Posts Tagged ‘attention’

How to Stay Productive During the Winter Holidays

It’s December and one side of my brain is already thinking about presents, imagining the warmth of home, and preparing a list of "must-buys" for Christmas entertaining . The other side ois stuck with the reality of my daily life: me, at the office, dealing with day-to-day tasks. My attention has been divided and this can be seen in my results. It’s not the best situation you want… Continue reading

December 15 2009 | By Elisabeta | Tagged: attention, christmas, focus, gift, holiday, shopping, work, work-life balance | 10 comments»

Four Kinds of Vampires that Haunt Your Life (and What to Do About Them)

You are surrounded by vampires.They circle you, slowly, eyeing your throat, their teeth glistening in the moonlight. Your heart pounds in your chest as they move in, intent on draining your life's blood for their own unholy nourishment. A scream rises up in your chest as they close in on you, their fangs bared, and then you feel the first pair of teeth sinking into your throat."Hey, Dustin, got a… Continue reading

October 31 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, halloween, no, time-wasters, vampire | 11 comments»

In Defense of Multi-Tasking

Ten minutes ago, here's what was going on my life: I was watching TV - "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," to be exact. I was being yelled at by my friend, who wants to go play golf. I was surfing the Web, trying to find the perfect man-bag (because those are totally allowed now). And, in the midst of it all, I was "at work," doing some of the things… Continue reading

July 22 2009 | By David | Tagged: attention, focus, multi-task, Productivity, work | 26 comments»

Dealing with Distractions

We each have many distractions that keep us from getting things done. I noticed a few prominent distractions in my life this week (Twitter and Digg are taking over!) and I felt that it was time to address the problem! I know that I am capable of getting things done and achieving things but I've noticed that distractions can get the better of me. When I've planned to research… Continue reading

May 25 2009 | By Paul | Tagged: attention, concentration, distractions, Productivity | 12 comments»

Book Review: David Allen’s “Making It All Work” (Part 3 of 3)

The second major theme in David Allen’s Making It All Work is “perspective”. (The first major theme, “control”, is discussed in part two of this review.) This part of the book expands greatly on the “Horizons of Focus” to which Allen commits only nine pages in the original Getting Things Done.Getting perspective means two things for Allen. First, and less importantly, it means consciously sorting your priorities before… Continue reading

February 9 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, book, david-allen, gtd, life, making-it-all-work, personal productivity, review, work | 3 comments»

Book Review: David Allen’s “Making It All Work” (Part 2 of 3)

Note: I decided that I'd better make this three parts instead of the originally-planned two. Allen's work is, of course, central to the whole field of personal productivity, so it's worth really diving into it. Don't miss Part 1 here.At the center of Making It All Work is a renewed emphasis on control -- effectively managing the work in your life -- and perspective -- aligning your work… Continue reading

February 6 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, book, david-allen, gtd, life, making-it-all-work, personal productivity, review, work | 8 comments»

Book Review: David Allen’s “Making It All Work” (Part 1 of 3)

December saw the release of David Allen’s Making It All Work:Winning at the Game of Work and the Business of Life, Allen’s long-awaited follow-up to his classic Getting Things Done (Ready for Anything, published in 2004, acts more as a companion to Getting Things Done than a sequel). Making It All Work seems to have been written with the primary goal of addressing some of the the… Continue reading

February 4 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, book, david-allen, gtd, life, making-it-all-work, personal productivity, review, work | 14 comments»

Toward a New Vision of Productivity, Part 9: The Trouble with People

This is the ninth part of a 12-part series I am posting from the end of December and into 2009, examining the current understanding of productivity and where the concept might be heading in the future. I invite Lifehack’s readers to

February 3 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, inputs, Management, people, social, social-productivity | 10 comments»

GTD’ing the Economy

Mark Twain said, “Those of you inclined to worry have the widest selection in history.”We live in troubling times, and it is a sign of Twain’s genius that his statement is as true today as it was a century ago – if not more so. There’s a lot of stuff for the chronic worrier to obsess about: global warming, economic chaos, an ever-widening gap between the very, very rich and… Continue reading

January 21 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: action, attention, david_allen, economy, focus, gtd, stress, worry | 6 comments»

The Power of Intentional Attention

Are you taking it all in? That is, are you sure that you’re noticing everything that matters to you, or could matter to you if only you’d noticed it? Could you do more with your life – or just enjoy it more – if you were more actively engaged in the world around you, in your day-to-day activities, your conversations, and the beauty of your everyday surroundings?Most importantly, do you… Continue reading

January 19 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, capture, creativity, intention, value | 13 comments»

Toward a New Vision of Productivity, Part 5: Drowning in Information

This is the fifth part of a 12-part series I will be posting into January 2009, examining the current understanding of productivity and where the concept might be heading in the future. I invite Lifehack’s readers to be an

January 2 2009 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, career, entertainment, information, information-overload, meaning, tim_ferriss, work | 11 comments»

How to Live Artfully

I met someone recently who knows how to live.You know the type: self-possessed, confident, the kind of person who energizes a room. The kind of person who is alive to everything around them, who makes everyone they focus their attention on feel they could do more, they could be more. A natural-born leader who brings out the best in everyone without any apparent effort. Apparently fearless, they inspire by example… Continue reading

December 17 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: art, attention, creativitiy, curiosity, gratitude, inspiration, life, living | 23 comments»

Mastering the Short Email

“I apologize that this letter is so long. I did not have the time to make it short”

— BLAISE PASCAL

Good writers know that lean, vibrant language is almost always preferable to verbose, rambling writing. There is virtually no writing in the world so good that it can’t be made better by making it shorter. There are exceptions, of course – a contract needs to cover every possible potentiality, as… Continue reading

September 17 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, brevity, business, concision, email, writing | 17 comments»

3 Strategies for Dealing With External Distractions

There are different types of distractions, but one of the most common types that derails our work ethic day after day are external distractions. Email, news feeds, Twitter, Skype, those old kettles that squeal, the sound of the newspaper hitting the front door, the neighbour's little monster who runs past your office window screaming and swinging from your clothesline.Ahem. Moving on.Much of the time, we succumb to these distractions… Continue reading

September 10 2008 | By Joel | Tagged: attention, distractions, firewalling, motivation | 13 comments»

How to Be a Good Neighbor In an Attention Economy

These days, everyone has too much on their minds. Gone are the days when woke up, went to the factory, put in your time, came home, and sat down with a selection from the three TV shows on that night. Gone, too, are the days when a long-distance call from grandma in Wisconsin was an event, something to look forward to and to put everything on hold for. Or… Continue reading

March 3 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, Communication, email, interruption, promotion | 13 comments»

« Previous Entries