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Defeating Distraction and Living Powerfully with Chris Bailey: PYP 301

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When you're doing a video podcast with the guy who wrote the book on focus and mastering our attention, you don't take lots of notes. Instead, you look at your guest and stay present to the wisdom and insight he's dropping left and right.

Which explains why I don't have a lot of show notes for today's guest, Chris Bailey. Chris and I got on Skype to discuss his latest book, Hyperfocus: How to be More Productive in a World of Distraction

I wanted to get Chris on the show ever since hearing him on my buddy Peter Bregman's leadership podcast. I've discovered, both in my own life and with my clients, that digital distraction is turning into an epidemic and a serious addiction. Turns out the devices and the apps are designed that way, to capture and hold our attention for as long as possible.

There are WellStart Health clients who struggle with bedtimes, with eating, with meditating – all because they're spending way more time than they would like on their smartphones and tablets.

And the quality of my work day depends, to a huge extent, on whether I get up and check my phone, or get up and immediately start meditating, or engage in breathwork, or pour a bucket of ice water over my head. That one split-second decision leads to a virtual spiral or vicious cycle. And repeated daily, that split second can determine the kind of person I am, the kind of influence I wield, and the kind of person I am.

Chris's book, Hyperfocus, is far more useful than a warning or a rant about the evils of technology. Instead, it's an evidence-based deep dive into attention, focus, productivity, happiness, and meaning. And a hands-on user's manual for the human mind.

Two of my big aha insights from Hyperfocus:

  1. Resistance is frontloaded
  2. The human mind has a novelty bias

Chris is also funny and charming, and despite his focus on focus, delightfully distractable by fun and goofy tangents. (To be fair, Hyperfocus doesn't advocate spending all our waking hours in hyperfocus; there's a second mode, which he calls Scatterfocus, which is just as important, and in world, just as elusive. Which is where we spend some time in our conversation.)

Anyway, put your phone on Do Not Disturb, close your browser tabs, fire up your favorite podcast app, and enjoy this conversation with Chris Bailey.

Add your voice to the conversation via the comment box below, and please share – that's how we spread our message and spread our roots.

Links

Chris Bailey's website: A LifeofProductivity.com

Hyperfocus

The Productivity Project

Chris on the Bregman Leadership Podcast (for Hyperfocus)

Chris on the Bregman Leadership Podcast (for The Productivity Project)

Dr Howie Jacobson

This podcast is a labor of love and a way to give back to the world that has given me so much. That's why there aren't any sponsors (except me :).

My day job is helping leaders and their teams master their mindsets to remove all obstacles to heart-centered high performance.

Here are three gigs that I do:

1. Executive and Senior Leadership Mentoring and Facilitation

I work with high performing executive teams in organizations — and executive teams that need to become high  performing. My focus is mindset mastery, because it’s our mindsets that either support high performance or get in the way.

At this level, everyone’s got the skills and experience to excel and contribute at the highest level. What holds people back is mindset stuff: specifically the triggers that get them out of creative engagement and into fight-or-flight defensiveness.

My practice is all about teaching people to respond differently to those triggers by updating old maps — essentially removing the glitches that the triggers grab onto.

2. Executive Coaching: Quick Wins for High Performance

I work with individual executives and leaders, one on one. The program is called Quick Wins for High Performance, and what we do is, we work strategically on one or two areas that are holding you back and keeping you from performing at your best.

We reverse engineer the presenting problems — too much work and not enough time, underperforming employees and teams, maddening organizational inefficiencies, etc — and identify and rewire the suboptimal mindsets that are behind those problems.

The work is all about updating your mental maps so your actions and responses are always appropriate, proportionate, and strategic.

3. High Stakes Conversations for Fast Growing Small Business Teams

I help small business teams have high stakes conversations with skill, humor, and grace. When people feel safe, they can do their best, most creative, most collaborative work.

So that's what I do. If you'd like any of those results, drop me a line and tell me about yourself.

You CAN Change Other People!

Well, that's what Peter Bregman and I claim in our provocative book of that title.

What we really mean is, you can bring out the best in the people around you. If you think you're powerless to help people change, it's because you've been going about it the wrong way.

Discover our straightforward, replicable process here: You Can Change Other People.

 

Music

The Plant Yourself Podcast theme music, “Dance of Peace (Sabali Don),” is generously provided by Will Ridenour, a kora player from North Carolina who has trained with top Senegalese musicians.

It can be found on his first CD, titled Will Ridenour.

You can learn about Will, listen to more tracks, and buy music on his website, WillRidenour.com.

Gratitudes

Thanks to Plant Yourself podcast patrons – Kim Harrison – Lynn McLellan – Brittany Porter – Dominic Marro – Barbara Whitney – Tammy Black – Amy Good – Amanda Hatherly – Mary Jane Wheeler – Ellen Kennelly – Melissa Cobb – Rachel Behrens – Tina Scharf – Tina Ahern – Jen Vilkinofsky – David Byczek – Michele X – Elspeth Feldman – Leah Stolar – Allan Kristensen – Colleen Peck – Michele Landry – Jozina – Sara Durkacs – Kelly Cameron – Janet Selby – Claire Adams – Tom Fronczak – Jeannette Benham – Gila Lacerte – David Donohue – Blair Seibert – Doron Avizov – Gio and Carolyn Argentati – Jodi Friesner – Mischa Rosen – Michael Worobiec – AvIvA Lael – Alicia Lemus – Val Linnemann – Nick Harper – Bandana Chawla – Molly Levine – The Inscrutable Harry R – Susan Laverty the Panda Vegan – Craig Covic – Adam Scharf – Karen Bury – Heather Morgan – Nigel Davies – