Industry Magazine Get JACK'D Magazine Spring 2017 | Page 22

“FOR MOST OF US, THE HARDEST PLACE TO ENTER AND THE SCARIEST PLACE TO STAY IS A CAVE.” BUILDING YOUR FOCUS CAVE PEOPLE DON’T work anymore. I know, we all think we are overworked, but the evidence shows that what we actually are is distracted. We average only three minutes of work before being deterred by interruptions. It takes us an average of twenty-three minutes to get back to work. And it’s not your fault. The problem? Access. For the first time in history, we have literally no barriers to connectivity. Let me put this in context for you. If you took the total span of human history and divided it by average life expectancy, you would arrive at eight hundred lifetimes. For the first 650 of those lifetimes, we lived predominantly in caves. We’ve only had mass communication for the last six lifetimes. Not until the last two could you communicate further than you could walk, thanks to Henry Ford. Today, you can communicate with anyone, anywhere, anytime. And we do. The result? Noise. Your phone, social media, and your computer have all made you continually available to a thousand voices. They’re all screaming your name; they’re all demanding your attention. You see, technology has not only made the world available to you, it has made you available to the world, and you’re probably crumbling beneath its demands. This is why, if you want to get real work done, you have to head back to the cave. For most of us, the hardest place to enter and the scariest place to stay is a cave. Not a cold and damp cavern of hollowed-out rock on the side of a slope, but a place that simply barricades us from the noise of modern life. A cave is an unreachable place where you go by yourself to focus for a limited period of time on your most important tasks. It’s a place with no windows to the world, where no one can see you and where you cannot see others. It is where you’re safe from interferences that stifle your productivity and creativity. Your eyes need time to adjust, because it’s a different kind of light that shines where distractions are removed. Those who develop the capacity to stay inside this