The switching cost
After 57 years of life, I read something that finally sunk in today that is so astonishing and mind-altering and revolutionary that I am wrecked. James Clear said it perfectly, "As a society, we've fallen into a trap of busyness and overwork. In many ways, we have mistaken all this activity to be something meaningful. . . . I think we're kidding ourselves if we believe being busy is what drives meaning in our lives."1
And you are thinking yeah yeah yeah so what? You. Don't. Have. To. Be. Busy. To. Lead. A. Powerful. Meaningful. Life.
That is so what. I don't have to be busy to be important. I don't have to be busy to change the world. I don't have to be busy to accomplish important meaningful life changing work. I just have to focus. I don't even have to be busy to contribute something to the world that is the most valuable thing I can contribute.
But I lived the multitasking life for so long, that this is revolutionary. Clear describes "the switching cost" of focusing on everything and anything rather than the one thing. The switching cost, is the mental disruption that occurs when I change from one focus to another focus. Email alone costs most workers one minute out of every six, not because of reading slow, but because of the switching cost. The mental disruption that is the most clear and obvious disaster of our technologically driven pings, chirps, burps and signals from our phones and computers and iPads that are demanding our action and attention.
But the final nail in this colossal mental shift that I am exploding with, was when he posted his weekly priorities. Seven days - seven priorities - and two were "days off".
1. You can read (SHOULD READ!) the entire article here, unless you are one of my clients, because I will be sending you this entire article and insisting that you read it multiple times!
After 57 years of life, I read something that finally sunk in today that is so astonishing and mind-altering and revolutionary that I am wrecked. James Clear said it perfectly, "As a society, we've fallen into a trap of busyness and overwork. In many ways, we have mistaken all this activity to be something meaningful. . . . I think we're kidding ourselves if we believe being busy is what drives meaning in our lives."1
And you are thinking yeah yeah yeah so what? You. Don't. Have. To. Be. Busy. To. Lead. A. Powerful. Meaningful. Life.
That is so what. I don't have to be busy to be important. I don't have to be busy to change the world. I don't have to be busy to accomplish important meaningful life changing work. I just have to focus. I don't even have to be busy to contribute something to the world that is the most valuable thing I can contribute.
But I lived the multitasking life for so long, that this is revolutionary. Clear describes "the switching cost" of focusing on everything and anything rather than the one thing. The switching cost, is the mental disruption that occurs when I change from one focus to another focus. Email alone costs most workers one minute out of every six, not because of reading slow, but because of the switching cost. The mental disruption that is the most clear and obvious disaster of our technologically driven pings, chirps, burps and signals from our phones and computers and iPads that are demanding our action and attention.
But the final nail in this colossal mental shift that I am exploding with, was when he posted his weekly priorities. Seven days - seven priorities - and two were "days off".
1. You can read (SHOULD READ!) the entire article here, unless you are one of my clients, because I will be sending you this entire article and insisting that you read it multiple times!
