(all images in the thread are made by me, feel free to download and use them.)
Basically, a guide on getting shit done.
Does any of this apply to you?
- You get distracted easily
- You endlessly refresh pages in a cycle
- You start working on something, then your mind starts wandering elsewhere
- You have what seems an endless amount of tasks and feel overwhelmed
- You don't know what to prioritize and what to delegate
- You perform tasks and activities sporadically with no set goals or schedule
If you recognize any of these applying to you or just want to learn how to better direct your attention, this guide is for you.
Let's get started.
First, we need to understand your current state of attention. To do this, we create an
attention management matrix (AMM).
An AMM is split up into four quadrants, parts, sections, or whatever you want to call them.
These are:
- Unnecessary: Tasks that are both unproductive and unenjoyable - like sitting through a long and boring meeting with no significant outcomes or sorting a pen drawer.
- Distracting: Tasks that are enjoyable but unproductive, like playing a video game, scrolling on tiktok, etc.
- Necessary: Tasks that are productive but unenjoyable, like administrative work, etc.
- Meaningful: Tasks that are both productive and enjoyable. These are often quite few but help fulfill your broader purpose in life.
These four sections are very similar to the Eisenhower matrix that splits tasks into sections based on urgency and importance.
What you need to do is fill in these boxes with tasks and activities that you perform on a regular basis, whether it be client outreach or scrolling tiktok, put it all in there.
Once finished you'll now have a better idea of where your attention is being spent. Most likely you are spending more time in unnecessary and distracting activites than you would like to.
Meaning you are operating in
autopilot mode. Instead of deliberately directing your attention, you react automatically to external triggers that pique your interests - maybe its a notification on your phone or something else.
Below you can see a map of these four sections, notice that while unnecessary and distracting activities require little attention, hence the low entry barrier. While meaningful and necessary tasks require a bit more oomph and discipline when performing them.
So how do we direct our attention and boost our productivity?
We're going to use a slight twist to a method called "Bailey's method".
To do this, we need to understand how our memory works - or rather, our working memory.
Whenever you do a task or engage in an activity, it occupies some portion of your
working memory, which holds information your mind is actively processing. You have a
limited working memory capacity.
This means you really need to focus your activites and tasks to
one at a time, thats right, only one.
We are talking hyperfocus here and for those of you who love multi-tasking, this ain't it.
If you try to focus on more than you're capable of, you'll crowd information out of your working memory and forget it. Only focus what fits in your working memory.
The complexity of the task or activity also plays a part in how much space it occupies in your working memory, a more complex task will naturally crave more deliberate attention from you.
So what are the five steps for hyperfocus?
Step 1: Choose when to focus
Step 2: Choose what to focus on
Step 3: Limit and manage distractions
Step 4: Focus for a set period of time
Step 5: Maintain your focus
First plan when and for how long you'll hyperfocus. Pick a duration you are comfortable with and wont put you off from doing it again tomorrow. Hyperfocusing works best as a daily habit and the more you do it, the longer you'll be able to maintain it.
Think of it like training for running a marathon, you wouldn't run the whole marathon everyday, to train for it, you would run a little bit everyday, ever so slightly progressing and running further with each day.
Try to find a space in your schedule, where your energy levels are not too low and when distractions are as low as possible.
Don't feel like your energy levels are high enough? Try exercising, like going to the gym or going for a run.
Contrary to what many think, exercising actually boosts energy levels and productivity in general.
Our lives are compromised of what activities we do in our daily life, when you choose what to hyperfocus on, you are indeed - quite literally -
changing your life.
So how do we pick the right task or activity to put our attention towards?
Let's go back to our
AMM, what tasks or activities did you put into the meaningful and necessary boxes?
Sum those up in a list, then consider the impact of these,
focus on the ones that have the biggest positive impact and long term effects.
When we focus on high-quality tasks, we perform high-quality work and have high-quality impact. What sets high income earners apart from low income earners is prioritization (among a lot of other things as well).
You must set priorities for your life, because if you don't, others will do so for you. More often than not, for their benefit, not yours.
But what are tasks and activities without
goals? Try to set up to three goals each day. No more, as you don't want your working memory to suffer.
Start by setting a yearly goal, quarterly goals, monthly goals and weekly goals as well.
When you have your goals set, you'll naturally find high-priority tasks that support those goals.
