I have a question for you. Do you feel more productive and accomplished when you’ve stayed busy all day—checking things of your list, making phone calls, answering texts, sending emails, attending meetings, running errands, etc.—or when you’ve hunkered down, focused, and made significant progress on one particular problem or project?
There’s no right or wrong answer. Some people seem to thrive on busy, exulting in accomplishing as many different tasks in a day as possible, and relishing checking it all off their list at the end of the day. Other people much rather spend hours on end focused on a singular task, finding great fulfillment in steady progress made and goals achieved.
You might fall into one category or the other, or it could be that you feel equally productive in either scenario. Whatever your “type,” how you approach your work and juggle tasks on a daily basis doesn’t just impact your schedule, goals, and deadlines. It trains your brain.
Thanks to huge advancements in technology and communication, our workplaces (and homes) are more connected to everything than ever before. While this can be hugely positive, it can also be counterproductive. The constant digital connection and ability to communicate with anyone or access a never-ending stream of information in an instant means that more often than not our minds are bouncing around from one thing to another all day long.
Dr. Cal Newport, an author and computer science professor at Georgetown University, contends that “The key to living well in a high tech world is to spend much less time using technology.” Newport believes there is far greater value in extended periods of concentration than in repeatedly switching focus from one thing to the next.
According to a recent podcast and article by Rebecca Greenfield of Bloomberg.com, Dr. Newport believes we all have the potential to train our brains to focus, and doing so is much like learning to run a marathon. Newport shares how he has used a method he calls “productive meditation” to increase his own capacity for concentration. He explains:
“You go for a walk and your goal is to make progress on a single professional problem only in your head while you’re walking. And just like mindfulness meditation, if you notice your attention wandering off that problem to think about other things, you have to bring your attention back to the problem.”
He went on to say that he practiced this over a two-year period, with significant results. “I think of productive meditation like pull-ups: It’s really hard at first, but it gives you really big results.”
What do you think? Is this something worth training for? I’d like to hear your thoughts!
