11 KiB
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full-title:: How to Stay Focused in an Age of Distraction site:: Todoist Inspiration Hub author:: pedroa labels:: productivity date-saved:: 13-10-2023 date-published:: 16-06-2015 date-archived:: 14-10-2023 is-archived:: 10 source:: Omnivore state:: archived
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Highlights
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- id:: 9e0ecc6b-7f3d-49c4-b8b2-40122ba5d655
these standards are not measuring our productivity, but rather how efficient we are at administrative tasks. ⤴️
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- id:: 462dbedc-6586-4971-b3d3-259b717c711c
They skew towards rewarding effective busywork while giving little dignity to meaningful work. ⤴️
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- id:: cca9f27d-48c1-4559-b30b-9ec0dce8dcad
more focus on consistently giving our time and attention to the things which are most important. ⤴️
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- id:: 80039048-dc91-4ec8-bbbb-2f1c79349662
what is truly important to us. ⤴️
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- id:: be76b5de-613e-44b5-9256-3dfba749a231
“Must”? ⤴️
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- id:: d044370e-aee6-4001-a269-36b1c5b41259
Time away from all the noise and time to think and to ask ourselves challenging questions about our roles in life, our values, our dreams, and more. ⤴️
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- id:: 371e8143-a49e-4d99-8759-c8b2d9f4ac11
life’s vision and values ⤴️
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- id:: d112d797-6048-43f5-9ffc-7b54455a8c5b
very foundation of meaningful productivity. ⤴️
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- id:: 6be60bfd-7a64-4621-9320-4e0859c79a9b
But what I didn’t anticipate was just how easy it would be for a full-time writer to never actually write. ⤴️
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- id:: 76ac5728-48ec-4631-b51d-a84277d06332
I was spending the best part of my day checking inboxes and analytics. ⤴️
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- id:: ed048b2e-efcf-496a-9e41-39e245fc5bb6
Yet the process of checking all these inboxes and statistics usually took an hour or more and often devolved into unproductive busywork or mindless surfing. ⤴️
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- id:: 22dafcd5-bb37-4e9d-904d-e1bf9f46ce09
Therefore, I changed my morning habits. I made a commitment to write for 30 minutes first thing in the morning no matter what. ⤴️
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- id:: 4713a975-3ec7-4a88-9ef0-79de9579c2b7
I was committed to write for at least half an hour. ⤴️
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- id:: 2647fec3-d78f-4bbf-b32c-f168423ca7e4
change my morning habits. ⤴️
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- id:: 57ef6321-9dbc-4cf4-a315-9e1b84b25f71
But the things invented after you turn 30 you reject as being crazy or evil or who knows what. ⤴️
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- id:: 755ff865-3707-4ef1-8a70-8bafd65ea4f6
Make Doing the Most Important Work Part of Your Routine ⤴️
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- id:: 2ad24c65-2b58-40a5-8914-3d376d39d14d
When I know when and where I’ll be writing, and what I’ll be writing about, I can’t wait to get to work. ⤴️
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- id:: 6a7763af-5fbf-495f-9176-9a8f8235c123
There is literally nothing for me to think about other than moving the big blue blinking cursor from left to right. ⤴️
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- id:: 62f6069c-94cc-48ef-889b-3be70533cf23
Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain. ⤴️
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- id:: 13f6d4b4-b0ce-412b-9c1e-d1e0f33ea341
Inbox addiction poses a serious threat to doing our best creative work and staying on focus with our essential tasks. ⤴️
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- id:: 41aeb9ce-5b8e-45c4-8369-50204d6e0600
It’s a drain on our time as well as a drain on our creative energy. ⤴️
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- id:: 0cd5aa6b-c7fc-4c15-af0d-723003df5e2d
The problem is that when urgency is the *dominant factor* in our lives, importance isn’t. ⤴️
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- id:: 6bfae37e-0e51-4d5d-bfc8-5c53f0961fba
essential work is often mundane. ⤴️
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- id:: f3b949a6-8415-4622-8f34-4f15d93fc0f4
it feels exciting. ⤴️
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- id:: 48a191a3-5bd5-41e1-bc65-a5308b9e9873
The essential work is that you must put words down. ⤴️
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- id:: 01e791c1-21d4-4fcb-9482-439610b965f0
difficult, boring, tedious, mundane. ⤴️
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- id:: 66cffdd7-d3cb-480b-ab86-b8b81531bf85
Essential is the very definition of what’s truly important. ⤴️
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- id:: 3ed12457-1828-4d0f-beef-5fd14405800c
urgency is usually defined by external factors, essentialness is fundamentally important to a project or goal, regardless of external factors. ⤴️
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- id:: 29cf41df-1331-4b63-806e-9e51c4051217
How often do you feel frustrated at the end of the day because your most important tasks are still not done? ⤴️we never have the time to do the important task which doesn’t have to be done today.
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- id:: c79e6e43-1a2a-4cd4-989a-ea37aba47310
How often do you blame the rush and press of external things for your failure to do the work you know to be most important? ⤴️
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- id:: 398e510f-57b6-4725-a603-d3da139aae7f
To let our lives be taken over by what is only urgent is to live like a child — caring only about what seems important right now with no regard for the future and without even knowing what is actually important today. ⤴️How often do you find yourself giving up quality time with important people so that you can finish a project or respond to a crisis?
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- id:: 40849772-e4d2-49e7-bfdf-86ad8411888a
newness of a project brings an energy that motivates us to get started. ⤴️
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- id:: 52da7449-b0f4-4f4d-a106-6c04fad82755
urgency of a deadline brings an energy that motivates us to finish. ⤴️
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- id:: 2b5dc7ac-a258-491e-a692-96ebb597898e
“in-between state” ⤴️
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- id:: 2898def9-c697-4343-b787-91b3df5bfd47
making it part of your routine to do your best creative work every day ⤴️
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- id:: 64a83564-7ede-4bfa-9d48-144e827e26af
They have a joy in the journey. ⤴️
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- id:: 2d13fc38-2a47-4fce-bfa0-ed399a6b5134
what we get to do. Not something we have to do. ⤴️
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- id:: 46fefa99-c860-4d2b-8a29-97b42b72090d
Meaningful work -- work that matters -- is something that I have to do. ⤴️
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- id:: b5dadd0b-5742-4950-b322-81484882af08
Meaningful work is also something which I hope will make the lives of other people better. ⤴️
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- id:: 90be79f6-59e3-4d86-b50d-eb4afa0a40ca
Having joy in the journey is just that. ⤴️
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