I spend a lot of time online. A lot. And I’m beginning to realise that a lot of that time is spent bouncing around between applications, windows, tabs, etc, just checking up on things. When I get notified that new mail has arrived I have to check it, even though I know that I’ll probably just delete it, file it, or mark if for “Action”…later. A few months ago I wrote about how I was going to try and read less but with more intent. I began by culling some of the accounts I follow on Twitter, deleted some of those RSS feeds that I never read and unsubscribed from a bunch of mailing lists. It has worked to some extent, and I find myself feeling less pressured to scan everything coming through my filters.
More recently, I started using another strategy to try and do fewer things more effectively. Quite simply, I maximised every window that was open and put each one in it’s own Workspace. I’ve found that when all I can see is my browser, I tend not to think about email (although I still haven’t managed to ignore the “New mail” notification). When I’m working in Mendeley, my eye isn’t drawn to other open applications in the taskbar.
I find that I’m more able to focus on the task at hand and spend less time moving between applications. When I do change focus, it’s to accomplish something related to the task and I come right back to it. You might argue that there really isn’t anything wrong with the old system, other than my lack of self-control. However, I have been able to do a lot more work lately and I believe that this is at least partly because the maximised windows mean that I literally can’t see anything else. Out of sight, out of mind.
Just thought I’d share after reading this post on Presentation Zen, about “the intentional selection of less”. I was particularly interested to read, “Does this focus on the consumption of more and more ephemeral tools lead to a great distraction in many cases?” In my case, I’d have to say that yes, it did.