Attention Management

Time Management.  It’s a struggle to many people. To help with time management, the most common technique is to use the calendar system, breaking it up with a monthly, weekly and daily calendar. Then prioritizing activities into your schedule, narrowing it down to most to least urgent. And for many people, this works. It creates a structured way to use their time wisely. 

 When I worked in higher education, I provided this same information to student leaders during student leader training. This was valuable information they could use and this was valuable information that rarely changed. Sometimes I would update the information but nothing that would drastically change the information. 

A few months ago, I decided to look up time management and see if there was anything and interesting that others have successfully tried. This was when I came upon something called “attention management.”

Attention management is a new way at looking at time management. It’s not about managing your time, but rather paying attention to the time you are given. 

I’m sure the one thing that most of us realize when we practice time management, is that we don’t really plan for distractions. 

 Distractions are the enemy of time management. They move us off track and in the process it demotivates us.  

Attention management challenges us to work around that instead of our time. 

Take notice of how long it takes you to work, to concentrate. How long before you end up being distracted? 

This is where you use that time to your advantage. 

Don’t tell yourself that you’re going to write a report in one hour. Without time constraints, write as much as you can at your most optimal performance and when you’re done, stop. That’s how long it takes for you to be most effective with your time. That’s how long it takes before you become distracted. 

 Try it out. See how much you’re able to accomplish in your own time. You might just learn more about your limits.