Tech Productivity Issue #189 (Your Attention Span is Being Robbed)

Issue #189 (Your Attention Span is Being Robbed) 09/26/22

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I've never read any of Malcolm Gladwell's books, but I'm sure some of you have. He's well known for his best-selling books, most notably The Tipping Point, Blink, and Outliers.

He recently appeared on The Diary Of A CEO podcast. It's about an hour and 40 minutes with video on YouTube and the main title of the video is "Working From Home Is Destroying Us!". Some of the chapters/sections you may be interested in from the video include:

The impact location has on your career
Are people that work too much happy?
The importance of timing
Feedback and meaningful work
Why too much information is bad

Gladwell and the host, Steven Bartlett, also discuss Gladwell's life and career in journalism, so it's a good video if you're a Gladwell fan. But even if you're like me and haven't delved much into his work, you'll still want to check out the parts that discuss his views on working from home and other work-related topics.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!

Tools & Apps

myNoise — An online platform that allows you to create your own custom background noise, to help you focus or drown out distractions in your work environment.

iLovePDF — Every tool you need to use PDFs, all100% free. Merge, split, compress, convert, rotate, unlock, and watermark PDFs with just a few clicks.

Lessmail — An inbox cleaner for Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook that offers bulk cleaning, quick categorization, and smart views.

JumpAsync — An asynchronous meetings app that allows you to banish video meetings and calls and work in a team without being online simultaneously.

MicroBreaks — A science-based study timer that helps you optimize your brain for learning. It incorporates proven, peer-reviewed study hacks to increase your study efficiency and focus.

DocPress.it — A Google Workspaces add-on to export Google Docs to WordPress automatically. Includes SEO analysis, image imports, and maintains formatting.

Organize Everything in Work or Life with Finale To Do — Join thousands of people to become more productive and achieve higher goals every day with the fastest growing iOS task manager Finale To Do. Download now for a free month of Finale Pro, and enjoy features like smart data parsing, cloud sync, smart lists, and more. sponsor

Articles & Resources

Your Attention Span is Being Robbed! — This doesn't provide any solutions to the problem (other than 'knowing is half the battle'), but the comparison of Instagram, TikTok, etc. to slot machines is pretty spot on.

Ultimate Tasks and Projects Template for Notion — A free template to seamlessly manage both daily tasks and large projects in Notion.

Go On, Admit It. You’re Multitasking. Here’s How to Do It Better — The author, who specializes in digital reading comprehension, discusses results from various studies she carried out on reading on paper vs. digital while carrying out other tasks.

Your Brain “Wakes Up” More Than 100 Times Each Night. That’s Normal, And Maybe Good — The findings are from studies in mice, but if they translate to humans, fine tuning levels of a particular hormone in sleeping brains may lead to more restful sleep.

Sharpen Your Thinking with These 10 Powerful Cognitive Razors — The "razors", or rules of thumb, are presented in infographic and text format.

How To Minimize Distractions When You Work From Home — Expands on three suggestions: accept your distractibility, set daily limits, and schedule everything.

Suggestions?

Have a suggestion for a productivity-related tool, article, or other resource? Send me a direct message via X (@LouisLazaris) and I’ll consider including it in a future issue.

Stay productive!

Louis
techproductivity.co
@LouisLazaris

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