Keeping your Attention

Have you ever worked on solving a problem that you just couldn’t seem to let go of, no matter how long it was taking? Or perhaps you have found yourself in a constant struggle to maintain focus on the solving problem, but end up doing anything else instead.  Eventually, exhaustion and time creep up on you and you finally give in, resolved to tackle it anew the next day.

Then it happens – the next day you look at the problem again, and voilà! the solution presents itself so obviously that you literally smack yourself in the head and announce to no one in particular what an imbecile you are.

Of course, you’re not really an imbecile, just perhaps a little unbalanced.  Let me explain. We all need balance in our lives; the right amount of food, the right amount of exercise, the right amount of work (yes, work is a necessary and good thing), and the right amount of leisure, to name a few.  We also need to balance our attention, especially given the extraordinary demands on it in this current information age.

Ultimately, we all have limited attention spans, and although some are more limited than others, the key is not to treat this as a problem for which we need a cure, but simply to understand and accept the limits of our attentions span and structure our life and work in a way that best complement it.

For those who tend to have longer attention spans, this may mean the constructive use of deadlines to rein in our über-attention and force us to “Ship It,” as Seth Godin advocates in his excellent book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

For those with shorter attention spans, it may mean the constructive use of time-chunking, or working in chunks of time attuned to our natural attention span, with micro breaks in between to refresh our attention for the next chunk.

My guess is, most of us fall into both categories depending on the time of day, what we are doing, or the setting we are in.  The point is, when you feel your attention slipping, it may be time to ship it or chunk it, and find something else to keep your attention.

 

 

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Giving Up Your Credit Card

Could you give up your credit card(s)?  How hard would it be for you to do?

If you had to give it up to save a relationship or a job, could you do it?

Imagine for a moment that all your credit cards have just been stolen.  Did you just feel a moment of panic or loss?

What is this bond between us and our credit cards?  Could it be that the borrower is slave (in bondage) to the lender as Proverbs 22:7 suggests?  Proverbs 6:1-5 suggests that when we find ourselves in the position of borrower, we should not sleep until we have “saved ourselves like the gazelle from the hand of the hunter…”

Now try a quick experiment with me:  Compare the length of time you had your oldest credit card to the length of time of your longest dating relationship (including marriage), or the length of consecutive time spent working for the same employer.

For Example:

  • My longest held credit card:  18 years  (cancelled in 2010)
  • My longest dating relationship:  4 months (give or take a month)
  • My longest time with same employer:  17 years

I had the same credit card longer than any dating relationship (by far), and longer even than my longest time with the same employer!

To be honest with you, even though I willingly and readily cancelled and cut up all my credit cards in 2010, I still felt a slight pang of loss when I actually cut them up.  Ridiculous, right?  Wouldn’t happen to you.  Right?  Okay, tough guy, cut them up…c’mon, what’s taking so long?  Cat got your scissors?  Yeah, not so easy, is it?

I have hosted 7 Financial Peace University classes since 2010, and the most difficult part of every class has been the call to cut up credit cards.  It is amazing the lengths to which we will go to defend our need to keep at least one credit card, especially the one that is “only for emergencies,” or the one that “gives us mileage points.”   It’s hard, even though we know at least 3 new credit card offers will come in the mail this week.

I know I can’t make you give up your credit card, but before you dismiss the idea entirely, I highly recommend watching the documentary Maxed Out for more exposure to the darker side of the credit card industry.

I dare you to give up, and cut up, a credit card right now.  Don’t worry, they will send you offers for new ones, even if you’re dead (seriously – watch Maxed Out).

“Work will grow to fill the time you have set aside for it.”

Cloud, Dr. Henry, and Dr. John Townsend. Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life. (p. 208).

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

How you define “Work” may define how you “Live”

In a recent blog titled I don’t work, author Jon Acuff admitted that he really doesn’t work, based on the following quote from author James M. Barrie: “Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else.”  And Jon Acuff only does that which he would rather be doing.

Many comments followed this post stating the importance of work, and that work was intended as a good thing (God having created man and woman to work in and care for his creation, Genesis 2:15).  So how could Jon Acuff, or anyone else for that matter, say it’s not really work when there is nothing else you would rather do?

It is really a matter of definition – and how you define “work” impacts how you live your life.

Have you ever attempted to answer the question, “what is work?”  Consider the following advice from Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek:

“If you can’t define it or act upon it, forget it.”

Specifically, Ferris suggests asking two questions when considering stress-inducing questions like this:

  1. Have I decided on a single meaning for each term in this question?
  2. Can an answer to this question be acted upon to improve things?

In our case, can you decide on a single meaning for the term, “Work”?  If you can define what work is for you ( and I’m fairly certain all of us can), then is there action you can take to improve your work, or improve what work means to you (I believe the answer should be yes to this question, the problem lies in our willingness to take the necessary action)?

Let’s return to the Jon Acuff post mentioned earlier.  It appears that Acuff started out with one definition of work that, when examined under the second question above, could be acted upon to improve things, in his case by redefining “work” based on the Barrie quote, and in light of what gives him fulfillment and life.

In other words, Jon Acuff doesn’t have a job, nor does he have a career, but he has found his vocation, or purpose in life, and while it requires effort, it rarely feels like work.  And that makes life worth living to the full.

How do you define work?  Is there any action you can take to improve things?

 

Recommended Reading:

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Proverbs 13:11-12

11 Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, But he who gathers by labor will increase.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.

New King James Version (NKJV)

BibleGateway.com