After reading the
4HWW, watching Tim Ferriss
interviews and reading his
blog, these are the action items I've implemented. The goal: a simple focused day with (very) few distractions.
- Stopped all pop-up notifications: those annoying outlook envelopes, gmail notifiers, IM pop-ups, and twitter device updates. The moment these appear you lose focus on what you're doing. No matter how good you are at multi-tasking, when you see that message appear on the bottom right of your screen, its in your head. That takes away from what you're doing in the moment. Check these things on your own time, twice a day or more depending on what your needs are, but don't let them rule your present time.
- Started a notebook of ideas: during the day we all have crazy ideas that pop into our head. Time-trending these by writing them down helps to figure out when your thought process is most clear. Also, I haven't written anything in what feels like ages. Writing is the mode of learning I grew up with and my retention is far better when I jot things down.
- Practiced being deliberately attentive: its easy to allow yourself to get distracted because there's so many things on your computer, desk, phone that draw you away. Forcing myself to stay on course with the task/project at hand has in fact made it more enjoyable. You can't force flow, but you can make an effort to avoid what leads you away from it.
- Began tracking what I eat: it seems like a hassle at first, but is really easy to do. I keep a log of all my meals on Google Calendar. Since you can see the blocks for each day next to each other, its easy to spot patterns in your diet. Its really helps me see when I veer away from the norm (whatever that may be for you personally).
- Minimized my taskbar: the amount of time I spend on the computer completely warrants this. As I'm working on one thing, I have a a habit of taking quick glances at the various screens that accumulate on my taskbar as the day goes on; Outlook, Gmail, articles, presentations, videos, etc. Having the taskbar hidden seems like such a small thing, but it has made an enormous difference in my "in the moment" concentration level.