We’re spreading ourselves too thinly, always trying to do many things all at once.

Scrolling whilst watching.

Emailing whilst doing deep work.

Responding to the now at the expense of the future.

So how do we regain that focus in a world that rewards immediacy?

Priorities. Before you begin something, prioritise what it is that is most important in the immediate future. If it’s responding to an email or writing a piece or reading text, then make that your #1 focus. Anything that comes up whilst doing that, simply does not warrant your focus shifting.

Engage 100% with the task in hand and remain focused on it until you get to a satisfactory point of progress or, better yet, full completion. Allowing yourself to become distracted by interruptions loses your trail of thought and inhibits the progress that you were making.

“What was I going to say?”

“Where was I going with this?

These responses show the shift away from focus into distraction.

That notification or email can wait – engage ‘do not disturb’ if you need a little more control – and commit fully to the task in hand.

Prioritising creates tangible progress.