Everyone And Everything Is Vying For Attention

Business.

Brainpower for the overwhelmed - walk into the room and can' t find your keys? Wondering what has happened to your short term memory?

Or forget why you entered the room in the first place? - feel overwhelmed by information, people, to - do lists and demands on your time? Specifically, most of us are now in situations in which we are bombarded by so many demands for our attention that our brains close down. You very well could be suffering from SAAD - situational attention deficit disorder, a term coined by Anderson Consulting Institute for Strategic Change. It' s a phenomenon of our time. Everyone and everything is vying for attention. Our brains, evolved over eons to respond to our environment and each other are exponentially being taxed by the growth in information and technology.

We are hardwired to respond but when it' s deluged like that, the brain just" goes blind" . - instead, when the pilots performance decreased. Engineers discovered this phenomenon when they installed hundreds of communication devices in cockpits, thinking it would improve the pilot' s performance. Information and technology will not go away. Determine your priorities and focus on them. But there are ways to turn from" SAAD" to glad.

Don' t let yourself be pulled into anything from meetings, to conversations that, to readings thwart your priorities. - hold these times as sacred. Literally block out space on your daily to - do list for things that are important to you: from projects, to family time, to exercise. Say" no" to answering every message. Take care of those that are priority and let the rest drop off. The average American receives 201 phone, and e, paper - mail messages a day.

Ignore the messages that are uninvited and unnecessary. - called id and voice mail can allow you to screen calls. Let technology work for you in prioritizing. For those who depend upon business coming in via phone and need to take every call, develop a way to shorten incoming sales calls. If that' s the case, just hang up. Telemarketing calls that come in via a computer dial - up have a few seconds of silence before a voice is heard. If you are solicited, ask them to please out your name on the DO NOT call list.

Create a centering place. - and then hang up. Whether it is in the silence of your car, or in a shower, or closing your door, take 15 minutes per day to practice paying attention to ONE thing: your breathing, a fish tank, a flower. Focus turns SADD into glad! Like the muscle in our bodies, the brain gets strong I the places where we train it.