Focus, Focus & Focus

Hey y’all -

This week was filled with more news of Coronavirus (I’ll spare you any attempt at ‘reporting’ on the situation), which affected the publics markets drastically. That said, I came across a bunch of articles with a common thread this week: “focus”.

And so, here are some resources around focus, that I think are worth exploring…

1. Paul Graham (co-founder of Y Combinator) recently Tweeted about the founders of FrontApp, who are putting their money where their mouth is: use your phone less, and we’ll literally pay you. I love that Mathilde Collin (CEO of FrontApp) is doing this for her company (you can read the full Inc article here).

   Paul Graham @paulg

   "All Front employees who average less than two hours per day on their phone get $200 each month, no strings attached."

   

   inc.comHow These Founders Stopped Being Connected to Work 24/7--and Got Healthier, Happier, and More ProductiveThese two founders discovered both professional and personal success by drawing clearer lines between <em>in</em> and <em>out</em> of the office. You can too.

2. As Jason and David say in Rework:

   Interruption is the enemy of productivity.

   They go on to talk about your “alone zone” (aka “flow state”), comparing it to getting into REM when sleeping.

3. Even the CEO of Microsoft is compensated on how much time users spend on LinkedIn (MSFT own LinkedIn).

   According to the filing the…

   “number of times logged-in members visit LinkedIn, separated by 30 minutes of inactivity” on desktop and mobile devices will be evaluated over a three-year period to help determine the number of performance stock awards (PSAs) that get doled out to Nadella, Hood and the other executives.

   Things like this make me even more aware protective of technology addiction.

   There are also entire articles written just to educate people on how to best manage Slack notifications (and frankly, they are very helpful). Recurring theme for workplace productivity: focus is crucial.

   Switching costs are expensive; now it’s all about mono-tasking!

4. It’s not all bad though! Apple is creating smarter notifications based on your calendar. Here’s a real example from my phone earlier this month: dinner reservations at 8 for Valentine’s Day? Click to turn iPhone onto “Do Not Disturb”.

   I agree with Kevin Kelly, in that I don’t think all technology is inherently evil - instead, it’s up to us and how we use it!

5. Finally, a couple quotes I’ve continued to mull over…

   Read to think (meditate). Write to figure out what you believe (process/codify your thoughts).

   Usually, to go from good to great, it’s a matter of reducing, not increasing.

   (I think this is true in product development and in life).

See y’all next week. Have a relaxed weekend and a focused first week of March next week!

Cheers,

Brendan J Short