumes our attention.
Now you can see why I deem this period of our life... The ATTENTION AGE.
With this said, what if we didn’t experience these negative effects of Information Overload, Interruption Overload and the Paradox of Choice? What if we were never distracted? What would we get done? What could we really accomplish?
Think about it for a few minutes.
In fact, try this little exercise:
Take a sheet of paper. Divide it into two columns; have one column be your common attention-drains during your day, and next to it, how much time those attention-drainers cost you. Add up all the time-costs. Then, in the second column list all the things you would do if you were sitting in an invisible-isolated bubble. Make it a bright, colored, invisible bubble if you would like. Once you’ve filled out both sheets of paper, look at your “color-bubble” list. Ah, what a dream it would be to get all those things done in one work day….
Here’s a secret:
If you’ve ever wondered or been in awe of how much successful entrepreneurs get done - it’s that they spend most of their time in that “colored bubble.”
Now, take a look at your attention-drainers and time (they cost you) list - don’t you just want to scream! What if all those annoying drainers didn’t have to take place? What if you could make that entire left column disappear, so you could act on everything you listed in your right column?
How nice it would be to return to your happy bubble...
And that, my friend, is what the second part of the doctrine is all about.
Secrets to reclaim your own attention, so you can be the productive person you’ve always wanted to be (and are when you’re in your bubble!) And how to capture and hold on to your market’s attention and skyrocket your business (hint: It’s the steps I used to take Strategic Profits from a standstill to 7.5 million in 12 months.)
So, tell me and the other readers:
What are your biggest attention drains? And what are they preventing you from accomplishing?
I’ll review (as I always do) your comments and do my best to customize my solutions to your situation(s).
Link to this post: If you found this page useful, consider linking to Creating An Attention Bubble ...
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I still find procrastination to be my biggest attention drain. Anytime I really need to get something done, I find something else that just has to get done first. I know it’s a dodge, but I do it anyway. Maybe that’s why I’m not wealthy … yet.
I have enough “attention bubbles” to fill my own bathtub, but that would be just another distraction keeping me from my business.
I’ll look forward to trying the exercise you suggest here. Maybe by writing things down and identifying my own “happy bubble” I’ll be more productive.
In the meantime, I am making a promise to myself to take these blog posts to heart and not just read them for entertainment. There’s a lot of good value here.
I find that a flaky email system on my PC that is overwhelmed by spam steals a ton of my time. Because of all the filters (antivirus, spam, etc.) that are in place, my PC gets completely bogged down and I have to continually WAIT on it or even frequently reboot it. So I am setting things up on autopilot to deal with 98% of the junk and/or newsletters and the things that really need my attention can be dealt with on MY time table.
Other than that, I am able to restrict most distractions fairly successfully except for my own temptations to get sidetracked. I have to make a decision to not allow myself to be sidetracked by my own temptations and whenever possible - reduce or eliminate all outside distractions.
Thanks for the incredible information!!
C.D.
I had this problem.
Then I did 2 things.
1) Ditched Windows for Ubuntu Linux, totally - but this is not the solution for everybody.
2) Got a GMail address and set up forwarders for every email from multiple accounts (about 20 email addresses) to Gmail.
3) Set up about 50 rules in Gmail to move email form x to label y and archive it (does not display all the mail list stuff on the front page of inbox)
4) Set up the settings in Gmail to show 99 messages per page and not 20
5) Use the star button in Gmail to decide which emails are important right now and then use the Starred menu option to only show a list of the very important must-do-now stuff
6) Then I don’t keep GMail open in my browser anymore, I use a Gmail notifier to flash a small little message on the screen for the Inbox mails that I can decide on the spot if I need to break my work routine and pay attention to the mail.
I run more websites than I can count anymore. I receive about 200 to 1,000 emails per day, of which a fifty or less are really important. My inbox on Gmail hovers between 10,000 and 20,000 messages at any time. I don’t read every email, but I respond to every one that has to be responded to within a day (or two).
