In A World Full Of Distractions, Experts Offer Tips On Focus

By Nancy K. Crevier

The world is full of technological distractions that vie for attention every day. Juggling those interruptions is a skill. Too much disruption and nothing is accomplished. But to ignore electronic nudging and human interaction means that important bits of information may be lost. What does it take to be focused in a world filled with human and mechanical interruptions? Do workers accomplish less due to perpetual distractions, or can interruptions serve a purpose?

Newtown Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock has learned to rework her expectations of any given day and realizes that a “plan” for a day cannot be counted on. “I realized early on that this job has so much to do with relationships, and I love that kind of work. When I saw the interruptions were primarily people, it did away with any resentment I felt about interruptions,” she said.

She has made a conscious decision not to do social networking, and is not responsible for a web page. She does, however, receive hundreds of e-mails in addition to phone calls and office visits.

She handles the input by applying discipline. “I don’t let technology interrupt me. I can decide when I want to look at my e-mails. I do answer e-mails within 24 hours of receiving one,” she said, but not as they come in to her mailbox. “I respond to all [during one session],” she said. That discipline also means that every e-mail and phone call is answered before she leaves the school each day.

She is adept at multitasking, one reason she can handle the amount of information thrown at her.

Some tasks require blocks of time and in-depth consideration that must be tackled in an undisturbed environment. “Those tasks happen at the end of the day, after everyone leaves, or I take them home with me where I have control of my time,” Ms Sherlock said. Even then, she tackles the most challenging tasks first, a discipline she learned growing up.

“I think that technology is a positive piece of our society, not a negative piece. The phone has always rung; there has always been the unexpected knock at the door. Expecting interruptions,” Ms Sherlock said, “makes them easier to accept. And, the interruptions make the day exciting and different.”

At lifehack.org, a website devoted to increasing productivity, a March 26 article by Jeff Doubek, “Four Critical Ways You Can Stop Wasting Time Today” supports many of Ms Sherlock’s techniques.

Number one is Stop Random E-Mail Checks. Scheduling a quiet time to answer all e-mails is more efficient than trying to do so piecemeal. Quit “Winging It” is the number two suggestion — in other words, stick to a plan. Don’t Be An Interruption Magnet is the number three way to stop wasting time. Silence the cellphone, close your e-mail, and unplug from the Internet when serious tasks need to be addressed. Last of all, End Your Silent Procrastinating. Schedule tasks in time segments and use a day planner for reminders, in order to not procrastinate by becoming involved in nonessential tasks.

Self-Discipline

 Self-discipline is essential to managing technology and tasks in a manner that brings an end to feelings of being overwhelmed and unproductive, and is also Tim Snyder’s key to success as a freelance writer working from home. Along with interruptions one might expect in an office, Mr Snyder has other distractions.

“One is our dog. There can be a lot of getting up to let him in and out. The other distraction,” he said, “is a beautiful day.” It is a balance of focused time and distractions for him on any work day, he said.

Unlike Ms Sherlock, Mr Snyder constantly checks his e-mail. “That’s my lifeline. But if I get one that I can tell is not work related, I ignore that until the end of the day,” he said. That goes for Facebook notifications, as well, he said. It takes discipline, he said, to discern urgent e-mails from those that are not.

He also will not ignore the ringing of his cell phone, which is his business phone, but over time he has learned to let the landline ring.

Research, of which his work requires a great deal, can itself be a distraction, said Mr Snyder. This is especially true when the project is of personal as well as professional interest. Again, self-discipline must be applied.

In order to meet a deadline, Mr Snyder incorporates work time into a reward system. A period of concentrated effort may be rewarded by a cup of tea, an outing with his dog, a stint on his exercise machines, or just stepping out to enjoy one of those beautiful days. Even breaks to take care of household chores can fall under the reward system.

For those times when he requires a period of intense quiet, Mr Snyder will get up early and use that block of time, before the household starts to stir.

Being able to selectively focus is at the heart of writing, and he is fortunate, he said, that he is able to tune out distractions around him the three days of the week that he works on site for one client. “I am aware of an intense focus when working there, and other people can tell when I’m that focused, too,” he said. “When I’m fine-tuning the wording, then I just tune things out. I don’t think that varies, whether I’m at home or in the office. Interruptions at that point can be upsetting,” Mr Snyder said.

If he feels frustrated by not being able to regain that focus, he will take a break “and try to empty out my mind before I get back to it.”

Disruptions can serve a positive purpose. “If I’m struggling with something, I find that if I take a break, I can go back and put a fresh eye to it,” Mr Snyder said.

