There are very few distractions in a cave, assuming you pay no attention to the spiders and the bats. If this doesn’t work, have your manager move your workstation to a dark, damp cave. You can also rip the electric wires from under your cubical floor and fill the USB outlets with chocolate pudding. If asking for more mind-bending, bone-crushing assignments goes against your moral code, there are ways you can limit distractions without taking up ice climbing - ways that go far, far beyond Chris Bailey’s suggestion of “downloading a distraction-blocking application for your computer” and “putting your phone in Do Not Disturb mode.”Īs your first step to going distraction-free, pick up a chainsaw and go Stephen King on your computer and your cellphone. Simply contemplating the varieties of McNugget offerings produces a state of flow so fluid it passes and surpasses the hyperfocus required by that ice-climbing idiot, risking their life to climb a popsicle.Īnd what if your regular work assignments do not equal the death-defying feats of an ice climber or the mind-absorbing effort of navigating the menu at Mickey D’s? You are advised to ask for more work. Yes, I’m talking about the menu at McDonald’s. To achieve flow at your job, you want to approach every assignment with the level of concentration demanded of, say, an ice climber clinging to a frozen waterfall with grizzly bears nipping at their heels.Ĭhris Bailey calls this state of total attention “hyperfocus.” It can only be experienced when “the challenge of completing a task is roughly equal to our ability to complete it.” While the assignments you receive at work may be equal to the ability of a banana slug, you can find areas of your life where a high level of complexity leaves no room for distractions to slip in. If you doubt it, immerse yourself in “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,” a book by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (or, as his closest friends call him, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi). On the other hand, the total immersion required by a complex project will make you more productive. “This idea isn’t a popular one,” Bailey admits, “especially with those who feel they’re already working at capacity.” Is it a popular idea with you? Before you say yes, try to remember the last time you went to your supervisor to ask for more work - and the more complex, the better.Īuthor Bailey endorses complex assignments because they “demand more of our working memory.” (What they do to your goofing-off memory is not considered.) By taking on a difficult and demanding assignment, your mind doesn’t have time to be seduced by the distractions around you such as the internet, the cellphone or the centerfold in your monthly copy of Miniature Donkey Talk magazine.
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