Searching, switching and cycling

It seems we’ve got a time-sucking app problem as we search, switch and cycle through apps looking for the information we need. 

And we lose up to an hour a day doing it!

Remote tools are given the blame here, as we have been forced into ‘uncontrolled adoption’ of apps to help us work better together across online platforms. 

Read more in this article in TechRepublic by Owen Hughes.  

It’s the switching that’s the main problem. From here ... to there.. looking, can’t find it, back there, looking again, interrupted, read something else, start again, ‘now where was I up to?’

And hybrid working environments are exaggerating the issue further. 

What is the impact of this loss of attention? 
Reduced productivity and efficiency. 
Less creativity. 
Poorer problem solving. 
Increased stress. Argh!

What about you? Do you switch, search and cycle through, clicking here and there trying to remember what you’re looking for and where you last looked at it? 

I know I do. 

Calm, focused attention can be difficult to find when you’re on a time pressure deadline and aren’t sure where the information is that you’re searching for. 

It’s another reason why we need to be better at managing our attention, maintaining focus and dealing with information overload. 

These are all topics I cover in my latest book ‘Argh! Too much information, not enough brain: A practical guide to outsmarting overwhelm.’

Have you got a copy yet? Even if you’re too busy to read it right now, (I get it, I do) put it onto your list to make progress towards reading it over the next 90 days. 

Weapons in the battle of distraction

Imagine wearing a huge motorcycle helmet that blocks the ‘out there’ and let’s you focus on the ‘in here’. 

It has a screen, noise cancelling everything and lets you get on with it, minus distractions. 

This seemingly crazy idea from 2017 was earlier considered by SciFi Pioneer Hugo Gernsback in the 1920s.

‘The Isolator’ as it was called earlier, was designed to block out the distractions that are all too familiar to us. 

But distraction isn’t new and even medieval monks complained that they were distracted and ‘rendered unproductive’. 

Expecting to be able to work or focus undistracted for hours on end is too high a standard to reach for. 

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, there is always distraction available. 

Our own minds (thinking) and our own interruptions (oh look, kitty wants to play) are contributors to what frustrates our expectation for endless focus. 

The most successful modern anti-distraction tool is ‘the timebox’ or Pomodoro. Set a timer and focus until it goes off. 

25, 30, 45, 50 minutes

Try it. I’ll wait here for you.

❓What tools or techniques do you use? 

The struggle of decision making

In the times of uncertainty we’ve been experiencing, it can feel too hard or overwhelming to make decisions. 

There are so many options, scenarios and what ifs that are possible

Try this 1-2-3 mantra I use with mentoring clients:


1. Find the path
A path helps give us more certainty of where we’re heading - even if we don’t know all the details or what’s ahead yet. It’s a direction marker. 

It may be a new path for you, or a path another has taken. 


2. Make a decision. 
What are you going to do? 

Our attention, energy and motivation is stolen by unmade decisions. To reduce overwhelm and pressure and move out of inertia, we can make decisions now we have a path. 

There’s less to fear about this because many decisions can be adjusted later (or reversed) if they’re not right for you. 

But make a decision. Making no decision on a path when a decision is needed saps our time, energy and attention. 


3. Take action. 
We can’t think our way through decisions. Action is the best way to work out if what you’ve decided and where you’re going is a good fit. 


You can step out along a safer, less uncertain path:

1. Find the path. 
2. Make decisions. 
3. Take action. 

Sweeping and drinking coffee

There they were, doing both things at once. Sweeping. Drinking coffee. 

Neither was being done particularly well. 

They’d spilled some coffee down their shirt. They’d missed some of the dirt and leaves and kept resweeping the same area, again and again. (Or maybe they didn’t realize they’d already swept that area.)

Juggling tasks can lead us towards overwhelm. We keep taking on more and more things - sometimes juggling two or three or more things at once. 

- The cyclist who was checking their phone and eating a banana. And riding. 

- The leader who was on two zoom calls at once on two separate devices - one earplug for each meeting. 

- The workshop attendee who was also checking their email and tallying up some data all at once. 


In our rush, push and drive to get things done, we think the juggle is worth it, that we can do it, that we’re smarter than the brain research, that it doesn’t mess with OUR brain. 

Yet it does. 

The more we continue to try and do multiple things at once, the more overloaded we feel, the less we get done. 

Of all the habits to unlearn and re-engineer, the juggle is one that’s so worth fighting off when it calls. 

Who engages first

In a meeting or conversation, who goes first? 

Should I be actively engaged, in anticipation that you may or may not be engaging? 

Or should you be so engaging that you capture and hold my attention? 

Or can we both pay just enough attention to get by? 

So who’s job is engagement? 

The crowd says, “it’s everyones job!”, yet we still kind of suck at it. Engagement levels continue to remain low in Organisations the world over. 

Paying attention is one thing; being interested and connected to a topic, project, people or idea over a period of time is something else.

It takes work, energy and ongoing attention. 

How do we engage with people more effectively? 

Some say 
- Tell more stories
- Show more empathy 
- Have more conversations
- Ask more questions
- Focus on what’s in it for them. 

And what else?

What’s your tip - how can we be more engaging in these times?