Focusing, managing overwhelm, & doing deep work
Ezra Klein’s podcast interview with journalist Johann Hari, “it’s not your fault you can’t pay attention”, surprised me. I listened to it expecting the usual (screens are bad… meditation is good... etc), and hoping to uncover new ideas I can use with my clients. So many of the people I coach are struggling to carve out and defend the time they need to do deep, focused work these days... and many also struggle, once they find themselves with that rare and precious hour of focused work time, to stay in the zone. Instead, they feel distracted, unsure if their work is any good, and struggling to get deep work done.
Hari and Klein’s broad-ranging conversation explores the tensions between what demands our attention and the resources that we have at our disposal to foster deep thought and work. I ran out and bought Hari’s book, “Stolen Focus: Why you can’t pay attention”, and now I can't stop recommending it.
There are a lot of practices I recommend you’re one of those people fighting for a little daylight in your work calendar or striving to do better, deeper work. Some of my faves:
Booking all of your internal meetings or admin work on one day, rather than sprinkling throughout the work week
Using the ‘do not disturb’ or ‘focus’ feature on your phone, turning off notifications, and employing apps like Freedom to reduce interruptions from email, the internet, and social media
"no meetings" days
Still, most people who work in businesses are at the mercy of their company culture and expectations- and not all of these will be possible. To that end, I’ve developed a new coaching framework for leadership teams who want to become more intentional about how they work, and set a culture that encourages depth and focus. It leverages a number of useful tools and frameworks from the Center for Executive Coaching, plus some of the ideas Johann Hari, Cal Newport (another fave of mine), and other deep thinkers about purpose-driven work and focus have developed. Want the deets? Just hit reply and I’ll send you an overview.
I’m also developing other content and coaching practices on this subject, so if you have practices you find helpful or other resources on the subject I’d welcome hearing more. Please drop me a line any time!
