Focus in the Age of Distraction: 35 tips to focus more and work less

by Jane Piper

The world of work has changed but our ways of working haven’t kept pace. We are now working even harder, longer and at a faster pace than ever before. Longer hours and harder work aren’t going to give us the career and life that we want. Today’s work where you’re selling your brain power and creativity, then your focus, attention, mindset and engagement are what will make the difference.

35 practical and pragmatic tips based on latest research in positive psychology, neuroscience, and common sense, will help you be more focused, creative and productive. Be more focused while at work, get more done, learn to switch off, get on and enjoy your life.

170 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 11, 2018

Reviews

[Michael MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overview resource for folks frustrated with status quo. I can see this being a good coaching support resource.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

A useful book for people who want to immunize themselves against constant tech distractions

One crisis which receives little attention – how ironic! – is the attention crisis. We live in an age where the devices we rely on for work are engineered to distract us. Melodramatic, much? Let me know how many times a day you reach for your smartphone before you scoff at my sensational prose.

Constant distraction, aided and abetted by smartphones, tablets, browser notifications, and social media apps, is a problem. If you are a knowledge worker, proficiency in your job depends on blocks of uninterrupted time. If you want to achieve more than proficiency, your work conditions must be conducive to achieving a "flow state."

"Convenient" technology which enable us to be connected 24/7 to our jobs, disrupts distraction-free blocks of time and prevents a "flow state."

Focus in the Age of Distraction: 35 tips to focus more and work less by Jane Piper arrived on my kindle e-reader just in time. I was ready for Jane’s tips as I sat within the smoking ruins of my carpet-bombed attention.

The first of Jane’s tips feels subversive. How many of us are brave enough to follow the below tip?

Tip 1: Avoid Digital Distraction: Turn off any alerts from your social media and email

Jane’s helpful tip to easily switch off all intrusive notifications with a single tap is to place your smartphone or tablet in airplane mode.

I am always receptive to helpful tech tips, but I believe the best parts of Jane’s book deal with examining our behaviour at work. This makes sense since the author is an Organisational Psychologist. Jane has some words for those of us who think we can multitask.

Tip 4: Avoid multitasking: Research shows if you concentrate and focus on one task at a time, you will be able to complete it faster. Prioritise and complete one task after the other.

There is a section of Jane’s book that took me by surprise. She notes one of the best ways to avoid distraction is to find work that is suited to us. If we feel bored or distracted at work, perhaps we are not working on projects aligned to our "personal sense of purpose and strengths".

All of us will benefit from asking ourselves what type of work challenges and rewards us? It is easier to concentrate and focus on work aligned to our values and gifts.

I recommend Focus in the Age of Distraction: 35 tips to focus more and work less by Jane Piper if you want to achieve deep focus and discover a healthy balance between your career and life. If these goals are not for you, please click away from my review and attend to the 532 app notifications on your smartphone.

[Florence Dambricourt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and concise, this little book is a great companion to get you back into focus. I like the "tested and proven" tips. And I like the section on mindset. You can have all the tips you want, if you do not adopt the right mindset... You will be challenged to make progress. I would have loved actually to see more on mindset, especially a review of the mindsets you have to let go of, in order to embrace the new ones, like "unlearning" something that you can explore something else. And I would have loved a connection with identity, changing mindset can be a treat to identity. Once we know that we are so much stronger!

[Bob Jenkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful but not groundbreaking

There are some good tips in here and sow pointers that are simply timely reminders about where to draw boundaries around work and home life. You won’t , however, find anything that will actually help you to FOCUS. The author will point out some issues that will harm focus - distractions from cell phones and such like but you will not learn any focusing techniques which is why I came to this book in the first place.

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book with many hands on tips of how to stay focused in different work-life situations. Easy read and tips that are well anchored in research. Useful for all, not only to learn, but also to be reminded about good habits you might once have had and have slipped out of. Can also be used as a small "reference manual" when your boss reminds you about the policy that say headphones are forbidden in the open plan office and other situations.

[Kay Smoljak · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you've been living under a rock for the past ten years, there's a possibility you haven't heard all the advice in this book a thousand times over. Everyone else can skip it - it's not even a collection of interesting perspectives on old adages, it's just regurgitation from every productivity article on the internet, nearly packaged up.

[Helen Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read - focussed, well organized, lots of good ideas to implement.