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Do you have this problem too?

Introduction

Ian Brodie

Ian Brodie

Ian Brodie is the best-selling author of Email Persuasion and the creator of Unsnooze Your Inbox - *the* guide to crafting engaging emails and newsletters that captivate your audience, build authority and generate more sales.


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Do you have this problem too?

The biggest problem I think I have with marketing right now is my ever diminishing attention span.

Perhaps you have the same challenge too?

Left unchecked it can really kill your productivity.

I've barely typed a few sentences in this email yet I've already checked my email inbox and the latest sports news.

These days it's just too easy to fill gaps by checking something online and getting a hit of “new”.

Whether it's from Facebook, Twitter, your favourite website, email, TV, a video game, doesn't really matter.

The problem is it turns you into a passive consumer of information. And the need for a constant buzz of external input wrecks any chance you have of concentrating to get stuff done.

It also damages your creativity. Creativity comes partly from external stimulus, but also from quiet, reflective times when your mind relaxes, neurons fire and make new connections.

It's an act of willpower to cut off that stimulation. Or simply to refrain from checking all the different input streams that it's easier to look at than to do the hard work of thinking or writing.

Luckily, it doesn't require huge willpower. At least not yet.

So simply being aware of the problem and deciding to ignore the urge to check stuff has meant I've typed the rest of this email interruption free.

It's probably taken me a quarter of the time it would have taken had I been flitting backwards and forwards to my online feeds or had the TV on in the background.

So for right now, my advice is simply to catch yourself being distracted and resolve to focus for 10 minutes. User a timer – it works.

Then up it to 15 minutes, 20 minutes or more. Make it a game.

Build your “concentration muscle” and you'll get much better results.

The biggest problem I think I have with marketing right now is my ever diminishing attention span.

Perhaps you have the same challenge too?

Left unchecked it can really kill your productivity.

I've barely typed a few sentences in this email yet I've already checked my email inbox and the latest sports news.

These days it's just too easy to fill gaps by checking something online and getting a hit of “new”.

Whether it's from Facebook, Twitter, your favourite website, email, TV, a video game, doesn't really matter.

The problem is it turns you into a passive consumer of information. And the need for a constant buzz of external input wrecks any chance you have of concentrating to get stuff done.

It also damages your creativity. Creativity comes partly from external stimulus, but also from quiet, reflective times when your mind relaxes, neurons fire and make new connections.

It's an act of willpower to cut off that stimulation. Or simply to refrain from checking all the different input streams that it's easier to look at than to do the hard work of thinking or writing.

Luckily, it doesn't require huge willpower. At least not yet.

So simply being aware of the problem and deciding to ignore the urge to check stuff has meant I've typed the rest of this email interruption free.

It's probably taken me a quarter of the time it would have taken had I been flitting backwards and forwards to my online feeds or had the TV on in the background.

So for right now, my advice is simply to catch yourself being distracted and resolve to focus for 10 minutes. User a timer – it works.

Then up it to 15 minutes, 20 minutes or more. Make it a game.

Build your “concentration muscle” and you'll get much better results.

The biggest problem I think I have with marketing right now is my ever diminishing attention span.

Perhaps you have the same challenge too?

Left unchecked it can really kill your productivity.

I've barely typed a few sentences in this email yet I've already checked my email inbox and the latest sports news.

These days it's just too easy to fill gaps by checking something online and getting a hit of “new”.

Whether it's from Facebook, Twitter, your favourite website, email, TV, a video game, doesn't really matter.

The problem is it turns you into a passive consumer of information. And the need for a constant buzz of external input wrecks any chance you have of concentrating to get stuff done.

It also damages your creativity. Creativity comes partly from external stimulus, but also from quiet, reflective times when your mind relaxes, neurons fire and make new connections.

It's an act of willpower to cut off that stimulation. Or simply to refrain from checking all the different input streams that it's easier to look at than to do the hard work of thinking or writing.

Luckily, it doesn't require huge willpower. At least not yet.

So simply being aware of the problem and deciding to ignore the urge to check stuff has meant I've typed the rest of this email interruption free.

It's probably taken me a quarter of the time it would have taken had I been flitting backwards and forwards to my online feeds or had the TV on in the background.

So for right now, my advice is simply to catch yourself being distracted and resolve to focus for 10 minutes. User a timer – it works.

Then up it to 15 minutes, 20 minutes or more. Make it a game.

Build your “concentration muscle” and you'll get much better results.

The biggest problem I think I have with marketing right now is my ever diminishing attention span.

Perhaps you have the same challenge too?

Left unchecked it can really kill your productivity.

I've barely typed a few sentences in this email yet I've already checked my email inbox and the latest sports news.

These days it's just too easy to fill gaps by checking something online and getting a hit of “new”.

Whether it's from Facebook, Twitter, your favourite website, email, TV, a video game, doesn't really matter.

The problem is it turns you into a passive consumer of information. And the need for a constant buzz of external input wrecks any chance you have of concentrating to get stuff done.

It also damages your creativity. Creativity comes partly from external stimulus, but also from quiet, reflective times when your mind relaxes, neurons fire and make new connections.

It's an act of willpower to cut off that stimulation. Or simply to refrain from checking all the different input streams that it's easier to look at than to do the hard work of thinking or writing.

Luckily, it doesn't require huge willpower. At least not yet.

So simply being aware of the problem and deciding to ignore the urge to check stuff has meant I've typed the rest of this email interruption free.

It's probably taken me a quarter of the time it would have taken had I been flitting backwards and forwards to my online feeds or had the TV on in the background.

So for right now, my advice is simply to catch yourself being distracted and resolve to focus for 10 minutes. User a timer – it works.

Then up it to 15 minutes, 20 minutes or more. Make it a game.

Build your “concentration muscle” and you'll get much better results.

    Ian Brodie

    Ian Brodie

    https://www.ianbrodie.com

    Ian Brodie is the best-selling author of Email Persuasion and the creator of Unsnooze Your Inbox - *the* guide to crafting engaging emails and newsletters that captivate your audience, build authority and generate more sales.

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