During a meeting at work, where we discussed digital teaching tools, somebody mentioned that they were using our coursebooks in an online distance teaching model. "That is interesting, but surely not how most teachers teach," said someone in the room.
That was a month ago.
(Wiktor’s note: This post is a record of the BRAVE productivity system in action. I wrote down the thoughts and ideas under each step as they came to me, and the editing is minimal.)
(Wiktor’s note: This post is an authentic example of the BRAVE system in action. The editing is minimal, and the thinking is recorded almost real-time.)
1. BIG
It would really delight and excite me if my days – now, in self-isolation, and when the pandemic passes – could be spent in a more focused and mindful way. It would be amazingly helpful if news, alerts, rumors and notifications stopped reaching me entirely, except for the times and channels of my choosing.
Big success of this plan can be described as follows: I go about my day focusing on things I care about and can control. I regain peace of mind and productivity as my thoughts are free of distractions and rush. I stay in touch with what is going on with the world, by choosing my own ways of consuming media and news – and by limiting their access to my eyes and ears. As a result, I sleep better, work better, and am more enthusiastic about working out the rest of my life. This also affects my relationship, because the decision is shared and we keep the media diet together; the results are fewer anxious moments, more calm and focus, and more joyful times together.
2. REAL
3. ACTIONS
4. VERIFIABLE
I will know that this has worked when I’m able to have a day without checking the news. Then three days. Then a week.
I’ll log this in a "Habit Loop" app every evening at 6pm. I’ll instantly see how many days I’ve gone without reading the news.
I’ll arrange small rewards for myself at the end of 7, 14, and 31 unbroken days.
5. EFFECTS
Don’t call it "the new normal".
The COVID-19 situation is very likely to mess up your days and nights in ways you couldn’t imagine. Here is my (very subjective) list of people whose advice and experiences might make your time in quarantine or self-isolation more tolerable, or even productive. No particular order.
A good book, for me, is one that changes my mind about something. For Getting Things Done (GTD) – a productivity system launched in the early 2000s by David Allen and his company – this looked like a hard task. I already knew and respected the GTD way. But I’ll admit that Getting Things Done for Teens, the latest book to be launched by the brand, managed to make me think again – about productivity, focus, and what good writing means in these busy times. What follows is a subjective review – please get yourself a copy of the book and see for yourself!
Wikipedia describes GTD as a “time management method” but many people (possibly including David Allen himself) would come up with a different definition. Getting Things Done helps you do what it promises. It helps you organise your “stuff” into usable categories. It allows you to free your mind by storing things in sensible, trusted systems (that are not your head). And it shows you how to get the system moving – by reflecting, planning, becoming creative, and engaging with the right actions at the right time and place. Check out more at the GTD website – there’s plenty of (free!) ways to get started.
The whole GTD system was seemingly designed with big business in mind – and the early versions of it couldn’t, to my mind at least, shake off the “big corporate” image even when talking about mundane things like clearing out your garden shed.
With the latest addition, Getting Things Done for Teens, David Allen and his co-authors achieve something unique, and probably get more than they bargained for. This is GTD for teens, sure – but it’s also GTD for millennials, whether you take this term seriously or not.
I got my hands on the paperback of this book two weeks ago, and started reading almost immediately. It’s been almost 10 years now since I bought the original GTD book. In the meantime, I’ve worked with GTD on an on-and-off basis – sometimes following it to the letter, sometimes borrowing just one or two concepts.
The books is written with teens in mind, and manages to successfully leave behind the business/corporate tone of the early GTD titles. The main concepts of the GTD methodology are all still there. What changes is the way in which they are described: the book is easy to follow, and well-illustrated. The illustrations may be appealing to the teen reader, but they also help instantly make sense of the processes and workflows.
I would have liked to see more quotes by women and non-Americans in the book – this is pretty much my only negative comment. The biggest endorsement I can give the book, though, is that it’s not just for teens. GTD for millennials is possible. And it can start with GTD for Teens.
GTD for millennials should not be a joke. The workers, thinkers, and creators who bought the first Getting Things Done in the early 2000s are no more. They retired, changed professions, or were forced to completely change the way they work and live in the dozen-or-so years between then and now.
Here’s a quick list of how you (or your company, organisation, or anyone) could pick up and use the GTD methodology after 2019. I wrote this based on my own experience of work, play, and study over 10+ years; your mileage will vary and I’d love to hear what you think.
(Photo by Jubal Kenneth Bernal on Unsplash)
If you had a feeling that your world got a lot busier, and that it was a lot harder for you to focus on stuff, you’re not alone. And you’re certainly not just making it up. A recent study makes it official: people’s attention spans – which were short enough anyway – suffered in recent years due to an overwhelming amount of news, distractions, and the pace of an always-on digital life.
There is good news, though. These trends can be reversed. Researchers have looked at people’s memory and focus for some time now, and new experiment results are published every now and then which tell you how to fix the problem. So how to increase attention span? Here are four good ways.
People often claim that mindfulness is the answer to all modern problems – well, in this case, it seems to help a lot. The experiment described in this study showed that 16-to-18-year-old students who were given mindfulness training were able to focus better and control any negative tasks with more ease.
I’m a big fan of mindfulness, and I know it helps a lot with things like creativity and language learning. This study is something bigger, though: it shows people how to increase attention span school-wide.
If you are a teacher or an educator, the study described above is relevant, too. The authors’ suggestion is that a systematic program of mindfulness training can help schools and learners achieve better things with less stress and worry. Can your school make it happen?
Finding out about this study made me feel really uncomfortable – I am more of a long-distance athlete myself 🙂 It turns out, though, that the benefits of high-intensity, short bursts of activity are remarkable when it comes to a short attention span.
The researchers found that after intense physical activity, people showed improvement in “executive function” – using their brains, memory and focus to make decisions and get things done. This type of brain work was improved immediately after the exercise, and the effect lasted for up to 45 minutes.
This study is frequently quoted by people whose main idea of an “education revolution” is making all things more fun and applying “gamification” to everything. It’s not everyone’s favourite theory – I’ll let you make your own judgements here. In addition, the video game designed for the purposes of this study enabled participants to get better at multitasking – which, again, may not be such a good idea after all.
But I’m after something else here – how to improve attention span of a gamer? It turns out that the video game analysed in the research led to improvements in the participants’ attention – also after they played the game.
So the next time you feel guilty about your Fortnite habit, or angry with other gamers in your life, consider this – they might be fixing their short attention span right now.
I was a young, dreamy kid in primary school. I was also signed up by my parents to do judo.
This was not a good combination. But it could have been – according to this study!
Martial artists’ attention spans are improved thanks to their practice. This, on reflection, sounds obvious: losing focus during a sparring fight (or a real fight!) is a bad idea. David Allen, the creator of Getting Things Done, often quotes his martial arts training as inspiration for this “ready state” philosophy of productivity.
If you’ve considered martial arts training, maybe this will motivate you to get started. Broken noses and bruised shins will heal in time, but legendary attention spans are forever (or at least for as long as you keep training)!
(Photo by Stefan Cosma on Unsplash)