Every email, every reply in Gmail is searchable.
Then I get about 5 spam messages per day that gets through the Gmail filters.
On Ubuntu Linux I have no virus package, no spyware, no nothing but the built-in firewall as well as a basic firewall on my ADSL router. I have not a single issue with any of the Winsux rubbish!
Email can either destroy you or empower you. I chose the second option.
A fantastic feature is Gmail chat (not voice, text) When I work on a project for a customer I provide a continuous feedback on progress and issues through Jabber or Gmail to my customer’s Gmail address. If the customer happens to be offline, he/she gets all these messages in a digest.
I hope this helps. Without the benefit of this website, I learned the hard way that success depends on the work done within the no-interruption bubble!
Well Rich you have again quite elgantly put together in thought and paper what ails us entreprenuer wannabees! Not that we are not intelligent but we need someone to tug us along in the right direction and I want to express a deep heartfelt Thanks for your efforts!
I suffer from many distractions including family, work, telephone, email, chatting etc. etc. My solution?… divorce the family, quit work, turn off the phone, set up filtrations on email, not read any more offers or buy them, chat only with those you want to communicate with and ignore pretty much all of the new ones claring for my time, unless they come to me as referral… (just kiddng about the family! I have 2 sons, a husband who is a doctor and my mom to take care of! My older son is severly handicapped but in excellent health!) I hope to see the changes to fruition and success!
Sunita - working mom and Independent Distributor of Reliv International
Creating an attention bubble sounds really good like a prayer closet. If I get as many answers to business in my hot pink bubble as I do in my prayer closet I would certainly give it a go. Great plan !!! Dona
Speaking about attention! My Attention was pulled in from so many direction today only… I met with a friend who came to visit from out of state. 3-hours. I jumped on a list building teleconference call. 1.5 hours. I needed to take to post my thoughts here. 5 minutes. I’m off to the bank, return a two phone calls, on and on and on.
Attention magnetics all around, or I just haven’t learned it yet?
Thanks Rich once again for the reminder..
-Scott Y.
http://www.MLMSponsoringPro.com
P.S. My biggest attention drains are emails, emails and more emails. Telemarketers, power outages, computer trouble, work,and body ailments.These prevent me from learning more, applying what I learn, concentrating on the all important destiny I have.
The first comment said it for me - I would just add deja vu … it was even signed by an alter Philip
Still need to work on that myself. Although I HAVE to read anything that comes from Rich
I will try the happy bubble! Should be fun…
Can’t wait for Part 2 of the AA Doctrine.. Brilliant information, Thank You Rich, always much appreciated.
Cheers Dianne Kneller
Hi Rich,
Attention Age II Anticipation
I’m really excited about the sequel to the Attention Age Doctrine.
Question Disclaimer
My attention drainer requires a bit of background information so I apologize for it’s length but I believe a lot of other people may also encounter this same attention draining problem …
Background
I have become pretty good at focus and working through tasks, working one task at a time and resisting the temptation of extraneous multi-tasking.
Lead The Field
In Earl Nightingale’s, “Lead The Field” he recommended people start off each day by listing their 6 most important tasks and then placing a number next to each item in order of importance and then completing each task one by one in that order … it’s something I am pretty sure you would have heard from Earl … and combined with your kitchen timer strategy, is a way to get things done that I use.
1 Out Of 6? or 5 out 6?
But the weakness of this is some days I only get 1 out of my most important 6 tasks done, as one specific task can take that long …
Solutions?
Maybe time blocking is a solution so I can pause long tasks, and move onto other tasks so at the end of the day 5 out of 6 tasks are complete as opposed to just 1 or 2 out of 6?
Productivity Itself
So my biggest attention drain is specific tasks that take too much time and too much energy that negatively effect my ability to complete other less important tasks.
Best regards,
Alan
http://alanwho.com
Hi Rich
Just want to say thanks forall the good info, I will have totry the bubble
Thanks again
As time goes on I am becoming better and better at getting things done. Understanding myself and how I tick helps a lot. I know why I procrastinate and I know what distracts me.
