Managing Distractions: 4 Mindful Habits You Can Pick Up From Effective Leaders

In The Mindful Brain, renowned child psychiatrist and educator Daniel Siegel writes: “We can actually focus our minds in a way that changes the structure and function of the brain throughout our lives. . . . Being aware of the present moment without grasping onto judgments offers a powerful path toward both compassion and inner well-being. This is what science verifies and what has been taught over thousands of years of practice."

Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal — in their well-titled article “Beware the Busy Manager” in the Harvard Business Review — cite a study that found that 90 percent of managers squander their time in ineffective activities, and only 10 percent spend time in a committed, purposeful, and reflective manner.

“The smallest proportion of managers we studied — around 10% — were both highly energetic and highly focused. . . . Purposeful managers tend to be more self-aware than most people. . . . They pick their goals — and also their battles — with far more care than other managers do.”

As we all know, some days are just hopelessly busy, with tasks taking you in many different directions, but the number of those days can be reduced. We can never eliminate distractions, but we can lessen them and manage the ones that remain so that they don’t drain our focus and energy. This certainly improves our sense of satisfaction and effectiveness, since we maximize “results” while minimizing effort. To start, we need the intention to be more composed in order to experience more composure. Composure and focus aren’t achieved just by lowering the number of tasks that need our attention. More important is how we prioritize the tasks before us, as well as the quality of attention we bring to those tasks. What are some of the specific actions of the 10 percent of focused and energetic managers?

• They schedule regular “think time” and reflective time into their days.
• They keep disruptive inflow of information to a minimum by responding to emails and phone calls only at certain times of the day.
• They have well-developed strategies for reducing stress levels.
• They are thoughtful and strategic about the number of meetings they schedule and attend.

 I suggest focusing on one strategy from the list of four strategies above.  I don’t want my suggestions to be another distraction!  See if you can choose one – I suggest beginning with the first.  If you don’t have a regular meditation practice in your life, or at least some regular reflection time, today would be a good place to begin!