In The Zone

“I would say I’m a very easily distracted person,” admitted Riley Wurtz, co-captain of the champion Newtown High School girls’ basketball team. “When I study, I often get sidetracked because I’m on my phone checking Twitter or Facebook, and changing the music I’m listening to,” she said. Television, the computer, and her iPhone are additional distractions for the high school senior. But when it comes to basketball, she has learned to “zone in” on the task.

Crowds cheering for or against her and the team once affected her play time, Riley said, but through sheer determination she has put that chanting into a place in her mind that does not interfere with her game. “When I play basketball, I can only truly hear my teammates and my coach. It just falls into place,” said Riley. Years of playing basketball and a warm up to music help her to focus and prepare for the actual game.

“Three or four years ago, playing in an arena [like we did for the state championship in March] that loud, with that many people definitely would have distracted me,” she said. “I think it was years of practice preparing me for that moment and that’s what really got me in the zone,” Riley said.

Multilayered Focus

Focus is not a singular thing for some professions.

George Smiley is a former Army helicopter pilot, and a corporate helicopter and jet pilot since 1982. As might be imagined, focus is essential to anyone operating an aircraft. It is, said Mr Smiley, but that focus must be a multilayered focus. That ability is learned through “training, training, training,” said Mr Smiley. Pilots are trained to compartmentalize; only that information needed at a specific time is in the forefront for the pilot, while other information of a nonessential or lesser important nature is stored for recall.

Five points are crucial to piloting an aircraft, he said. “The first is training — train like you fly, fly like you train. Discipline is number two. There are old pilots and there are bold pilots,” Mr Smiley said, “but there are not old and bold pilots.”

The third thing is standardization. “We do things the same way, all the time. It doesn’t matter if it is good weather or bad, or normal or abnormal operations, the routine stays the same,” he said. The fourth point is that of a good safety culture. Management must set the tone for the organization and support the workforce. If any decision would be in question, Mr Smiley said, then err on the side of safety.

“Crew resource management” is the fifth essential, Mr Smiley said. “That means that the pilot in command uses all of the resources available to him or her to get the job done,” he said. Those resources used to help with focus may include other crew members, air traffic control, company maintenance, dispatch, weather forecasters, and possibly others.

Mr Smiley is careful to differentiate between “focus” and “fixation.” A pilot is constantly scanning all incoming information, he said. “Then you narrow the scene when you have to, but you cannot fixate on any one thing.”

Simulators, on which he trains at least twice a year, provide scenarios for responding to problems, he said. Those training sessions, as well as experience, help pilots to focus in an all-encompassing manner that gets them up in the air and down again, safely.

When Disruption Defines The Job

There is no place in the Newtown Emergency Communications department for employees unable to multitask, said Director of Emergency Communications Maureen Will. One person staffs each of three stations, with up to six monitors for radio transmissions, the CAD system, surveillance system, 911 calls, and a mapping screen demanding full attention.

“Disruption is the name of the game here,” said Ms Will. Emergency communications employees must be aware of what is going on around them, even while giving full attention to one call. To block out surrounding chaos and have singular focus would be detrimental to this job.

Focus has to go back and forth and be coupled with decision making, an exhausting process over a 12-hour shift, she said. In order for staff to stay alert to the endless information coming at them, certain rules apply in the Emergency Communications Center in Town Hall South. “No personal cell phone are allowed,” she said, and a willingness to assist is necessary. Internet and television are available for down times, but everyone knows that when a call comes in, those disruptions cease.

Care has been taken to relieve some of the stress of a job that is all about focusing on multiple tasks, said Ms Will. Computer consoles can be raised or lowered, to allow workers to sit or stand. An ergonomic chair is equipped with exercise pulleys for stretching out during a long, seated shift. And, she said, a good sense of humor is of great help.

“I try to keep morale high here,” said Ms Will, and as director, she has to know when to step away from the job in order not to be overwhelmed.

It is not, however, technology that overwhelms her or her staff, she said. “Technology adds another layer of excitement. You can get so much done,” Ms Will said. The Emergency Communications Center does have a website, and she is hoping to see a Facebook page put up in the near future.

A Facebook page for the Newtown Emergency Communications Center would be one more way to get information out quickly and accurately in an emergency, she said, as long as people understood it was not the place to request 911 assistance. “We have to be able to control the information,” she said.

Budgeting time allows her to complete reports, and Miss Will makes a point of setting aside time to check e-mails. “I turn off the sound,” she said. No e-mail is so important that it cannot wait, she said. “If it is something that important, someone will call me.

“I control my own destiny with technology,” Ms Will said, “and that’s what we all have to do.”