Read more about how to reach your goals in
this thread I made a while ago.
What is a distraction?
In this case, it is
anything that diverts our attention from our current prioritized task or activity.
Limiting distractions is
critical for hyperfocus. Especially in this day and age when they're lurking behind every screen, sound and browser tab.
One reason for this is that we have a so called
novelty bias, we love new things - it triggers our dopamine receptors - and so getting distracted, quite literally,
feels good. Want to go the hardcore route and start making distractions
feel bad? Punish yourself somehow everytime you get distracted (note, take this with a pinch of salt).
The possibility of avoiding loss or avoiding punishment is often more motivational than potential gain. Try to focus on what you can control when distractions occur, maybe an annoying colleague strikes up conversation while you're trying to focus - politely but firmly ask them to come back some other time.
And if you do get distracted during your hyperfocus (which you definitely will) write down what distracted you and keep a list, then redirect your attention back towards your task.
Another thing you can do is to write down potential distractions you think will occur
before they occur.
Then distance yourself from them, make accessing them inconvenient. Turn off your notifications on your phone, use a browser extension to block visiting distracting websites for a time.
Lots of advice out there for breaking bad habits are about making them as inconvenient as possible.
Use your creativity.
Take some time each week to reflect on what distracted you during the week and adjust your schedule or activities based on your findings. Be more intentional with your time. Are you constantly being distracted with responding to emails? Or maybe checking each and every notification you get on your phone? Find a time in your schedule to answer emails and a time to check your notifications, only perform these tasks in their own timeslot.
And when you do these tasks,
hyperfocus on them as well. Just because you're checking and responding to emails, does not mean you should be doing it lazily without attention.
Or, let's say you're in a boring meeting,
hyperfocus on it. Get the most value out of them. Having trouble keeping yourself engaged? Trust me, actively look for drama and disagreement in your boring meetings. You'll be engaged.
To make this easier, incorporate two daily habits,
mindfulness and
meditation.
Now, there is lots of mumbo jumbo gurus out there spouting all sorts of things about mindfulness.
Want my advice?
Follow the design principle of
KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid).
Mindfulness is when you pay attention to everything you experience in a given moment. Though some define it as just general awareness of your circumstances.
Use meditation to improve your focus, schedule a time to meditate. This is important for several reasons.
- It improves your working memory.
- More working memory = less distractions
- Less distractions = higher productivity
To prevent your mind from wandering and maintaining your focus, match your tasks to your skill level.
If you find that your mind wanders a lot as you focus on your tasks, it might be because you are bored or stressed.
Boredom occurs when your tasks are too easy and stress occur when they are too difficult. Therefore, try to match your tasks to your skill level, not too easy, not too hard.
Also note that just because a task is easy, does not mean it has a low positive impact on your life, take this into consideration.
Regularly revisit the
AMM, you might find that you are filling your time with unimportant tasks or distractions after a while, make sure to take some time each week or month to realign your activites with your goals.
Just like SEO, this is a long-term strategy, not a quick fix.
Though you can use it to make quick improvements in your work and life, it is a continuous process which should be practiced with deliberate intention, not with a passive attitude.
So how are you going to implement all this advice and make a habit out of it without doing it for 2-3 days then quitting?
Systemize it. Automate it as much as possible.
I personally use a note-taking program called
Obsidian which works wonders for me. It's so much more than just regular notes, in fact, the images you've seen throughout this guide has been made with Obsidian.
More precisely, a community plugin in Obsidian, Excalidraw.
Whether you choose to use Obsidian or any other system to automate your focus and life,
be sure to pick something that you can use for a long time.
Research various systems, some like notion, some like evernote, I prefer Obsidian.
I won't go into too much detail as to why in this thread, that's for another time.
Just take 5-15 minutes and read the thread, you'll gain so much more from it than reading a summary that couldn't possibly explain it all
That's all for today, cheers!
References:
ShortForm
Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve More - Chris Bailey
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihayli
Silver Star
Could this be the feature we've all been waiting for?
No more scrambling through your calendar trying to remember when you made that site change.
I mean, we've had browser extensions doing this forever, and many analytics platforms already offer similar functionality. Is Google just playing catch-up here instead of innovating?
Drop a comment below with screenshots if you've got access - I am dying to see this in action!
Replug Free Plan Includes:
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