// 1-2 minutes - Review your inbox, answer an email, or take out the trash //

I have another idea. It’s wild and crazy. It is this:

How about… just sit there?

No, really. Close your eyes, take a mini-vacation, and wait it out.

Back when I was just a whippersnapper systems administrator, I was trained to shift my attention constantly. Waiting for that .tar file to unpack? Switch to another window. Got thirty seconds while that software compiles? Switch to another window. Someone might want something, so, check your email every five seconds, or have the thingy pop up on your screen and let you know that email has arrived. Every five seconds. And on and on and on.

After eight years of this, sure, I can juggle a lot of stuff. But, you know what? I switch from window to window out of instinct now, not out of reason. I do it out of blind habit. I have the attention span of a gnat. Not only are the mental effects physically unpleasant (brain… buzzing… constantly…), the habit has made the simple art of focus a lot more difficult than it ever was or needs to be. The effects have spread to my time at home, where I engage in an activity (writing) that require said focus. I don’t consider this a feature. In truth, I really resent it. (Gee, can you tell? grin)

I totally see where you’re going with this, and for the most part, I agree. (Knit a few rows on the subway? Read in the post office line? 10-15 minute tasks? You betcha.) But trying to schedule tasks into every last one-minute interval has fragmented my brain rather than made life easier. Taking those two minutes to sit still and stay where I am and remain focused on the task at hand, instead of splitting my concentration in two, then three, then four is much better for me.

Plus, sitting still in this crrrazy world of “go, baby, go!” is a real treat. Nonetheless, unlearning the ultra-switching habit has been a real tough one.

Why is my to-do list so long that I have to manage these miniscule tasks? Why must I be beholden to everyone else’s whims at the drop of a hat? Figuring THAT kind of stuff out is my priority, these days.