Having said that there is still much work to be done. My biggest one is that I love research and would do that above all else if I could. My computer has so much information on it from all the research I have done for my online library which I couldn’t use it all in a million years.
That is my next challenge, Rich, as far a productivity goes and your information is always of extreme value to me.
Best Regards,
Lesley
Wow! How did you know that my life is just one big information overload. Trying so hard to get my Internet business going I am constantly bombarded with “deals” that sometimes I’m working two at a time. Your post came about a week after I decided to focus on just one idea and drop the rest. Thanks for the boost to my decision. I’m looking forward to part two…so much so that I copied your attention bubble with two of your remarks and put them on a piece of paper which now hangs on my desk just so I’ll never go back to the old way.
Blessings,
Daron
Rich,
Great exercise.
As someone who helps small business owners and their sales teams create the focus necessary to create breakthrough results, I commend you on raising the bar on helping entreprenuers to eliminate distractions and create more focused attention on achieving more with less stress.
Even though I coach and teach similar strategies I, too, sometimes succumb to the challenge. In this information age it is almost impossible not to and we need all the tools we can get to create new habits of thinking, feeling and acting that will allow us to create the resuls we desire.
Skip
As a Teacher of “Enlightened Ways to Wealth”- getting people to believe that they have the power to LET GO OF ALL THAT MENTAL DISTRACTION…and learn ELEGANT TECHNIQUES for TRAINING THEIR Attention on what matters most — is one of the greatest challenges in training!
Thanks RICH your Awareness of this number one most important TO SUCCESS in ANY Endeavor….fills me with THANKFULNESS that there is someone else out there sharpening people’s discernment of what is important and how to apply it.
Best
Sue Stebbins
CEO Wealthymindwaves
Well Rich I don’t have much to say in that there are so many tangents I can go from here. But basically what you are saying is for us to make a pro and con list of what we want. By making this list we begin to train ourselves into thinking about what we could do an a “bubble”. Well for motivated people that is a fantastic idea…. this is coming from an engineers mind so if I am way off tell me. I do like lists and this type of thinking is welcome in my book.
Hey Rich,
I am your newest in your fan club
I joined your coaching program this month and already floored with the advice you gave me during coaching call. I am working on it to improve me offer. You remember..the free trial was actually hurting my business stuff you told me..??
It was just awesome!!
I cannot wait for part 2 of AD..it will be awesome.
Regds,
Dee
http://www.PLRVideoDepot.com
Hi Rich,
Trying to find the best product takes up a lot of my time. Of course, a better one will come out tomorrow! Unsubscribing from the “I’ll promote anything” people has been a huge help.I should be spending more time on the basics such as article submission, building a list, split testing, etc. I’m getting better, but it does require a commitment.
Ted
Has anyone ever experienced this?…
You stumble upon a website of interest and are just about ready to buy something that you want, but you see another link that for some reason you feel the need to click on. You are taken to another website and repeat this action a few times. Before you know it you end up on a totaly unrelated page reading something you are not even interested in but somehow you were lead there just by some sort of natural flow of words on the pages or images that you felt compelled to click on? Am I alone? And Mr. Schefren, what do you call THAT phenomina? Does this relate to what you are talking about? Thanks. Arnold.
Rich,
I’ve worked on the most of the attention grabbers except me! I’m a singer songwriter and the creative part of my business is inspiration and for the most part inspiration is how I function. But it doesn’t work when I need to have a to do list for my assistant, or laying out my ideas for everyone that works with me. Their waiting for better understanding and I waiting for inspiration! So if I’m not inspired I do other things, mindless things, like reading emails, taking walks, thinking. How do you create an Attention Bubble (golden brown) attention bubble protecting me from ME?
