Attention — notes
As part of my #weeknotechallenge I have decided to challenge myself to doing a different style of weeknotes every week.
Today is weeknote #43… nearly getting there!
The many other weeknotes in the challenge are linked below, i hope that even one of them will inspire someone to write or do something differently with their weeknotes/blog in future.
‘Traditional’ Weeknotes , Gif-Notes , Sketch-Notes, Shanty-Notes, Week-quotes, Animal Crossing — Notes , Poster — Notes, Haiku — notes, Achievement — notes, Hanami — notes, Meme — notes, Retro — notes, Comic — notes, Story — notes, Slang — notes, Tweet — notes, Blog — notes, Hansai — notes,Show & Tell — notes, Taskmaster — notes, Lyrical — notes, Rap — notes, Wellbeing — notes,Football — notes, Superhero — notes,Hot or Not — notes, Olympic — notes, Lesson — notes,Hamilton — notes,Poké — notes,Limerick — notes,Lil’ — notes,Emoji — notes,Bin it off — notes,Festival — notes,Mental health — notes, Idk what this is called but it looked cool on YouTube- notes,Guy Fawkes — notes,Green — notes, Choose your own adventure — notes,The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly — notes,
This week is all about…
Sorry i just got distracted…
Attention!
A lot of what i have been doing recently has revolved around attention so i thought i would talk all about it.
Let’s start at the basics… ( I say the basics, i learnt a lot about neuroscience when researching this)
What is attention?
Attention is the ability to actively process specific information in the environment while tuning out other details.
Think of attention as a highlighter. As you read through a section of text in a book, the highlighted section stands out, causing you to focus your interest in that area.
It’s not just about channelling your focus on one particular thing; it also involves ignoring a great deal of stimulation. Attention allows you to “tune out” information, sensations, and perceptions that are not relevant at the moment and instead focus your energy on the information that’s important.
So that’s an overall view but…
How has it changed?
You may have heard that humans now have worse attention spans then goldfish and while this is true. It’s a bit harsh on goldfish who are known to have great memory and learning abilities.
Attention spans are difficult to measure they depend on the task at hand, our age, and our general state of mind etc.
Attention is constantly changing and reducing. What used to be reading a whole ‘How to’ manual became a 30min video which became a 10min which is now a 6 second TikTok.
People lose their concentration quickly due to the abondance of information available at their fingertips.
- How many meetings have you been in where you can honestly say you didn’t look away from the meeting?
- How many tv shows do you fully engage in without looking at your phone?
- When was the last time you felt like something/someone had your full attention?
The common answer is not very often.
A Microsoft survey stated confirmed generational differences for mobile use; for example, 77% of people aged 18 to 24 responded “yes” when asked, “When nothing is occupying my attention, the first thing I do is reach for my phone,” compared with only 10% of those over the age of 65.
The real issue isn’t attention spans at all…
The real issue is distractedness
Modern life is full of distractions. Our phones constantly buzz with notifications from social networks, emails, messaging services, various apps that are a pain to turn off notifications on… you get the idea.
Being constantly on the alert for distractions can hold you back from “slow-burner” activities. A good book might not get going for the first few chapters — but once it does, the wait is worth it. Some of the best TV shows involve grand plotlines that gently unfold over time. Some musicals and theatre can be incredible — but you have to be willing to sit still for an hour or more without looking at Instagram or twitter.
It’s estimated that after every distraction it takes you 25 minutes to return fully to your original task.
Calvin Newport estimates that we experience a 50% drop in productivity when we’re in a “state of distraction”.
We’ve all had days where we felt like we got nothing done because we were responding to emails all day or in meeting after meeting back-to-back. There is some work that simply needs your full focus and attention, and you will never get round to it if you keep bouncing from distraction to distraction.
How does this impact others?
So, we know about distractions and attention but often you don’t often think about how it can affect other people.
- That person you weren’t listening to whilst presenting probably doesn’t feel great.
- You put another meeting in without checking their schedule. They could be trying to take a break or have some downtime from another meeting.
- You may have just quickly checked your phone whilst talking to someone but from their perspective they feel they have lost your interest.
Although attention is a very personal thing it’s also worthwhile thinking about how it can impact others and how they see you.
