He goes onto saying how reading every Digg post, or looking at every new Web 2.0 startup is basically a complete waist of time.
You feel like you're actually learning something, but in reality the info you're learning is "junk" knowledge (unless you're a VC looking for an investment opportunity - but by the time it hits TechCrunch or Digg, it's probably too late to invest anyway).
*Rob no longer writes for BusinessPundit.com. He's at CoconutHeadsets.com now.
"You feel like you're actually learning something, but in reality the info you're learning is "junk" knowledge"
That is a great descriptor. You can read interesting stories and expert advice in no time at all. But that doesn't mean you know how to apply that advice or even use it. And if you don't use the knowledge, you will have probably learned very little and wasted your time.
Mental attention, she notes, is selective. Like a flashlight beam, we aim our consciousness on but a thin slice of what surrounds us. At a party, for instance, we hear only one voice among many until another voice speaks our name and our attention suddenly shifts.
I find myself to be much the opposite. I have trouble focusing on on any one conversation, I'm too easily distracted. I can't hold a phone call or conversation while a TV is playing at similar volume. In a restaurant, I feel like I hear all conversations and the music, and I can't seem to shut them out. It's not that I'm listening to all the conversations, but I hear them, and it makes focusing on the conversation I'm trying to hold difficult.
With programming and reading, however, I do find that I can shut out background noise, and I suspect this is because it's a different kind of thinking than what distractions around would be causing.
I suspect that because the attention is given to a mode of thought (reading, programming), and that that mode is not competing with other forms of the same mode (I'm not trying to read two books simultaneously), that this enables someone (or maybe just me, I dunno) to shut off the other senses. While with listening and hearing multiple conversations, it's like trying to read and having random words getting thrown into the sentences you're reading.
I know what you mean - I have the same problem. For me, it's worst with television: I can't have a conversation with someone if there's a TV on in the same room. I'm not sure if this is the opposite to the flashlight simile, or just an example of an inability to direct it at will.
I have the same problem, so I've had to do things to cope with it. Fortunately, I have an office with a door at my work now, and that helps tremendously. At home I have a room to work in where I can shut the door and not hear the TV. When I need to concentrate, I shut down the Twitter, E-mail, and IM clients, and any other things on my computer that might be distracting. I only run programs related to the task at hand.
I have also found that a daily time of quiet prayer and meditation is helpful. If you don't believe in prayer, some other kind of meditation will probably help, too. Lately I've been incorporating MP3s from pray-as-you-go.org, which are very well done short sessions of Ignatian guided meditation incorporating beautiful music.
Foreground versus background processes probably makes a better metaphor. It is possible to truly multitask, beyond just franticly switching focus -- we do it when we drive or play sports -- but only one task actually has focus. The rest runs in the background. Learning to control that ability is a great way to manage your time and attention.
I'm pretty helpless with group conversations, too. I guess conversation uses a lot of different aspects of attention, so you can't just fire off background tasks for listening to music and each conversation.
As for the people who can do concurrent conversations -- I think they're very good at filling in the gaps of each conversation that they miss. If each conversation is mostly small talk and little stories, you can lose a few words from each sentence and still follow along, especially if you can pick up on voice inflection and body language in your background tasks (as our more socially adept girlfriends and sisters seem to).
The article mentions the concept of "flow." This concept is described in detail in the book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I highly recommend this book!
On a similar, yet somewhat unrelated note,I often catch my own mind working like a search engine. When there's something that I'm trying to recall, for instance the contents of an article I read a couple months ago, I know exactly where I can find the article and I remember whether I thought the article was good or bad, but I often times find that I don't remember a lot of the details of the article. In short, I remember the location, the subject, and the relevance of stuff, but I find it hard to remember specific contents.
In my experience, there is no point doing anything unless you spend at least twenty minutes just getting into it first. This is how long it takes me to get into a 'concentration/focus' zone.
Back when I first started programming, a peer highly recommended to me to take a martial art. It didn't matter which one - the only requirement was that it had to require discipline and focus.
Training in a martial art is a wonderful way to induce "flow" - get distracted during a sparring session, and the consequences can "hurt" a bit more than just time wasted.
I must admit I like having some time off too, away from all those distractions. But on the other hand, if I don't have my cellphone, emails, meetings, ... I often feel out of control because I don't know the status of issues.
I like to think there is a time for everything, and as said in the article, I think people with ADD sometimes just don't manage that time correctly. Of course I'm not saying ADD doesn't exist, but sometimes I do think it seems to be(come) a real buzzword for some people.
