"On some days, focused distraction is the best action!" - Futurist Jim Carroll
Sometimes, you just don't need to pay attention.
You can choose not to tune in but you can drop out.
Timothy Leary said that.
This can be particularly important when you don't feel like you have any control over events.
In that case, do what you can to control the things you can. Let the rest of it go!
Here's what I'm doing today in the home office. I've got a project that has me building an AI tool that will read a variety of newsletters and news articles that are sent to me regularly, and which will summarize the information. I've got some projects involving some cleanup of various technical aspects of my Web servers and stuff. There's some additional research to do for a keynote that involves the landscaping industry. My wife will be working on the edits and preparation of my forthcoming Embracing Mediocrity book, and I will probably spend some time building out the Website for that.
I've got lots of distractions in my future today that can keep me wonderfully and blissfully distracted. What a plan!
Here's the thing you need to think about - being distracted might be a good thing! Not only that, but planned distraction might be a great strategic idea! The very idea of "focused distraction" might not just be helpful for complicated times - it might very well be a key survival skill for the 21st-century innovation economy! After all, when things become volatile, unpredictable, uncertain and make no sense, taking time away from worry and concern, and devoting it to personal growth, might be one of the best things you can do!
Think about it: When the world throws curveballs at you (and in this era of exponential change, it WILL), you've got two choices. You can either let the uncertainty paralyze you, OR you can embrace what I call "productive time wasting," investing in all the little activities that might seem inconsequential but which move you forward. And it might even be necessary to chase distraction - after all, when there is so much going on, it might be the case that sometimes your brain isn't designed for constant, single-track focus. By strategically switching between many different activities, maybe you are training yourself for the kind of agile thinking that our world demands.
The fact is, when you feel overwhelmed by massive, seemingly unsolvable challenges, strategic task-switching isn't procrastination - it's an investment in yourself! You're allowing your mindset to reconfigure, creating new pathways for breakthrough thinking and creative ideas.
As they say, you need to find the strength to accept that there are just some things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Staying wonderfully focused on distractions is sometimes a way to accomplish that!
Futurist Jim Carroll plans to do a lot of inconsequential things today, with a focus on chasing focused distraction.