A few weeks ago I read the article, Are You Lacking Focus? This Easy Week-Long Ritual Can Help. It suggested a method for keeping clutter from my mind and improving my focus. I tried it.
Here is the suggested practice. Set an alarm to sound every four hours. At the alarm, write down anything in your head that is not directly associated with the task at hand. Become aware of that thought. Be ready to eliminate it from your mind the next time you recognize it.
So I set the alarm on my phone for 8 am, noon, 4 pm, and 8 pm. After one day, I decided to adjust to more conducive times, 8:45 am, 12:45 pm, 4:45 pm, and 8:45 pm. I used blank 3×5 cards to capture my thoughts every time the alarm sounded.
Did it work? My result was mixed. Some alarms went off when I had no cards or a pen. Some alarms occurred when I was in a meeting. I even had an alarm sound when I was in the checkout lane of the grocery store. After a week, I had recorded only 60% of the scheduled times.
I found it strange that this exercise didn’t give any guidance on what to do with your written thoughts. The article assumed that these thoughts didn’t need attention. That they should be banished. But what if they were important? I think a better practice would be to review the cards from the previous day, and add actions or projects as needed to your own planning system.
As a practitioner of David Allen’s Getting Things Done for over 15 years, I already have a habit of capturing my thoughts. This exercise had some redundancy with the Getting Things Done system.
Did it help? I liked the alarms every four hours as a reminder about capturing ideas and staying focused. Going forward I plan to keep the 8:45 am, 12:45 pm, and 4:45 pm alarms on weekdays. This simple addition to my day will enhance the systems I already have in place.
Overall, this exercise was enjoyable, and a learning experience. If you struggle with focus (squirrel!), maybe this exercise can give you insight into how you may improve.