Pippi Ardennia (when you need to feel the music)
For those of you who may be having a challenge in identifying all the ways that your attention is getting drained, you may want to take a free focus assessment I created to help the members of my coaching program, which is called “Breakthrough F.O.C.U.S.” - the 25-point assessment can be taken for free at this link:
http://www.WeismanSuccessResources.com/FreeFocusAssessment
Enjoy,
Skip
Hmm, I’ve got quite a list:
Motherhood. My Mom once described parenthood as “one interruption after another.” She was right. My biggest job is as an unpaid chauffeur, medic, counselor and cook.
Email. Way too much of the stuff.
“Swatting gnats,” as an astute programmer friend once called those small, annoying but essential tasks. Client’s contact form isn’t working right. Client can’t quite figure out how to add this or that. Web host updates PHP and breaks my script. And so on.
Web research. I go to look up something like how to add dynamic text in Ajax and find myself a half-hour later on Google News reading about Anna Nicole Smith’s star-crossed gay lovers.
Too many projects. Hard to stay focused on one project when you’re juggling six.
Thanks for all the great info and strategies. You’ve got an appreciative audience here.
Well, let us imagine for a second that you’re constantly outside your bubble - you’re just running around “putting out fires” because you’re not yet making enough cash to justify any time on growth. Effectively, there is no bubble yet. What’s your advice in that scenario? I feel a “sort yourself out” coming
Reading what you just wrote really inspires me to get off my ass and do what I really want too and leave behind my old life and start the new One. Im young wannabe entrepreneur that opens his eyes everytime I read something of yours!
Hi Rich,
I am just tired of trying to hold it all together and convinced that if I don’t keep learning, innovating, ‘doing it and doing it and doing it’ that it will all come tumbling down. It’s like putting together a jigsaw puzzle without the picture… sorting out the colors, trying this and trying that and hoping that something will materialize to give me a sense of what the picture is supposed to look like. Oh, I have a plan but where do all these pieces fit? I better check this out. Oh, what’s that over there. Hey, here’s a great idea. Gotta listen to that teleconference. Oh good! another email from Rich. I better read that… but I’ll do the two-columns-on-a-piece-of-paper exercise later… when I have more time. I know, I’ll add a comment. That will make me feel like I’ve accomplished something.
Hello Rich,
Interesting piece on the “Doctrine” as you call it which includes “Information Overload, Interruption Overload and the Paradox of Choice.” It can be a bad thing and a good thing all at the same time. I truly believe that once I put all that wonderful information to work for me in the right way, it won’t seem as overwhelming and time consuming as anything is when you first are exposed to it all. Interruptions like telephone calls, e-mails, etc. are part of doing business and can be allocated accordingly. And yes, we have many more options at our disposal now adays.
Thanks for your suggestions for addressing and taming these problem areas.
Sue Chartock
Hi Rich:
Great Job in describing the age old problem in the context of current environment. Clearly the solution is to be able to make the right choices — to be able to separate wheat from chafe; to be able to pay attention to and focus on what is important; and be decisive about what is unimportant and get it out of sight in File 13.
It is very interesting the way you have described the problem, and your approach to an effective solution. It is important to recognize that there is a problem because to be able to solve the problem one must know and acknowledge that there is a problem.
I am looking forward to your followup on this.
Great post. So in other other words, you really have to enter “The Zone”, that place where you’re doing the things that are important but not urgent (like putting out fires, answering the phone) or anything else that’s totally distracting you from the goal…
Sometimes the biggest drain can come from just not getting enough leverage to “do” all the important things that need to get done.
Hey Rich,
this is a great post. Even though I am less distracted by outside influences than I was before I still spend too much time talking and brainstorming instead of putting it all together.
This is a great idea and thank you for bringing it to my attention. Gotta go as I have a bubble to build….
The symbolic bubble is a great visualisation of the isolation concept. If you practice traditional meditation, this is what you learn there.. cut out the cacaphony around you and learn to get along with the work in hand!Human nature being wht it is, even the most accomplished yogis have to practice concentration exercises on a daily basis to prevent slipping behind.
