Off the grid...

Living without power or internet in 100+ degree weather the past four days has been an eye opening experience in a lot ways.  If you've ever traveled or lived in other parts of the world (or VA, MD, DC in more recent times...) you probably agree that there is a great synergy between  discomfort, removing distractions, and living more meaningfully in the present.

These past few days I have experienced a significantly slower pace of life.  With fewer opportunities to get distracted, time has dramatically slowed.  Furthermore, being at the whim of nature and having to encounter uncertainty and discomfort in locating sources of restaurants, gas stations that still worked, a/c, internet, and power to recharge phones helped ground me in the present.  I was acutely aware of how hot, sweaty, uncomfortable I was.  I was acutely aware of how good a Quizno's sub was after unsuccessfully trying to find a place to eat.  And the pure bliss of sitting in an air-conditioned supermarket is something that I can still relish after having regained power.

Peter Schwartz recently posted on HBR an article entitled, "How hard are you willing to push yourself?"  Rather than another article decrying American laziness and the loss of work ethic, Schwartz' own experiences focus the article at the individual level.  He argues that humans have through multiple generations evolved to avoid pain and move towards pleasure--neither of which are suited for delayed gratification.  (As demonstrated by the Stanford experiment involving children and marshmallows, success has been tied to individuals who are able to delay gratification.)  


To solve the challenge of delaying gratification, Schwartz poses three solutions:

1.  Minimize temptation.  Newer research has demonsrated that willpower exhausts just like a muscle.  Losing power and internet was a blessing in disguise because I would have never had the willpower to cut myself off for four days.  However, having gone through such an ascetic diet, I feel that I am more able to walk away from or remove distractions.


2. Push yourself to discomfort for short, specific periods of time.  


3. Build energy rituals. (understand your energy peaks and ebbs).


In order to get better at something and achieve excellence, we will have to be willing to sacrifice instant gratification, and endure discomfort to some degree.  As difficult as it may be to take small or drastic steps to remove distractions, I hope that you can be more engaged in present and be able to prioritize the actions and relationships which will help you become the person you want to be.  


Application:
1.  Would you benefit more from adding something new to your living experience, or taking something away?    To help you answer that question, picture who you want to be and think about what is keeping you from getting there.
2.  How will an awareness of (dis)comfort help you accomplish the big goals in your life?  Take an inventory to determine the biggest factor hindering you.

Speed Reading: Improve comprehension

If you have your hand closed around an object, you prevent it from being open to hold other things.  Likewise, you may feel that when reading for comprehension, you need to slow down.

However, it is possible to both read fast and retain comprehension.  One simple technique is to actively search out the topic sentence in each paragraph.  Around 90-95% of the topic sentences are located within the first line of each paragraph.  In fact, this is what we're taught in our public schools.

Unfortunately, with it being increasingly easy to communicate via tweets, instant messages, texts, emails, and blogs, many younger writers fail to develop the need to structure their thoughts.  It can be incredibly frustrating to read this type of writing and in fact, the shortened attention span of today's readers, the need for constant stimulation, and the proliferation of poor writing has resulted in the glut of articles spouting "Ten easy tips for..." and other poorly developed or rambling blogposts. 

On this webpage, I've always tried to concisely present my ideas and you'll find that I often bold or underline my main points to help readers follow.  

Application:

1.  Make it a goal this coming week to prioritize both speed and comprehension when you read.  Find that topic sentence!

2.  Pick up a good piece of writing.  Any work of man that has persisted over several generations is usually a noteworthy accomplishment.  It doesn't have to be a lot of time.  Even something as short as 5-10 minutes can be incredibly refreshing.

Do More by Doing Less: How to improve your FOCUS

In the past few years research has been steadily accumulating in favor of doing LESS multi-tasking in order to be more efficient.  It's fairly common sense that it goes without saying: you are less effective when your mind has to juggle several different tasks.

Imagine if all of your attention was a giant pie.  If you were to cut it into thirds you might consider doing three tasks at 1/3 your normal efficiency.  However, in reality dividing your attention between tasks actually decreases it incrementally.  Furthermore, some tasks can actually become distractors when they don't get our full attention.

Research from the National Academy of Sciences corroborates the fact that being unfocused can have both short and long term consequences.  They found that mass media consumption resulted in poorer performance on a standardized attention study even in the absence of previous distractors.  In other words it is likely that you will remain distracted long after you turn off the TV, log off facebook, get off the phone, or turn off your computer.  

The good news is that the brain can learn to ignore distractions and improve focus:

• Guard your heart.  Barbara Fredrickson, psychology researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill, believes that a 3:1 balance of positive to negative emotions results in better team dynamics (calculated using mathematical modeling by collaborator Marcial Losada).  
• Remove distractions.  Examples include setting a set time during the day to check email, facebook, or surf the internet.  
• Segregate your work/rest/play cycles.
• When faced with unexpected distractions, pause and consider your options.  Choose to focus your attention rather than react automatically.  Over time it will become easier to resist distractions.
• Take scheduled breaks during work.  Also, set stop times for tasks that will take a considerable amount of time and energy.  I find that I work better knowing that I have an end point.
• Shift attention to other projects when you feel yourself fading.

Try to do one thing this week to help you be more focused!

Speed Reading: Stop talking to yourself

All of us were taught to read by listening to the sound of words and copying them.  If you watch beginning readers in elementary school, you can see them mouthing words to themselves.  You are unaware of this but you are probably still sub-vocalizing while you read.

Until you break this habit you will always be limited in how fast you can read.  One way to practice this to read faster than you can form the sounds of words in your head.  As you practice, you will be able to take in and process information more quickly than before.

Speed Reading: Never look Back! (literally)

Being able to digest vast amounts of information quickly is a skill that will rapidly set you apart from others.  US President Theodore Roosevelt used to read a book a day--before breakfast.  John F. Kennedy was reported being able to read 1200 words per minute. Current and past Presidents have been able to scan a policy paper and face a panel of reporters with intelligent, informed responses.  It's incredibly humbling to consider that the most harried and stressed individuals in the country are able to read recreationally as well as professionally.

The average reader reads less than 240 words per minute, stopping to go back and re-look at words 10-11 times for every 100 words read.  These are known as regressions.  A CONSCIOUS regression is the result of not understanding something particularly well and wanting to reread it.  An UNCONSCIOUS regression is the result of conscious regressions becoming habitual.

Simply eliminating regressions will improve your reading rate by at least 10%

One method is to use a pacer.  Many speed reading coaches advocate using a pencil or fingertip to keep your eyes moving fast enough so that they cannot perform unconscious regressions.  Conscious regressions are also reduced because using a finger will focus your attention and improve comprehension.

The challenge is to pick a pace that is fast enough to keep your mind from getting distracted while not so fast that you cannot understand what you are reading.