Interruption Management

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Too Many Distractions - Interruption Management

We are surrounded by far too many choices and distractions. For example, in supermarkets there are double the items now as compared to 20 years ago. In a few more years there will be even more items; how can we effectively handle such an onslaught?

No matter how many items the supermarket stocks, you can continue to buy what you have always bought and tune out much of the distraction. However, even that could get a little tedious since everyone likes to try new things.

I recommend exploring one new area – in the meats, fruits, cheeses, frozen foods, whatever – each trip to the supermarket. If you shop once a week, in the course of the year you will have tried at least 50 new products without expending mental effort or consternation in the process.

If you are up for adventure, load your entire supermarket shopping cart with all new products that you've yet to try. Either way, whether you choose to take on a selective number of new items per week or load up your whole shopping cart with new items, you are not investing time or mental effort on the onslaught of thousands of products competing for your attention.

Labels: attention, choice, choose, distract, effort, onslaught, shop

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Mental Stimulation vs Languishing - Interruption Management

Society views the mental stimulation provided by grade school necessary for the normal development of children. After high school, though, we view mental exercise differently. It's widely understood that to be successful in a material sense, some sort of further education – whether collegiate or trade-oriented – is necessary, but other kinds of mental stimulation are generally seen as optional and somewhat unnecessary.

Films, books, television, and music are all designed to be as entertaining as possible – not to be as educational or as conducive to personal growth as possible. These entertainments are created for passive consumption, and that's exactly how we experience them. We are couch potatoes, not only physically, but mentally.

Low Level Thinking
We do use our minds, to some degree, just to get through life everyday, but because much of that kind of thinking takes little effort, it doesn't qualify as exercise. There's a big difference between contemplating moral issues, art criticism, or scientific discoveries, and deciding which frozen dinner you want to heat up tonight.

For many adults, job-related learning through continuing education or training is nearly the only mental exercise they get. Those of us who have dead-end jobs or careers we don't care about don't even have that source of stimulation.

The truth is, that many of us have languished mentally for too long and could use a little mental exercise.

Labels: development, growth, languish, learn, mental, stimulation, think

Monday, July 07, 2014

Aspire to Leadership - Interruption Management

Crack the Leadership Code: Lead with Confidence, Inspire Performance and Make a Difference
Hosted by Dr. Michelle Pizer

The 21-day event begins on July 21st, and it is FREE. Click here to reserve your seat. www.cracktheleadershipcode.com

We hear all the time about the suffering of employees, but what about the silent suffering of leaders? The truth is, leadership can be lonely – and we need a place to reflect and learn. That’s why I’m speaking at Dr. Michelle Pizer’s special summit, along with 20 other leadership experts. Dr. Michelle Pizer is an executive coach and organizational psychologist bringing credibility and compelling strategies to the idea that great leaders aren’t born - they’re bred.

Great leadership is a mindset. It’s not just about getting the job done; it’s about how you get it done. It’s about humanizing the workplace. Over the course of the 21 days of the summit, learn essential skills from conversational intelligence to finding your charisma and cultivating talent in today’s changing business environment.

No matter where you are in the hierarchy, you can turn your silent suffering into productive and dynamic leadership – and your employees will thank you for it. That’s good news for the workplace – and good news for the bottom line.

Crack the secret code of leadership.
Register now. www.cracktheleadershipcode.com

Labels: coach, dynamic, leadership, productive, skills, summit, workplace

Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Derive Answers From Within - Interruption Management

Years back, I had immersed myself in a sea of self-help books and audios to the point that I had no time left in the day for myself. Practicing ten minutes of this person's technique and 30 minutes of that would literally not even allow time to eat.

Why is it that we so often continue seek answers from others when, if we relied on our inherent abilities (to handle most things) that would be the shortest destination to our goal?

Labels: ability, answer, books, find, goal, seek, self-help

Sunday, June 29, 2014

TV Interrupted by Endless Ads - Interruption Management

From four years ago, here’s a telling report from WaynesThisandThat.com on “How Much TV Commercial Length has Grown over the Years:

“We all accept commercials as a necessary evil because they pay for the shows we love to watch. But, how much is reasonable to accept? This question was answered for me while watching a 2004 episode of Star Trek Enterprise. The commercials came so often and lasted so long that is was almost impossible to maintain a sense of continuity with the show.

...Thanks to the availability of video recordings of past shows, this was easy to determine. Scouring my video library I found shows ranging from 1964 to 2004. Here's what I discovered:

* 1964 - 17.8 percent of the time devoted to commercials
* 1977 - 17.8 percent
* 1994 - 24.5 percent
* 2004 - 30.0 percent

These were all for main line shows aired during prime time hours.

Labels: advertising, commercials, distract, interrupt, media, television, TV

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Interrupted While Driving - Interruption Management

Seven years ago and the problem remains: NBC Channel 10 in Phildelphia reported that "New Jersey legislators pushed forward a plan to make it illegal to text message while driving. The Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee voted unanimously to release the proposal after several legislators admitted frequently firing off text messages while behind the wheel, even though they know doing so is dangerous."

"Assemblyman Paul Moriarty acknowledges doing it himself, but he's not proud of it. 'It's very, very dangerous,' he said. Citing that risk, the Democratic assemblyman wants to stop motorists from sending text messages while driving."

"'It's more dangerous than talking on a cell phone because I believe you can keep your eyes on the road when talking on a cell phone,' Moriarty said. That's not the case when typing and sending text messages, he said. 'I only assume they're using their knees to drive,' Moriarty said."

Labels: car accident, cell phone, driving, freedom, government regulation, insanity, madness, safety, text messaging, traffic