Certain degree of tenacity of purpose is an absolute must to tackle this problem. The timely reminder should serve all our young friends.
I think the issue of being unable to complet listed tasks for a day needs some comment( Alan’s posting above)
The carried forward tasks should figure as the first entries for the next day and then undergo the prioritisation. There is an old wisdom that if something was left undone for a week’ it probably was not woth doing anyway!
When dealing with a big task that takes up your whole day, it is possible to break it down too two parts one that needs to be done by you alone and the other that can be delegated to some one else.This way you will find time to attend to other priority activities also.
I get into the “thick of thin things” as Covey calls it. I do a brain dump of all the things I have to do (by looking through the heap of papers on my desk, and writing what comes to mind) and then I start work on them. Every day the list gets bigger, and I find myself working on the easier things just to get some of tasks off my plate. Then I think, God, I can’t wait until Saturday when I don’t have to look at this list. Then on Saturday I write up another list. Major distractions include: emails, computer issues (mine and other peoples) phone calls, cell calls, and “oh crap I forgot to…” as well as procrastinating on the big stuff on my list that I know will take a lot of time and leave me with a bigger list tomorrow.
I have to agree with Luke, when he says, “
Maybe I ought to check this out”. He explains it well.We feel like we haven’t found the best way as yet, and keep looking. I need to decide which is most important so that I don’t leave anything out that would be good for business, such as writing articles and such. My weakness is thinking that I could have a better way to advertise or do business and I succumb to too many suggestions and try too many. I need to weed them out and focus on what would be best and forget the rest of the distractions. In other words finally be satisfied unless I can definitely see that it is not working.
I have to throw this one in. One of the posts talked about jumping from page to page rather than sticking to what you want to do on that Website. This is one great reason, I do not allow other links on my Website to distract and take people away from the train of thought that I want them on. I only allow links that take them to more of my Websites of information. I am anxious to read your comments.
Dynamite!!! You’ve been reading my mind. The other side of the bubble is a disease….an addiction. I hit my online bottom and from now on am going to keep it Zen SIMPLE!! One step….one day at a time.
Looking back…I’ve had several incredible success’s….and they all came through….KEEPING IT SIMPLE and LAZER FOCUS.
Thanks…Roy..Las Vegas
Hi Rich,
Thanks for the great bubble secret. I am almost afraid to try this exercise as I might have to face the true hard facts. I could still be wasting time on the internet.
Two weeks ago I decided I had wasted enough time and money spinning my wheels and getting little accomplished. I banned myself from the Warrior Forum and deleted all the “IM gurus” that email me their latest and greatest offers almost on a daily basis. I must say that it was very hard for me to do this but afterwards it had a very uplifting and mind clearing effect. Now I plan to FOCUS: Follow One Course Until Successful and have vowed to remain on course.
So why am I responding on your blog you might ask?
I admire and learn so much from you that I consider it an education not a distraction.
I believe you truly enjoy helping people grow and I am most grateful to you for your willingness to share your knowledge.
All the Best!
Jeanne
I have a hard time focusing on one thing because I don’t know that what I am trying to focus on is worth the time and effort or am I waisting my time and really should be doing something else. I have spent the last nine months trying to learn about internet amrketing and all the many aspects of it. I have spent lots of money which I really didn’t have, to find a system I could learn from A to Z and begin making money which will give me some peace and afford me more time to continue my learning.
