Quotes About Distraction

It is no coincidence that ours is a time afflicted by a widespread sense of attentional crisis, at least in the West - one captured by the phrase ''homo distractus,'' a species of ever shorter attention span known for compulsively checking his devices.

Every time you find your attention captured by a poster, your awareness, and perhaps something more, has, if only for a moment, been appropriated without your consent.

For how we spend the brutally limited resource of our attention will determine those lives to a degree most of us may prefer not to think about. As William James observed, we must reflect that, when we reach the end of our days, our life experience will equal what we have paid attention to, whether by choice or default. We are at risk, without quite fully realizing it, of living lives that are less our own than we imagine. The

We have already remarked how who we are can be defined, at least in part, by what we attend to - how much more so this is when what we attend to is determined less by our volition and more by ambience.

talking about the habit of constantly checking for updates on email/FB/Twitter, etc.) The check-in would eventually become a widespread attentional habit; ..... No other has compelled so many minds with such regularity - regularity that has the feel of a compulsion, of a mental itch constantly in need of being scratched.

Being busy is most often used as a guise for avoiding the few critically important but uncomfortable actions.

People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things." –Steve Jobs

The disease of our times is that we live on the surface. We're like the Platte River, a mile wide and an inch deep. I always say, "If you want to become a billionaire, invent something that will allow people to indulge their own Resistance." Somebody did invent it. It's called the Internet. Social media. That wonderland where we can flit from one superficial, jerkoff distraction to another, always remaining on the surface, never

No newspapers, magazines, audiobooks, or nonmusic radio. Music is permitted at all times. No news websites whatsoever (cnn.com, drudgereport.com, msn.com,10 etc.). No television at all, except for one hour of pleasure viewing each evening. No reading books, except for this book and one hour of fiction11 pleasure reading prior to bed. No web surfing at the desk unless it is necessary to complete a work task for that day. Necessary means necessary, not nice to have.

Being busy is a form of laziness—lazy thinking and indiscriminate action.

People are poor judges of importance and inflate minutiae to fill time and feel important.

This is very similar to Derek Sivers's (page 184) "Don't be a donkey" rule. In a world of distraction, single-tasking is a superpower.

2. I'm just caging my monkey mind on paper so I can get on with my fucking day.

Social media. That wonderland where we can flit from one superficial, jerkoff distraction to another, always remaining on the surface, never going deeper than an inch.

patterns, it's easy for me to lose focus, to succumb to distraction. The question that helps me return to the present is, simply, "Is what I am doing right now aligned with my life's calling?

I don't care why people pick up cookbooks. I'm much more interested in why they put them down.

Sure, that sounds kinda cool," I'd say, dropping it in the calendar. Later, I'd pay the price of massive distraction and overwhelm. My agenda became a list of everyone else's agendas. Saying yes to too much "cool" will bury you alive and render you a B-player, even if you have A-player skills. To develop your edge initially, you learn to set priorities; to maintain your edge, you need to defend against the priorities of others.

While people often say there's not enough time, remember that you'll always have less attention than time. Full attention is where you do your best work, and everyone's going to be looking to rip it from you. Protect and preserve it.

I needed to get out of my inbox and back to my own to-do list.

Check e-mail twice per day, once at 12:00 noon or just prior to lunch, and again at 4:00 P.M. 12:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. are times that ensure you will have the most responses from previously sent e-mail. Never check e-mail first thing in the morning.12 Instead, complete your most important task before 11:00 A.M. to avoid using lunch or reading e-mail as a postponement excuse

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The disease of our times is that we live on the surface. We're like the Platte River, a mile wide and an inch deep. I always say, "If you want to become a billionaire, invent something that will allow people to indulge their own Resistance." Somebody did invent it. It's called the Internet. Social media. That wonderland where we can flit from one superficial, jerkoff distraction to another, always remaining on the surface, never going deeper than an inch.

I was also afraid of "losing my edge," as if meditation would make me less aggressive or driven. That was unfounded; meditation simply helps you channel drive toward the few things that matter, rather than every moving target and imaginary opponent that pops up.

meditation simply helps you channel drive toward the few things that matter, rather than every moving target and imaginary opponent that pops up.