Article: “10 Ways to Quell Distraction in an Attention-Deficient Age” (Boston Globe)

The Boston Globe has published an interesting article entitled “10 ways to quell distraction in an attention-deficient age” on its website today.  These tips are taken from “Balancing Acts” columnist Maggie Jackson’s new book, Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age.  I encourage you to check out the entire article, but here’s the list:

1. Speak a language of attention
2. Be wary of interruptions
3. Practice message restraint
4. Focus on one another
5. White space
6. Cut back on multitasking
7. Eat mindfully
8. Meditate
9. Hit the pause button
10. Be a role model for focus

As I consider the ten items on this list, I can’t help but think of the nature of my own current 9-5 office job, which, like many other people’s jobs, is full of distractions and interruptions.  In our workplaces and in our personal lives, we’re constantly bombarded with emails, text messages, and phone calls; multitasking is considered a virtue, while singletasking is unheard of and, in some cases, actively frowned upon.

In fact, one can’t help but notice how prevalent distractions are in our modern culture, how fragmented and disjointed our society has become, all too often at the expense of our relationships and overall physical, mental, psychological, and spiritual health and wellbeing.  How many of us actually find time to meditate or “hit the pause button”?  Yet this is exactly what we must do in order to recharge our batteries and avoid burnout; we need to take time to nurture ourselves, focus on those around us, and, as cliche as it may sound, actually stop and smell the roses.

Reading these tips also reminds me yet again why I have decided to pursue a career in massage therapy.  As a massage therapist, I’ll be able to focus on the moment as I attend to each client, helping him or her to also take a break from our hectic modern world.  We all need to carve out the necessary time and space to relax and rejuvenate, to slow down and focus on what’s really meaningful.  As a single parent, I know how difficult this can be, but I also know how absolutely vital and necessary it is, for each and every one of us.

These tips also remind of a poem that I recently read by Mary Oliver, from her new book Red Bird (which I highly recommend, as I do all of her poetry collections).

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Will Our Personal Brands Enter a Dark Age of Distraction?
• Focus Tip #1
• Trying Not to Multi-Task
• What we’re reading: Busy but Balanced