18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done by Peter Bregman Page A
Authors: Peter Bregman
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and flipped over my handlebars again.
I knew what I had to do, but I couldn’t do it. It was just too scary. As long as I was focused on the rock, I couldn’t prevent myself from braking.
But I wasn’t ready to give up. So I climbed back up and tried one more time. This time, I decided to focus ahead ofme—ten feet in front of where I was at any point in time. So I would see the rock when it was ten feet away, but I wouldn’t be looking at it when I was going over it.
It worked. I slid easily over the rock and made it down the chute without falling.
I’m a huge proponent of living in the present. If you pay attention to what’s happening now, the future will take care of itself. You know: Don’t regret the past; don’t worry about the future; just be here now and all that.
But sometimes, focusing on the present is the obstacle. Take driving a car, for example. If you didn’t look ahead to see where the road was going, you’d keep driving straight and crash at the next curve. When you’re driving, you never actually pay attention to where you are; you’re always paying attention to what’s happening in the road ahead, and you change course based on what you see in the future.
It’s the same with your day. Some days, I remind myself of me mountain biking down that chute. Doing whatever appears in front of me, when it appears in front of me. I don’t think about a meeting until I’m in the meeting. I don’t think about what’s most important to get done until, well, until it doesn’t get done. When someone appears in front of me and asks for something, that’s who I end up attending to. Even if it’s not the right priority.
Effectively navigating a day is the same as effectively navigating down a rocky precipice on a mountain bike. We need to look ahead. Plan the route. And then follow through.
“You done?” Win asked me, waiting not so patiently at the bottom of the chute.
“Yeah, I think I figured it out.”
“Let’s go then.” And with that, he was off in a blaze down the trail.
Plan your day ahead so you can fly through it, successfully maneuvering and moving toward your intended destination.
22
Bird by Bird
Deciding What to Do
S o how’s it going?” I asked Fiorella, the head of sales at a midsize technology company that’s a client of mine. Fiorella and I speak once a week.
“I have a tremendous amount on my plate,” she responded. “I have performance issues with several sales-people in Asia; my U.S. team doesn’t seem to get the new direction we’re moving in—or if they do get it, they’re resisting it. Also, I need to have a strategy conversation with Jean [the head of Europe] and a different one with Leena [the CEO], and that’s just the first few things on my to-do list.”
She needed a minute to take a breath. What she said next surprised me.
“There’s so much to do,” she said, “that it’s hard to get anything done.”
Her statement surprised me, but it shouldn’t have, because I’ve experienced the same thing. You’d think itwould be the opposite—that when we have a lot to do, we become very productive in order to get it done—and sometimes that happens.
But often, especially when we have
too
much to do, we freeze. Or we move frantically, spinning without traction.
Because when there’s so much competing for attention, we don’t know where to begin, so we don’t begin anywhere.
It reminds me of a research study conducted by Dr. Sheena Iyengar, the management professor at Columbia University Business School, whom I wrote about several chapters ago. As you might recall, this was the study where a group of people was offered samples of six different jams available for purchase while another group was presented with twenty-four different jams. The six-jam group was ten times more likely to actually purchase a jam. Because the greater the options, the more difficult it becomes to choose a single one, so we end up choosing none.
That’s what
I knew what I had to do, but I couldn’t do it. It was just too scary. As long as I was focused on the rock, I couldn’t prevent myself from braking.
But I wasn’t ready to give up. So I climbed back up and tried one more time. This time, I decided to focus ahead ofme—ten feet in front of where I was at any point in time. So I would see the rock when it was ten feet away, but I wouldn’t be looking at it when I was going over it.
It worked. I slid easily over the rock and made it down the chute without falling.
I’m a huge proponent of living in the present. If you pay attention to what’s happening now, the future will take care of itself. You know: Don’t regret the past; don’t worry about the future; just be here now and all that.
But sometimes, focusing on the present is the obstacle. Take driving a car, for example. If you didn’t look ahead to see where the road was going, you’d keep driving straight and crash at the next curve. When you’re driving, you never actually pay attention to where you are; you’re always paying attention to what’s happening in the road ahead, and you change course based on what you see in the future.
It’s the same with your day. Some days, I remind myself of me mountain biking down that chute. Doing whatever appears in front of me, when it appears in front of me. I don’t think about a meeting until I’m in the meeting. I don’t think about what’s most important to get done until, well, until it doesn’t get done. When someone appears in front of me and asks for something, that’s who I end up attending to. Even if it’s not the right priority.
Effectively navigating a day is the same as effectively navigating down a rocky precipice on a mountain bike. We need to look ahead. Plan the route. And then follow through.
“You done?” Win asked me, waiting not so patiently at the bottom of the chute.
“Yeah, I think I figured it out.”
“Let’s go then.” And with that, he was off in a blaze down the trail.
Plan your day ahead so you can fly through it, successfully maneuvering and moving toward your intended destination.
22
Bird by Bird
Deciding What to Do
S o how’s it going?” I asked Fiorella, the head of sales at a midsize technology company that’s a client of mine. Fiorella and I speak once a week.
“I have a tremendous amount on my plate,” she responded. “I have performance issues with several sales-people in Asia; my U.S. team doesn’t seem to get the new direction we’re moving in—or if they do get it, they’re resisting it. Also, I need to have a strategy conversation with Jean [the head of Europe] and a different one with Leena [the CEO], and that’s just the first few things on my to-do list.”
She needed a minute to take a breath. What she said next surprised me.
“There’s so much to do,” she said, “that it’s hard to get anything done.”
Her statement surprised me, but it shouldn’t have, because I’ve experienced the same thing. You’d think itwould be the opposite—that when we have a lot to do, we become very productive in order to get it done—and sometimes that happens.
But often, especially when we have
too
much to do, we freeze. Or we move frantically, spinning without traction.
Because when there’s so much competing for attention, we don’t know where to begin, so we don’t begin anywhere.
It reminds me of a research study conducted by Dr. Sheena Iyengar, the management professor at Columbia University Business School, whom I wrote about several chapters ago. As you might recall, this was the study where a group of people was offered samples of six different jams available for purchase while another group was presented with twenty-four different jams. The six-jam group was ten times more likely to actually purchase a jam. Because the greater the options, the more difficult it becomes to choose a single one, so we end up choosing none.
That’s what
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