The crescendo of your favorite song is broken by a ping on your phone. Another stupid notification you don’t care about.
The climax of your Friday night movie is interrupted by a vibration in your pocket. You wonder if it’s another work email that’ll ruin your weekend. You miss the moment that redefines the climax.
You are now used to it. A meal is incomplete without some screen to consume video. You can neither relish the subtleties of the flavor nor the content served in front of you.
Yet, everything works in the garb of multi-tasking. We have been told to do more at every point of time. We have forgotten how important it is to let our minds wander into the depth of our experiences and unknowingly weave connections between the countless pieces of sights and sounds we come across. Today, we are products for services we don’t pay for and our attention is the de-facto currency.
The problem is, we think we are doing two things at once, but are not getting anything done. We forget that our brains do best when we spend more time on one task rather than dividing up our time between two of them.
When it comes to finding focus, the over-stimulation of our minds doesn’t help. There’s constant bombardment of various forms of content out there – text, podcasts, video. But there’s only so much one can absorb and assimilate every day. So it makes sense to focus on content that adds to your knowledge of a particular topic rather than content that just provides mindless entertainment.
A caveat applies for the recent advances in connectivity as well. It is a boon because we are not confined to a particular place. But this also means that there are few places where our routine and focus are not going to be interrupted, especially when it has almost become an expectation to be available on our phones at all hours.
The problem is we have too much going on around us that takes us away from what matters to us. Gaining back control of our attention begins with a few easy steps. Maybe then, we’ll realize how precious every moment is in the company of activities, things, and people we love.
How to get started:
-By limiting non-essential notifications.
-By indulging in everything without thinking of anything else
-By simply becoming aware of our physical and mental distractions
