Renaissance of Attention
With so many distractions coming in on a day-to-day basis, we are often asked to consult teams on how to manage it all -- email, meetings, project requests.
With the introduction of instant messaging (as a team communications tool), project wikis and a myriad of Web 2.0 and social network tools to keep connected, the interruption factor is at this point detrimental to the productivity it's designed to serve.
In a New York Times article this week, Attention Must Be Paid, Marci Alboher reviews Maggie Jackson's new book, "Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age."
This book takes a look at what working in the Digital Age is like for most of us and how multitasking and other instaneous response actions and expectations are making it tough to have that time to deliberate thoughtfully and "digest ideas" fully.
The "casualties" of our fragmented and distracted attention is deep and significant.
If you are every feeling the struggle to keep up, read this article and the book to understand what is going on here and how to be "attentive" to your actions throughout the day.
Great article. Great book.
Thankfully, it actually inspired me today to take time and reflect, which in and of itself, helped me write a blog post longer than 140 characters. ;)