And it seems logical to me people tend to find it hard to be focused, we are living in a fast world, maybe sometimes too fast and demanding...
Nice article, but like many things, this just touches the surface and adds little enlightment.
Being really good at many things, especially programming, requires deep involvement. This is the polar opposite of "posing".
It's easy to pose and talk about eyeballs or algorithms or third normal form. But tell me what data is in column 4, which programs change it under which conditions, and what that effects. That takes deep understanding. Which takes focus.
[+] [-] dgallagher|17 years ago|reply
Is Concentration the New Competitive Advantage?: http://www.businesspundit.com/is-concentration-the-new-compe...
He goes onto saying how reading every Digg post, or looking at every new Web 2.0 startup is basically a complete waist of time.
You feel like you're actually learning something, but in reality the info you're learning is "junk" knowledge (unless you're a VC looking for an investment opportunity - but by the time it hits TechCrunch or Digg, it's probably too late to invest anyway).
*Rob no longer writes for BusinessPundit.com. He's at CoconutHeadsets.com now.
[+] [-] keopi|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chris11|17 years ago|reply
That is a great descriptor. You can read interesting stories and expert advice in no time at all. But that doesn't mean you know how to apply that advice or even use it. And if you don't use the knowledge, you will have probably learned very little and wasted your time.
[+] [-] jseliger|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] psyklic|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FlorinAndrei|17 years ago|reply
- Put laptop in backpack
- Go someplace where you can be "lonely in a crowd" (e.g. local coffee shop)
- Log out of your Google home page, so all those applets won't claim your attention all the time
- Don't even think of touching anything in the bookmarks
- Keep the email client turned off
- Turn cell phone off too if you must
- Get a nice large latte (either regular or decaf)
- Fire up the text editor
- Let your mind take off
Voila, instant productivity. I get into the "flow" pretty quickly that way.
[+] [-] chops|17 years ago|reply
I find myself to be much the opposite. I have trouble focusing on on any one conversation, I'm too easily distracted. I can't hold a phone call or conversation while a TV is playing at similar volume. In a restaurant, I feel like I hear all conversations and the music, and I can't seem to shut them out. It's not that I'm listening to all the conversations, but I hear them, and it makes focusing on the conversation I'm trying to hold difficult.
With programming and reading, however, I do find that I can shut out background noise, and I suspect this is because it's a different kind of thinking than what distractions around would be causing.
I suspect that because the attention is given to a mode of thought (reading, programming), and that that mode is not competing with other forms of the same mode (I'm not trying to read two books simultaneously), that this enables someone (or maybe just me, I dunno) to shut off the other senses. While with listening and hearing multiple conversations, it's like trying to read and having random words getting thrown into the sentences you're reading.
[+] [-] thalur|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] greggraham|17 years ago|reply
I have also found that a daily time of quiet prayer and meditation is helpful. If you don't believe in prayer, some other kind of meditation will probably help, too. Lately I've been incorporating MP3s from pray-as-you-go.org, which are very well done short sessions of Ignatian guided meditation incorporating beautiful music.
[+] [-] etal|17 years ago|reply
I'm pretty helpless with group conversations, too. I guess conversation uses a lot of different aspects of attention, so you can't just fire off background tasks for listening to music and each conversation.
As for the people who can do concurrent conversations -- I think they're very good at filling in the gaps of each conversation that they miss. If each conversation is mostly small talk and little stories, you can lose a few words from each sentence and still follow along, especially if you can pick up on voice inflection and body language in your background tasks (as our more socially adept girlfriends and sisters seem to).
[+] [-] mjfern|17 years ago|reply
http://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Mihaly-Csik...
[+] [-] rjett|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] puzzle-out|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] esila|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kamme|17 years ago|reply
I like to think there is a time for everything, and as said in the article, I think people with ADD sometimes just don't manage that time correctly. Of course I'm not saying ADD doesn't exist, but sometimes I do think it seems to be(come) a real buzzword for some people.
And it seems logical to me people tend to find it hard to be focused, we are living in a fast world, maybe sometimes too fast and demanding...
[+] [-] edw519|17 years ago|reply
Being really good at many things, especially programming, requires deep involvement. This is the polar opposite of "posing".
It's easy to pose and talk about eyeballs or algorithms or third normal form. But tell me what data is in column 4, which programs change it under which conditions, and what that effects. That takes deep understanding. Which takes focus.
If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
[+] [-] tokenadult|17 years ago|reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE
is a good example of selective attention.
[+] [-] FraaJad|17 years ago|reply
[+] [-] s_baar|17 years ago|reply