Why this for a weeknotes?
Recently I have felt myself developing bad habits and i have also seen it in others around attention in meetings.
In the Digital team we have been constantly talking and learning about our virtual (and now hybrid) approach but it’s not just a switch you can flick things take time to develop and importantly if you don’t address things or work opening bad habits can start to grow and develop as well.
Let’s hope they don’t mutate and spread! (little on the nose?)
I couldn’t really write up these points into a smooth way so i have split them up with Star Wars quotes…
“I have a bad feeling about this”
I didn’t even consider this but for the brain but according to some studies being in larger meetings is like watching multiple tv channels at the same time! Although I’m not sure what rubbish the people in that study must watch on tv…
Large meetings result in us entering a state called continuous partial attention where we’re paying superficial attention (at best) to the number of sources of incoming information because we don’t want to miss out on anything important.
The risk here is that it adds to our stress levels that can lead to greater anxiety and mental exhaustion.
The frustrating thing is there’s not really a major fix for this other than splitting up larger meetings but I guess that’s something to think about…
“You were to bring balance to the meeting not leave it in darkness”
One thing that i really don’t think people have got to grips with yet is finding the perfect balance in a virtual meeting. Too much information is overwhelming and causes people to shut off and too little seems like you are wasting time. (don’t get me started on PowerPoint slides…)
In longer meetings making sure everyone gets lots of breaks to take their eyes away from the screen to grab a coffee, go to the loo or whatever. Breakout rooms are something used for workshops and discussions, the power of these is providing time to talk, reflect, and consider the point being discussed. I find these often underutilised in my experience.
How to keep it
As with most things, regular exercise and sleep always help. Exercise is good for both the brain and body, and when you intersperse periods of work with exercise, you’ll come back to work feeling refreshed. So, cancel that meeting and go for a walk!
As i know exercise and sleep are a bit generic, here are some more specific ways you keep your attention and prevent from being distracted.
Switching off
The most obvious course of action is to limit your distractions. Turn off notifications on your phone, turn off desktop notifications, turn off team chat (this is something i am encouraging), and try to “batch” deal with emails. You might set aside an hour at the beginning of the day and an hour at the end for example. This can work but you still have to be disciplined to not want to have a cheeky look at your inbox outside of those times.
Give yourself downtime
There’s lots of evidence that ‘mental downtime’ (time when you have nothing in particular to focus on or process) is just as important for memory and learning as the time we actually spend learning.
Our brain cannot get any less active then when we’re experiencing ‘mental downtime’ apparently.
The mind uses any time it can to process what you’ve learned, strengthen neural connections, and refresh its capacity to take on new things. Downtime can also “bulk up” our attention “muscle” — enabling you to achieve focus for longer periods of time.
So basically, your focus is like a battery and you need to recharge often to make sure that you aren’t running on empty.
Mental downtime can be chatting over a coffee, going for a long walk, or just chilling and having a nap. You need to find what works for you.
Let yourself have fun
It sounds completely counterintuitive, but plan in some time to have fun. If someone sent you a funny video at work, don’t completely ignore it — in fact, schedule some time in to watch it and relax! Not that I’m hinting at anything…
The point is to be in control of when you let your mind engage in something else. But it is clear that switching away from the task at hand can be useful sometimes. As long a you are making the conscious decision to shift focus then it’s not distraction. And it will make you more focused when you shift back to your original task.
So yeah, have fun and make time for fun. I can’t believe this is something i am having to tell you!
Final thoughts
Should i have to tell people to pay attention in a meeting? Or is that a new lesson to learn from everyone being at home in a virtual meeting? But even then i can remember lots of meetings physically where people would be typing away on their laptops?
Is this a battle that cannot be won, or do we just need to take a stand? Or even ask the question, if people are not paying attention is that on the presenter or the people who have so much work that they have to multi-task?
There’s not really a concreate answer but i am going to be making an effort to pay attention and even stating so at the start of a meeting.
Maybe i need a better way of saying ‘Can i have your attention please’ as i tap a wine glass like a wedding speech…
If you’ve made it this far, you probably don’t have many difficulties with staying focussed. Congratulations!
I hope this will encourage some reflection or at least was interesting to read.
That’s it from me this week!
Sam out.