But, I am still where I was nine months ago. I still feel kind of clueless and don’t have a step by step system to follow that works to completion and is making me money. :o(
I can absolutely relate to what Arnold said — I seem to end up reading comments to news stories, which digress off into religious debates and out-and-out insultfests. I’m not interested in that kind of thing, and don’t participate, but I have ended up on page 2 or even 3 of the comments before I “come to” and realize that I’m not doing anything that’s productive or helpful. I’m also guilty of being way too efficient at answering e-mails, opening them and replying to them as soon as they come in. When I really get into what I’m doing, I’m able to focus and keep most of the distractions at bay — and then my husband comes downstairs and has to tell me something right then, or just wants to “see if I’m okay,” or tell me he loves me. That’s great, honey, but it’s not helping me to get anything accomplished just at the moment. I don’t mean for that to be as cynical as I think it may sound, and I certainly don’t think you can do anything about my husband, Rich
But he IS one of the sources of my distraction. But I’m much worse than he is, letting “way lead on to way” like Virginia mentioned. I’ve never been any good at multi-tasking, as I really can’t split my attention — even with trivial things, like trying to read something simple, a quote on my box of tea or something, and chat on the phone to a friend. I either have to ask my friend to repeat herself saying “Sorry, I left for a minute but I’m back now,” or else I have no idea what the tea box actually says. I’m not trying to multitask on the important things, but when this crap grabs my attention, it’s so hard to wrest it away. (Excuse the vulgarity, but it’s an accurate descriptor.)
Just realised that reading so many posts is draining my attention. I’m going back to my bubble!
Hi Rich,
1) You won’t know something is important / relevant to you until you have read it, and that takes time.
2) There is always this mental psychotic state where the information (email, etc) that you missed, could lead to the most important, life-changing experiences you will ever have. Not having read/processed it, we’ll never know, won’t we?
3) We spend time attending seminar after seminar, all trying to sell some package / system / courses to you. You are looking to tap into a person’s experiences, hoping to shortcut the learning process by learning the “wisdom”, gleaned from many years of research / exploration, to only do what works, and avoid the pitfalls. We search and search for the perfect solution, that makes sense to us, and get information overload at the end of the day. Can this be avoided?
As you so rightly pointed out, we have limited time, effort, $$ and now, even attention is a scarce resource.
How do you filter out what works / is relevant to yourself, from tons of other data / information?
How can we do our own “data-mining”, to distill the “gems” of relevant info?
Please share your thoughts on the above issues. Heartfelt thanks!
Rdgs,
TSH
Looking for solutions to business that almost meets a preliminary goal…….over analysis, sticking with something too long that is not working, being able tpo tell the difference between a tactic that does not work, and one that requires massive action that is overwhelming..like 5000 articles published vs 100
In other words lack of results in a reasonable amount of time forces me to look elsewhere,,,,,a cycle of distraction then perpetuates itself…….
Hi Rich
I think we are leaking our mental and energy resources all over the place simply because we do not have a vision for our life, a plan to achieve it and the simple discipline to keep on checking ourselves through the day to see how we are doing.
I get great help from Mike Litman’s motto,” You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going”.
All The Best
Alex
Hi Rich,
Another Great relay from what has already been discussed.
Its really benefiting me this blog and all your work so thankyou, Guru has become a dirty word to me so I will not put you in this context because you are not a look at me type person, you are a “here are the facts, here is my research” and I love that.
You are one professional Business Man that I think taking this seriously and not messing with real peoples lives, that is totally admirable. Thankyou
Lisa Lomas
Hi Rich,
wow, your blog posts are so powerful!!
I get many mails every day(like all of you).
This is the only one that I open and read.
Thanks for the great information
Sedat
You’re right. Everyone has a problem with ADD-type behaviour nowadays, though I think I’ve always been like that, truth be told.
There are lots of attention grabbers, it seems like more every day, and if you let them, they can gobble up your time, leaving you none for what you really want to achieve.
Following your ideas, I have unsubscribed from almost all the gurus that I used to hear from, though I have added a couple more on your recommendation since.
I’ve developed a strategy for dealing with email. I have Mailwasher, which highlights all the friends and known spam, so i just mark the other spam items and that’s that done. Check through for urgent stuff (bugs in websites, email from clients) and deal with them. The rest I leave for a mass email day, usually Saturday.
Another attention grabber is my newsreader. I can’t just get rid of this, as the information it collects is stuff I actually need - but I don’t need to read more than the headlines in most cases, which is a 10 minute job at most.
