Attention and focus

Reporting in from Agile 2019 in Washington DC ... Author Chris Bailey kicked off the conference keynoting on how to manage your attention in a world of distraction. I

t turns out we don't need to fit more content in, we need to create more space. Productivity he says, is a combination of time, energy and attention.

We'd do well to take care of our energy. It was funny when he said that having a coffee now is borrowing our energy from later in the day. (Alcohol is borrowing energy and happiness from tomorrow!)

But the key message is, we crave distraction - lasting just 40 seconds on a task before we get distracted - lapping up the dopamine hits we get from checking devices and drowning in screen-time. We need to let our messy minds wander; to rediscover boredom. It's over-stimulation which is the enemy of focus.

As Chris spoke, I captured these rapid fire notes in this visual one-pager. Lots of information there and better than a list of boring writing that won't get looked at again. (I use visual notes like this to manage my cognitive load at conferences. It's only Day 1 of 5 - it's a marathon not a sprint!)  

Yawn! How could you rediscover boredom ?