concentrate every minute like a roman

Concentrate every minute like a Roman – like a man – on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions. Yes, you can – if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override and what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable. You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life? If you can manage this, that’s all even the gods can ask of you.

Marcus Aurelius

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Modern Library. 2003. p.18, Book 2, #5. Also see The Internet Classics Archive | The Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (mit.edu)

we do not listen to understand

Think about it, the word listen and the word silent are spelled with the same letters.

In order to be a good listener, we first need to learn how to be silent.

That includes, not thinking about how you’re going to reply when another person is talking.

“The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply,” Stephen Covey.

Even though you might have a lot to say, sometimes it’s best not to respond.

In silence, without distractions, that’s when people feel respected and appreciated.

Emily Rice

"Listen to Understand not to Reply," Norhart Blog. January 18, 2019

meeting ground rules

Specifying ground rules signals to participants that you intend to keep things moving efficiently.

• Reassert that you’re committed to beginning and ending on time (and then really do it).
• Ask for everyone’s participation and openness to new ideas.
• Agree to listen to each other and limit interruptions – and as the leader, enforce that rule.
• Clarify how decisions will be made. Let the group know right up front if this will be a group-decision meeting, a meeting that calls for participants’ input, or a meeting that shares a decision that has already been made.
• Explain your policy on multitasking and device use.
• Identify the final decision maker for each [agenda] item – especially if it’s not someone in the meeting )such as the CEO or department manager).

 

Martha Craumer

“Establish Ground Rules,” HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter. Harvard Business Review Press. 2016. 

ban devices in meetings

Both experts agree this is a good idea, for two reasons. First, devices distract us. Gino points out that many people think they can multitask—finish an email or read through your Twitter feed while listening to someone in a meeting. But research shows we really can’t. “Recent neuroscience research makes the point quite clear on this issue. Multitasking is simply a mythical activity. We can do simple tasks like walking and talking at the same time, but the brain can’t handle multitasking,” says Gino. “In fact, studies show that a person who is attempting to multitask takes 50% longer to accomplish a task and he or she makes up to 50% more mistakes.”

Amy Gallo

“The Condensed Guide to Running Meetings,” Harvard Business Review. July 6, 2015 as quoted in HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter. Harvard Business Review Press. 2016.

keep fear at bay

It’s awfully hard for managers and staff to get motivated when they believe that the latest project from on high is going to die just like the last one - no matter what they do. Fear makes change intensely personal. People fear for their income. They worry about their families. They wonder what will happen to their careers. When people are afraid, they literally can’t hear or think as well. It’s much harder for them to take in important information when their minds are reeling. This can be a big distraction that undermines your team’s ability to focus and stay productive… just when you need to them most...

So how do the best leaders and managers mitigate change... fatigue, keep fear at bay and keep the team engaged and energized?

By doing two things: identifying and celebrating early successes and creating cultural experiences that support the vision and keep the change train on track.

Brent Gleeson

"1 Reason Why Most Change Management Efforts Fail" Forbes. Jul. 25, 2017

rebound from distractions

The moment we feel our phones vibrate inside our pockets, our impulse often drives us to take it out immediately and to interrupt the task at hand. Of course, this may be necessary if you're waiting to hear from someone or are on call; however, for the vast majority of us, especially at work, research shows it can take people up to 23 minutes to rebound from distractions -- for the person to truly dive back into what he or she was originally focused on.

From neuroscience research, we know that simple exercises such as mindfulness meditation and focusing on the breath can increase focus and strengthen connections in the brain related to executive function and goal-directed behavior (aka dedicating that deep focus needed to wrap up that project). We also know that multitasking is a myth, so closing your email and silencing notifications while dedicating yourself to the task at hand will pay off and can enable you to be more focused and to think more clearly about important decisions for your team.

Richard J. Davidson

"How Science Can Inform Good Leadership" Huffington Post. 10/26/2015

aggressive distractions

The most obvious drawback of social media is that they are aggressive distractions. Unlike the virtual fireplace or that nesting pair of red-tailed hawks we have been live-streaming on nytimes.com, Twitter is not just an ambient presence. It demands attention and response. It is the enemy of contemplation. Every time my TweetDeck shoots a new tweet to my desktop, I experience a little dopamine spritz that takes me away from . . . from . . . wait, what was I saying? 

My mistrust of social media is intensified by the ephemeral nature of these communications. They are the epitome of in-one-ear-and-out-the-other, which was my mother’s trope for a failure to connect. 

I’m not even sure these new instruments are genuinely “social.” There is something decidedly faux about the camaraderie of Facebook, something illusory about the connectedness of Twitter. Eavesdrop on a conversation as it surges through the digital crowd, and more often than not it is reductive and redundant. Following an argument among the Twits is like listening to preschoolers quarreling: You did! Did not! Did too! Did not! 

As a kind of masochistic experiment, the other day I tweeted “#TwitterMakesYouStupid. Discuss.” It produced a few flashes of wit (“Give a little credit to our public schools!”); a couple of earnestly obvious points (“Depends who you follow”); some understandable speculation that my account had been hacked by a troll; a message from my wife (“I don’t know if Twitter makes you stupid, but it’s making you late for dinner. Come home!”); and an awful lot of nyah-nyah-nyah (“Um, wrong.” “Nuh-uh!!”). Almost everyone who had anything profound to say in response to my little provocation chose to say it outside Twitter. In an actual discussion, the marshaling of information is cumulative, complication is acknowledged, sometimes persuasion occurs. In a Twitter discussion, opinions and our tolerance for others’ opinions are stunted. Whether or not Twitter makes you stupid, it certainly makes some smart people sound stupid. 

Bill Keller
"The Twitter Trap". New York Times Magazine, 5/18/2011