THE COFFEE SHOP - Issue 2

Hey , what hot beverage is getting you through today? Mint tea is my current remedy - two bags in a big cup does me nicely.

Welcome to The Coffee Shop. A weekly newsletter where I explore topics that people often want to take me out for a coffee to pick my brain on. The primary focus will be on my personal and professional development work, namely leadership, culture, effective communication, and growth.

This week I want to talk about what (or who) has your attention. As you read this, what else is running in the background vying for your attention, making you rush through coffee with David McQueen to get to the next thing? Or am I passing judgement based on my own predisposition to distraction?

Yes, I get distracted. I just dress it up as a very impressive schedule of self-development and learning.

I have a voracious appetite for reading. At any given point in time, I am probably reading two or three books as well as working through a long list of keyword-curated articles (Google alerts, Feedly and Pocket are my tools of choice). I also consume quite a few podcasts in any given week. Seth Godin's Akimbo, The Knowledge Project is really informative, Pivot always cracks me up, as well as some good offerings from my good friends Alex Holmes, Sope Agebulsi and Paul Spiers. Love me a good narrative podcast too, so Homecoming and The Listening Project get a look in now and then.

Even as I write and look at my learning habits, it seems a lot but I am very intentional about my learning time. Whether I am out for my walks, doing household chores, on my commutes into London, on shopping trips, or after work when others in my family are watching TV, I love learning. I know I don't have much time to do this in my working day, so I am very intentional about it, but even with that intention, I often ask myself, when do I just stop and be OK without voices, sounds, games and images having my attention.

I spend very little time on my phone (unless for calls), so it would be easy to convince myself into thinking that my daily screen time is relatively low. However, that would be a lie. iMac. iPhone. Macbook. Kindle. Remarkable. TV. All these have my attention at some point during the week. I literally have to force myself to remember I don't need to be learning something while I'm showering, going for a bath or popping down the road for some groceries. And yet so much of this garnering of my attention is not just my doing but externalities too.

My attention has recently been turned to the works of Nir Eyal (Indistractable), Cal Newport (Deep Work) and Johann Hari (Stolen Focus). These authors have demonstrated that our attention is often outside of our control. Of course, the lure of social media is obvious, but there's also our work practices; the constant emails, meeting invites, and news alerts. Even the way we design our physical environments.

Last week I decided to note what people did while commuting into London. The first was to see how people on the train platform passed their time while waiting for the train to arrive. I wanted to see if anyone was just reading a book or a paper or happily tapping away to something in their headphones/earbuds. Unsurprisingly most were head down, under the allure of whatever popped up on their phone screen. And before I end up sounding like some self-righteous plum, I had one of my podcasts going in my wireless headphones, which was probably the only reason for not having a device in my hand.

But it also dawned on me that I was also, very possibly, open to the same kind of distractions; between my phone and my watch. Although my notifications are limited to bank alerts, calls and texts, it is still hard-wired into my system to have these distractions pushed to me, rather than me checking in at some point.

Going back to the books I mentioned, I have started to think about what has my attention. As someone who is easily distracted, I have to work damn hard, not just on my own but collectively on how I stay focused. Do I really need my phone out when I am at dinner or in a meeting? Do I need that many tabs open when I am watching a webinar? Can I really do deep work on any given day if I stack them with back to back meetings?

One of the things that often makes me smile when delivering keynotes or group coaching online is when I am asking questions to a member who is visibly clicking through something else on their screen: the flashing imagery or changes of lighting showing up in their eyes or face. Watching people scramble to pretend they are "in the room" when they are so not makes me giggle. I don't feel bad that my content is not enough to capture their attention, but I do worry. How are we so easily distracted by things outside of our control?

There is countless evidence stating that our work is less effective when we try to multi-task. We do our best when focusing on one thing, but here we are in a world constantly distracted by things we need  to do.

If you made it to the end of this article without losing your attention, congrats. In our next edition, I will dive into the techniques and habits for focusing that work for my clients and me.

Until then, stay focused, and I hope you managed to finish your drink.

Your Leadership Barista

Dave