My “multi-tasking”, “threaded”, “distributed”, “distracted” world tends to make concentrated work and thought rare. This year, I’d like to see if I can look up, look inside, take time to breathe, talk to myself, be still and mindful before I jump straight into the vast connected chamber that I work in.
Dr Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow : The Psychology of Optimal Experience describes this Zone as a place where focus is complete and involvement (and success) in the activity at hand keeps you concentrated.
So I’m trying something new. I’ve re-arranged the garden furniture outside my office door. Before I sit down at the computer, check my email / Twitter stream or feeds, I haul out my analogue blog (my journal), disconnect from the world and attempt to connect my centre, with another reality (call it God if you like) before I jump into the set of distractions that constitute my work.
Yes, it could be that I’m merely re-arranging the deck chairs. I hope that I’m redrawing boundaries to protect and preserve the mental and emotional space required be connected to me, and then to enter that totally immersed, passionate and timeless space where I can creatively engage with the tasks at hand. We’ll see how it goes
