Getting and Staying Focused
One of the challenges in this world is ((((tweet!)))) Oh, wait, there’s my tweetdeck buzzing. Anyway, one of the challenges is finding a laser focus – one thing at a time. You know ((((tweet!)))) Hold on. Ok – You know, be a postage stamp: stick to one thing till it gets to its destination? ((((tweet!))))
But we have a problem staying ((((tweet!)))) on one thing. ((((tweet!)))) Because, well, we have too much on our plate! ((((tweet!)))) There’s this blog, of course. And I write a newsletter. And of course ((((tweet!)))) there’s Twitter! ((((tweet!))))((((tweet!))))((((tweet!))))… OK, I’ll turn it off.
No Wonder we are tired, stressed, frustrated, and not getting anything done. When I was a kid, we didn’t have TV till I was about age 13. Even then, the only good stuff on TV as far as I was concerned centered around Westerns: The Lone Ranger and Sky King. Most of the time I had my head buried in a book. I had a special place in the crook of a tree. I could climb up there where I had stashed a pillow, and read to my heart’s content. I could see the family, but my leafy cover kept me safely alone and hidden.
Now we are ACCESSIBLE! We have the web, email, TV, Movies, music, and Twitter on our cell phones, frevvinsakes! The TV ad about “dead zones” is a telling sign of our impatience with being out of touch even for an hour or so. A friend of mine was regaling me yesterday with tales of “one time when he went THREE DAYS without TV, cable, or his cell phone!” Oh the horror!
If someone doesn’t get back to our Tweet, our email, our voice message, our blog comment, our website contact within 24 hours, we are mightily incensed. They are Ignoring US! How DARE they?! Hmph. They had better be in a DEAD ZONE!
I have decided I need to have one electronic-free day a week. With my schedule, it will have to be a floater day. A travel day can be a partial electronic-free day while on the plane. But it would be unreasonable to restrict myself from checking the flight status on my computer before leaving the house. It will be a 3 month experiment. One day a week to read, plan, focus, meditate, work in the yard, putter around the house. Electronic silence. None of the white noise that fills our heads.Our parents did it. Remember when everything was closed on Sunday?
Turn it off. Open up the possibility of getting and staying more focused than you’ve been since grade school.
And don’t be mad at me if I don’t always get back to you within 24 hours. I’ll do the same for you.
Cheers,
Beth
© 2009 Beth Terry Seminars, Inc.
Hey Beth – always great to hear from you. I’m planning a mid-week Electronics free day. I’ll report back. Maybe I should start slow and try a half day first. Hard to disconnect from the mac, the phone, the forums, the blog, the twitters!
Love your website. For those who wonder why Beth Terry is commenting on (my) Beth Terry’s blog, go check out her site at http://www.fakeplasticfish.com She’s giving our name a lot of cred!
Turns out there are a lot of Beth Terry’s. We may have to have a convention and confuse the heck out of the hotel! LOL
I’ve always planned to have one electronic-free day per week, but I can never seem to manage it. Even during my latest meditation retreat, I confess I checked my email a few times via my cell phone. Bad!
I do wish I could get ahead of the game, but I have a feeling it won’t happen until I’m dead and can’t care anymore.
Please do let us know about your successes/failures going electro-free.