Rational use of technology products to improve the quality of life.
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Editor’s note: When you are at work, open the phone after a while and start to brush up on Weibo and visit Taobao? There is growing evidence that the frequent use of digital products can affect the brain because they can cause intense irritation and quickly change focus. In an era of scarce attention, how can we regain our focus and let ourselves work and study efficiently? Maybe in this article, you will find the answer. This article is translated from Medium, author Omar Rabbolini, the original title is To Be More Productive, Free Yourself From Distraction.
The development of technology is amazing. Today’s smartphones are powered by artificial intelligence assistants and powered by the ever-expanding Internet, making it extremely easy to find facts, stay in touch with others, and schedule activities and go out.
However, just as any wonderful thing has its bad side, the same is true of the convenience of these technologies: we live in a world of information, and people are becoming more and more overwhelmed.
As of 2018, regular mobile phone users receive approximately four notifications every hour of waking hours. If you are surprised, think about the average time to use your smartphone: receive work emails, notifications from various social media pushes, messages that other important contacts don’t send often, and constant news from colleagues on Slack Bombing, and messages from friends in various Whatsapp groups. (Note: 1. Slack is a world-renowned collaboration platform. 2. WhatsApp is an application for communication between smartphones.)
No wonder people find it harder and harder to focus on their work. Whenever you receive a notification, your brain will switch scenes. Even if this situation only happens for a short second, it is enough to make your thinking slightly off track, letting you go around a detour, even though you did your best to ignore the notice.
As a result, there are many murmurs in the brains of modern humans. Over time, these murmurs can be exhausting and stressful. Sadly, no matter how toxic it is, we are used to it. When it is not around, weI will start to miss it.
Is there a way to solve this problem? Can we regain calm, focus and efficient solitude without sacrificing the convenience of the digital products we are used to?
Intermittent fasting of the brain
There are many discussions on the Internet that are beneficial to the health of intermittent fasting. According to various studies, fasting between half a day and a day and a half can produce many benefits that are beneficial to your body: from losing weight to reducing the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. If we apply the same principle to the dispersion of attention? Can we successfully restore productivity without extending the “digital detoxification time”? (Note: The original name of type 2 diabetes is adult-onset diabetes, which occurs after 35 to 40 years of age, accounting for more than 90% of diabetic patients.)
The method I’m proposing here stems from some of my thoughts in recent years: the Pomodoro Technique, and some good suggestions from the American Psychological Association to improve work efficiency.
Let’s try it now.
Control interference during your efficient working hours
If you are worried about what you miss in your heart, you will not be able to concentrate. A good way to increase productivity is to predict interference and only allow them to appear at fixed times.
The duration of attention varies from person to person, but for the sake of simplicity, you can start to set aside some working hours as effective working hours. During this time, you will only have to deal with interference for the last 10 minutes, such as 10:50 am to 11:00 am. If for any reason you missed this break, you can simply wait for the next one.
To ensure that the rest of your working hours are undisturbed, you can do the following:
Set your phone and computer to DND mode
iOS and Android both have a “Do Not Disturb” feature that can be scheduled or manually set. Unfortunately, this schedule is often limited to a period of time (usually at night), but at any time of the day, it’s easy to ignore this during an undisturbed, focused time.
Similarly, the DND option is available on most computers running MacOS, Windows, and ChromeOS.
The best way to create a no-disturb time is to set it up in a quick and easy way. The fewer buttons you need to press, the more likely you are to participate.
Once you are familiar with “Do Not Disturb” and turn it on, you can set yourself a timer and turn it off after 50 minutes.
Block interference
If you have your own office, close the door;If you work in an open office, find a quiet place and start working from there; if you can’t walk around, wear headphones (if they can reduce noise).
When we try to make your daily work easier to arrange for “uninterrupted” time periods, it’s trying to make interference hard to happen.
Don’t worry, if things are really urgent, people will always find a way to contact you.
Clean up your workspace
Visual confusion can cause unnecessary interference. If you are primarily working on a computer, turn the application you are using into full screen. If you want to use a desk, move things that you don’t need at the moment to the side. Especially your phone.
However, to stay true, the experience of “undisturbed” time must be pleasant. That’s why I don’t make my work environment too simple. Some people like to put a family portrait on their desk, and look at it from time to time, this is absolutely no problem. By the same token, I also placed a signed baseball on my desk.
In the beginning, when you try to calm down the noise in your brain, controlling interference can be difficult. If you feel unbearable for an entire hour, start with a shorter time; if you think it’s too simple, increase the time to two hours. Anyway, the focus here is to find the best state for you.
Remember, even today, only small progress is better than no progress.
Replace some tasks with paper and pen
Some tasks are more efficient with keyboards and screens, and others may be hindered by the convenience of digital devices.
Handwritten notes have been shown to improve classroom memory, probably because it allows students to take notes while processing and digesting information, because in most cases, handwriting is not as fast as typing. We can apply the same principles to the records of meetings and training sessions.
The beauty of paper and pen is that they don’t distract you. They are not suitable for tasks that require a lot of information (for example, researching or organizing presentations), but they are convenient for jobs that require care or creativity.
I combine physical paper and digital paper (Microsoft OneNote with Apple Pencil on iPad) to write diaries, take notes, and come up with new ideas for content creation (mainly articles and applications). This is my daily routine. Part of the job.
Some peopleIt relies entirely on physical media and then takes the time to appreciate the process, such as using a writing instrument like a pen. In this way, I personally do not find much benefit from the perspective of production, but your degree may vary.
You can now change which tasks in the workflow are replaced by paper and pen? Pick one and try it for a few days. You may think this is a relief.
simulation time
Can you live an hour without any “connection” technology in the day? Or completely away from any digital products?
Turn off your phone and take off your smart watch or smart bracelet, away from the various screens.
This may be a challenge at first, but it is a good alternative to a long-term digital detox period. You can still effectively use simulation time, exercise, meditation, read a good book, or practice a musical instrument, a new skill.
An interesting way to use simulation time is to use outdated techniques to play or create something to remind people how different the situation has been in the past few years. For this reason, some people like to use mechanical typewriters, while others prefer to use outdated computers. In this way, some people even found the ultimate life trick to improve their work efficiency (George RR Martin suddenly appeared in my mind, he wrote “Game of Power” on an old computer (Game of Thrones) series).
Using simulation time is a great way to increase your concentration. By reducing distractions and doing what you like, it’s not necessarily about your work. Then, this may allow you to develop the ability to achieve longer “undisturbed” time during business hours. As a reward, you may even launch a revival campaign for a forgotten technology. Who knows.
Ending
Working smartly, or doing more with less time is the ultimate goal of most people. However, without a certain degree of awareness and preparation, forcing yourself to work hard and work as fast as possible may have the exact opposite result.
An easy way to improve the quality of your work is to reduce disruption and focus yourself on one task at hand, putting all your brainpower into the task. In this era of multitasking and “always open” mentality, this can be a challenge, but we can make a good compromise by arranging the distraction of attention, just like other tasks.
Doing this, plus some exercises to reduce anxiety about phone notifications and overall reliance on networking technologies, can make life more efficient and fulfilling.
Translator: Yoyo_J