Next comes the phone. Touch wood, I don’t get a lot of calls, but most of those I do get are from family, so they can be quite lengthy. Business calls are infrequent and usually short. Most communication is by email.
I’ve found that my white board is a great way to focus. When I finish an activity, that’s where I look for my next job. Plus I keep a timesheet of the time taken on each activity (as advised by you), which really helps me to see how productive I am, and keeps me on the straight and narrow.
I threw the tv out years ago, as I don’t have time to watch it. Besides, what I do is way more fun that slumping in front of a television.
So, Rich, your advice is becoming essential to me in driving my business forward. Thank you so much.
Good stuff Rich!
Same process we are using with
http://www.super2up.com
Janet
Rich I submit that when your priorities are not defined that you will lapse into doing all the other stuff that is so tempting. I have Coached more than 3,000 business professionals and I always begin with defining a Strategic Business Plan. Most people would say “I know that”. The Secret lies in How to Strategically Execute. If you don’t know where your leverage points are and you are not focusing on them by taking frequent action you are probably filling up your day with all the secondary issues listed here. As an example I tell my clients email is a substantial time waster. So turn off the alarms and look at it twice a day for a fixed period of time and not a minute more. This puts you back in control versus the belief that you must be instantaneously available to everyone. Also use a call back system so that again your interuptions can be minimized. Unless you are an open heart surgeon you are not that important and the calls you get aren’t that important either. Then use the time avialable to control your workday. What are the 2-3 most important things that you need to do today to make progress on your high priority strategies. Allocate enough time in blocks so that you do them. Since some tasks are large -chunk them down into bite size pieces. At the end of the week ask your self have I added more high level(ideal) clients to my business and/or have I added repeatable systems /processes. If you have spent the right amount of time and have made progress in these two areas you are moving forward. If not you are still caught in your unprioritized world and you are destined to continue your mediocore existance. The choice is always yours.
Rich,
It’s unbelievable how you can that easily describe what’s happening to me. And the worst part of it is that I didn’t have an idea as to why it is happening.
Now that you have made it clear to me where the culprits are coming from. Am getting more prepared to stop that time wasters.
My worst distraction are EMAILS!. And have to accept it publically (hoping to cure it one day) the other one is PROCRASTINATION.
Good stuff Rich. Keep it coming.
Jose.
Dear Rich,
since I realized the amount of various tasks I’d have to learn and to master and which of those to outsource according to your impressive map I couldn’t but admire your analytical way handling the complex areal others try to deminish as simple, easy, ready for modelling with closed eyes (just to sell some of their reports or programs as we can imagine :).
I tried to make up a ‘map’ for my every day tasks as socalled single-mom working in a comparatively unstructurizable job where some years ago I had listed up the different topics and their inner relations for the rest of my team on a thematic map of more than 5m x 1.20m
width. Therefore I absolutely aggreed to your positions that the multiple complexities of life and its various levels, interests, activities afford to focus from time to time on one or a few and to find solutions like outsourcing, specializing, teamworking.
On another occasion you stated that under normal working conditions the real productive time accumulated up to (about) two hours per day which I proved for my own general conditions to my own surprise as well.
I couldn’t fully accept your proposition of a general dispositional ADD (although -of course- I don’t know too many successful internet marketers and the ones I have come to know seem to be just normal, ordinary, kind and helpful communicative contempararies:) that could be characterized as suffering from a kind of deficiency (syndrom). So I hoped to get some further additional explanations to your thesis some time now. And I’m excited to read about them.
As you ask for some of your readers’ ideas on attention -or its loss - as a resource of mental or creative power and success - I wonder whether female or male ways of using their right or left parts of their brains and their tendencies to prefer to make use of the one or the other part might be of some relevance for a difference in organizing work, every day life, looking at problems or developing solutions within or without their bubbles.
I still don’t know where my preferred place might be.
Meditation or monastries can hardly be a solution for our 21st century (and if only for a certain time)I’d guess.
