You vs. Time & Connection

This blog (https://www.wework.com/magazine/inspiration/one-founders-best-productivity-trick-save-time-less/) was recently forwarded to me and got me thinking about the human construct of time.  We never seem to have enough, do we? The clock keeps ticking, the tasks keep piling up, and we unconsciously live reactively to outside measures of accomplishment. We fill our moments more and more with less and less meaningful outcomes.

The result? A feeling of never quite being “done.” And the result of that feeling? Anxiety.

I think we live in a time that creates some degree of attention deficit. Information is constantly streaming into our conscious minds.

What we’re often lacking, however, is an intentional pause and evaluation. In other words, is what we’re doing moment-by-moment leading us toward what we ultimately want? If it’s work related, and task associated, are we working wisely?

A few tricks I’ve found that change my own inner clock:

1)   Leave your inbox closed. In other words, at the start of your workday, make a conscious decision not to open your email. You’ll then have focused time to accomplish the things on your to-do list--not just start them, but start them and complete them. Check your email after lunch. You’ll have logged a good half-day of focused work. If anyone really needs to find you, they will.

2)   Don’t turn on your cell phone. Nothing, and I do mean nothing, sucks more time than the recurrent checking of your phone. If you don’t believe me, take a few moments and observe the people walking down the street. How many of them actually are looking straight ahead, seeing what’s right in front of them? Not too many in my experience. We all have our heads down, staring at tiny screens, oblivious to what’s happening around us. Hit the on button at lunchtime and maximize your professional obligations.

3)   Connect with world. Every day. The best way I’ve found to do this is to go outside. It doesn’t matter whether you live in a city or a rural area; most of us live a huge portion of our lives 24-inches from a computer screen. We’re all a bit nature starved and to the point made in item 2, we don’t even see what’s before us. We’re consumed by our electronics, which leaves us in a constant state of anticipation. For the next text. The next email. The next social status update or message. Click and respond. Click and respond. It’s never ending. By heading outside—electronics free—we get to re-experience the world that we’re intimately connected to and give our over-fed, over stimulated minds a much-needed break. The result? A calmer, clearer focus when you resume your daily work.

Give these three ideas a try and let me know how they work for you. I’d love to know your tips too. How do you construct your time? Or does time construct you?

Finally, lots of good info and resources (and a great vibe too!) for entrepreneurs at www.WeWork.com, where the above-mentioned blog appeared.  This upstart company is growing too, so be sure that you visit their “careers” tab if you’re looking for your new work.

 Any organization that calls itself “a community of creators,” well, I’m all in.

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