Does Not Matter
I spend way to much time on things that do not matter.
In the big picture, too many of my daily activities are a waste. A distraction.
If I want to achieve things, I need to focus on them. But most days I’m not focused. Most days I’m all over the place.
I’m currently reading Stolen Focus and the message rings true to me: we are losing out ability to focus. So far the reasons are all something I already knew: phones, increased information intake, lack of sleep, social media, Silicon Valley, etc. Nothing new really. But I still love the book — I need this reminder.
I need more than a reminder. I need to do something about it.
So let’s experiment a bit.
For the next 7 days I’ll work on reducing my distractions, getting more flow states, and working on what matters. That’s a big ask. To make it easier and more concrete I’ll focus on four areas:
- Work
- Phone
- Late afternoon/evening at home
- Information diet
Work
Work is a constant battle against distractions. It shouldn’t be like that but it is. The modern office culture is about the worst thing you can imagine if you are trying to focus.
Yesterday was a great example for me: I stopped working in the afternoon and felt angry. I could not really tell why but the more I thought about it the more I realized it was because my work had been so interrupted and without any flow. My morning had meetings scattered all the way to about 11 am and at that point I was already drained!
My main goal will be to create big blocks of time where I can be productive and focus on creating. I work from home 2-3 days a week and I would love those days to have as few meetings as possible.
Phone
Do I even need to explain this one? If we let them, our phones will distract us to death.
I feel like I have a decent handle on my phone but I also know that I have let some apps and notifications creep up on me. I think maybe I underestimate how much power my phone really has over me and my ability to pay attention.
Late afternoon/evening at home
Most days I have good mornings and I’m very satisfied with my routines there. I also have a decent grip on early afternoons — I mostly just want to move my body in some way after work, be that biking, running, or walking.
After that is usually when I get distracted. And if I do that often carries into the evening. I know I need some rest time so it’s not like I’m trying to be ‘productive’ all the way to bed. But rest is still something I can do well or poorly. Doom scrolling social media is a good example (bad “rest” time in case you are wondering).
I want to find a better routine for my afternoons and evenings — something that limits my risk of doing unhealthy activities.
Information diet
I love reading. These days much of my reading is blog posts, newsletters, and a bit of social media.
I like reading all of this. But there is just too much information for me to digest. The flow is so immense I can never keep up. My RSS feed is always filled with new items and so is my email inbox.
It makes me feel overwhelmed and distracted.
I want to take a look at my information diet as well and see what I can change to focus on reading what matters to me.
The experiment
I’ve already started the experiment on outpst. The next 7 days I’ll work on it and post updates there. I know I won’t change a lot in 7 days but at least I hope I’ll nudge myself in a better direction.