take control of their attention will see their value in the marketplace multiplied .
The key to the cave ? You must be unreachable . You ’ re familiar with Murphy ’ s Law , right ? It states that if anything can go wrong , it will go wrong . This applies especially to your attention . If anyone can interrupt you , they will . And the easier it is to reach you , the less likely the interruption will be important . How do you keep distractions away ? Let ’ s get practical . You Need To Create Physical Barriers Keep Your Door Closed A good cave is going to be a place where you can physically separate yourself from your peers . It should have walls or barriers that keep you from co-workers , friends , family , and maybe even the occasional enemy . Hang Up Your “ Do Not Disturb ” Sign Buy yourself a “ Do Not Disturb ” sign . Hang it on your door and you ’ ll watch the unnecessary interruptions come to a screeching halt . Invest in a Pair of Noise-Canceling Headphones Some of us don ’ t have the luxury of a personal office . Maybe you share an office , maybe you work in one of those monstrosities known as an open office , or maybe your office walls are just paper thin . Noise-canceling headphones are a great alternative for less than ideal circumstances such as these .
Physically isolating yourself is the first step , but it isn ’ t enough . You may be away from your peers , but your phone and laptop keep you at arm ’ s length to almost everyone in the world . You ’ ve put up walls of defense around your attention , but your phone is a Trojan horse . It never really had to break down walls to get to you . It entices you until you invite it inside , but at any moment , it will drop a band of attentionhungry soldiers who will pillage your mind and thwart your plans . Keep the Trojan horse out ! You Need To Create Virtual Barriers Lock Up Your Phone There is no cell reception in real caves and there shouldn ’ t be in your cave either . You need to virtually isolate yourself from Facebook , satellites , and cell towers . Consider putting your phone in a box or desk drawer . While you ’ re in the cave , you ’ re off the phone . Enter “ Airplane Mode ” The airplane mode or “ Do Not Disturb ” mode on your phone is another great alternative . This setting is especially ideal if you are expecting an important phone call as you can select who can still reach you . Either Close Your Laptop or Put It in “ Full Screen ” If you ’ re able , keep the laptop out of the cave . But we live in the digital age , after all , so this is not likely an option . Consider limiting yourself to the screen in which you ’ re working . Viewing it in full screen will keep your wandering eyes from the legion of distractions scattered across the rest of your
computer screen . If you have multiple tabs open , you are working against your own focused attention . Use Tech to Fight Tech While tech can divide our attention , it can also focus it . Here are some apps that you should consider adopting :
• Freedom - a program that turns off the internet for a set amount of time
• WriteRoom - a simplified word processor so you can write without being distracted by annoying red squiggly lines and inexplicable setting changes ( Thanks , MS Word .)
• RescueTime - tracks your time to tell you how you are spending it
• Headspace - a guided mindfulness phone app ( nothing increases focus like mindfulness )
• Forest - a phone app that rewards you for not looking at your phone
• Chrome Extensions - Limitless ( simple organizational landing page ) and Strict Workflow ( an alternate to Freedom )
Twenty-five hundred years ago , Plato used the analogy of a cave to share his philosophy of how people learn and grow . Plato said all people begin life inside a cave , a dimly lit world where light and shadows are all that you can see . In order to grow and understand , people must climb out of the cave and take in the fuller truth of the world outside of it . But 2,500 years later , in a world where daily life casts us into environments of constant distraction , wisdom says that growing and learning is not a matter of leaving a cave but of entering a cave . It ’ s about going back inside the cave , not to turn away from learning but to get away from the interferences of daily life that are keeping us from learning and developing .
Long ago we left the cave to evolve . Now we need to reenter the cave to keep from devolving .
Curt Steinhorst
Curt Steinhorst is on a mission to help today ’ s workforce win the battle against digital distractions . Having fought ADD his entire life and spent years studying the impact of tech on human behavior , he now equips professionals across the world to work smarter and stronger in this constantly-connected age . Curtsteinhorst . com