Consider this statement by H. Jackson Brown Jr: “Don’t say you don’t have enough time.  You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein.”

While he’s right – we still have 24 hours in each day – yet ours is a very different world.  We live distracted lives.  Ours is an “interruption culture.” Information is ubiquitous, and we’re drowning trying to drink from this fire hose of email, texts, phone calls, FaceBook, twitter, instagram, voicemail, LinkedIn, cnn, msnbc, alerts, notifications, alarms, dings . . .

Traditional time management practices no longer work.  What thought leaders are now saying is that we need attention management.  In this barrage of information and interruptions, where do we focus our attention? We don’t’!!  If we allow all of these distractions into our world at will, then we are in effect creating self-induced ADHD.

Control or be controlled.  Turn off the continuous email download. Turn off the notifications and alerts.  Turn off your phone.  Focus your attention on important tasks for 30/60/90 minutes of uninterrupted concentration.  You’ll be amazed what you can accomplish!!

To learn more, read “15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management” by Kevin Kruse, and “Personal Productivity Secrets” by Maura Nevel Thomas. Edward G. Brown has also written insightful books and articles on this topic.