I experience a lot of interruptions throughout the day.
And I will confess some of the interruptions are my on doing.
Phone calls, voice mails, emails, and instant messages to name a few.
In today’s fast-paced world, we are wired to connect in multiple ways.
Many of the interruptions are welcome especially if it is our family or our customer.
The challenge however is staying focused on the top priority of the moment.
Otherwise, we fail to get anything tangible done.
Do others feel the same way?
Do you drop what you’re doing if your hear the Pavlovian buzz of your smart phone?
A Gallup study revealed that the average amount of time spent by a professional on any single activity before being interrupted or switching is three minutes.
That’s correct.
3 minutes.
When I first heard about that study years ago, I didn’t believe it.
Until I set a stopwatch on my day.
Since I was so conditioned for interruptions, I also discovered I would interrupt myself if no one else did.
The Gallup study revealed the same effect.
We create 44% of our own daily interruptions.
Are we becoming completely unproductive?
Consider this warning:
Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in time of distress,
to you the nations will come
from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,
worthless idols that did them no good.”
(Jeremiah 16:19)
Is there hope?
I know I still have a long way to go. I’m committed to giving the Power of 4 a real test.
(The Power of 4 is a scientific study that evaluated behavioral differences between people who read or listen to the Bible the majority of the the week (at least four days), and those who engaged with scripture less often.)
I’ve also restored a simple but powerful image on my iPhone.
And that is to set the lock image to a picture of the cross.
That way, every time I reach for my iPhone, I see the cross.
And all of a sudden, I slow down.
The interruption can wait.
There’s more important work to be done in service to others.
23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)
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What are your thoughts and advice?
How do you stay focused on what matters?
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Great post, and very timely for me.
As of yet I have fended off the siren son of an iphone. I purposely do not have a smart phone, and very few people have the number to my very dumb phone. I find that I really do not need to be that connected. I have a land line, email, facebook and twitter. As I am at or near a computer most of the time I find this is sufficient. I still want to be able to unplug when the day is done, and with a smart phone that seems harder to do.
However, I can still relate to your post and have been going through something similar. I am a self professed political junkie. My reader is filled with political blogs, I check poll internals, I live and die by the news cycle-well correct all that- I used to be a political junkie. Now I have put in place a plan to really rein in those distractions. It is actually something I plan on writing about myself later this week.
Thank you Steve for sharing. I concur with your observations and experience. The digital distractions we have in this culture are certainly not restricted to just iPhone users. I was a previous Blackberry (or Crackberry) addict. We all have our primary interests like politics and that’s ok provided the time spent is managed and purposeful. Keep me updated on your posts as well. Thanks.
Brent a fresh look at what really matters. Thanks for this topic.
The picture of the folks on the train prompted these thoughts.
First as a 70 year old non “it” person what came to me was this.
Exodus 20 verse 3…And God spake saying…”Thou shall have no other gods before me.” Now who was this God that spake this word.
He said…”I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the house of bondage”.One now must ask who is this “other god” that all the people in this picture are so engaged with? Note “gods” is plural. Therefore we must conlude that there are many, right!
If you are a child of God which have been delivered from the house of bondage, then whatever becomes your Life that is your god. Could it be an I phone or a job or some sports activity?
You and you alone know where your Life comes from. This is a matter of Life. Folks use to say “Get a Life”!
Thank you brother Oscar. Good reference and observations about other gods (plural). This is indeed a matter of Life. Do we have this Life we read about the Bible? Or do we just know it is possible but we get lured by the world’s gods instead? I do feel that if a brother or sister truly has this Life, is it transparent for all to see and inquire about. I’m pretty sure being consumed by our smart phone, computer or television the majority of the day is a life unnoticed.