My phone no longer gets unlimited access to my attention.
It had become rather like an employee who walks into the office every five minutes and says:
“Can I interrupt you for a moment? This will only take a second.”
And then the day is gone.
Now my phone goes on Do Not Disturb for at least six hours of the working day, and again from dinner onwards.
Phone calls get a place in the calendar. They no longer get to decide for themselves when they are important.
I also block out a large part of the week for what I call Maker work. That is when I am supposed to think, write, create and finish things.
Then Manager work gets its own space. Calls, messages, meetings and everything else with the remarkable ability to fill an entire day without your remembering what you actually got done.
This has made a much bigger difference than I expected.
Not because I work more hours.
But because I am more present in the time I have.
When I am working, I work.
When I am with my family, I want to be there.
Sharran put it simply:
Be where your feet are.
Perhaps focus is no more complicated than that.
And sometimes you just need to take away your phone’s house key.