But go on - your results will be expected and certainly acclaimed to.
Regards, Mara
I have signed up for several newsletters. Most are affiliate sales letters every day and somethimes several a day. These are the big gurus. I have to unsubscribe after a short time. Once a week is plenty. Too much time to read 80 e-mails a day.
Rich,
One of my goals this year was to get you to come to Australia and I must admit, I thought I didn’t have a chance. But I heard that you are coming this October 19th-21st for Mal Emery’s Silent Killer 2 Event in Sydney Australia so I’m looking forward to it. And I’m sure all entrepreneurs in Australia will rejoice and join you for this incredible event.
Your message to entrepreneurs is incredible and it’s great to a have a fresh view on business concepts. But the best thing I have found about you is understanding the “WHY?”. I think it’s important to understand and get depth and distinction on the why because it allows us to reinnovate and reinvent the business, so that it stays “sexy”.
I look forward to seeing you in October in Australia…
And thanks again! Looking forward to part 2 of the doctrine.
By far my biggest attention drain is email. However I feel I am winning the battle by being ruthless with my delete key. I have also dramatically cut down the number of email lists I am subscribed to.
My recommendation is to always remember what your ultimate goal is. Is what you are doing right now getting you closer to that goal? If not, stop doing it and do something else that will.
Sorry, my website just made it to the bubble side. Thank you Rich for a great exercise. I just wanted to comment that color coding my day helps me. I just highlite different colors on a large daytimer page at the computer, one color for each “area”, and the allot a certain time frame for each task. Pink for Personal time, Blue for Household, Green For Internet Biz, Yellow For Critical To Do’s, etc…or you can even narrow down the “areas” you color code. For example, Pink for Shopping (online or outside), Green for Website building/list building/article writing, etc; Blue for Dinner/Laundry/Groceries, etc… Yellow for “must do now” whether its submit article deadline or answer an email to pay a bill…..etc. It works for me. Now my Yellow will have “Build that Bubble and Pay Attention To My Drainers! Eliminate Drainers!” Thanks everyone for your comments.
Dear Mr Schefren,
Thank you for providing me with this information, but as you mention I am suffering from “Information Overload”
There are just too many e-mails in my inbox for me to cope with as I am an old lady and most of my time is spet on domestic chores and looking after an aged, senile husband.
It is with regret that I ask you to do me the favour of unsubscribing me.
Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
Pamela Farrant
I’m headed into the bright bubble!, I just went through an experience in recent years that took me out of that bubble, put me into the land of interruption and it was costly, especially when you’re up to something you’ve wanted to realize your whole adult life. It requires, not only your attention, but remember, behind attention is life force, it’s your energy. Take your attention and split it up like Rich is saying and then consider how much energy we’re spending and per my experience, your energy can come to a grinding halt… Thankfully I knew how to get out of that situation. Rich, I can’t wait for part II.
a fan and follower someone I consider a leader,
John Allen Mollenhauer “JAM”
I have been trying to start my own business for the past few months and find that all of the attention drains are what is stopping me.
The biggest one is procrastination and the inability to take the next step (Not sure if there may be a fear of success in there somewhere also).
I am going to start doing your exercise on a regular basis and start knocking these attention drains off the list.
I seem to be like a deer in the headlights when it comes to taking the next step to get my business off the ground. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to overcome this?
Any feedback would be much apprecicated.
Thanks for all the great articles.
Kind Regards,
Graeme.
Luckily for me I live on a small island and hardly take care about these attention grabbing things. I get bored hearing them… actually I know they are not good - I feel as if they are stealing something from me…
So I agree with you totally.
Rich,
just finished reading the entrepreneurial EMERGENCY and the doctrine2 reports - wow great stuff and the amazing thing is you are just giving all this information away for F R E E where others would try to make a big $ on it - thanks for that so much. Thats how the universe works you put good stuff out there and more good stuff will come back to you.
signed up for your GPS program and can’t wait to start it
thanks for all
Francisco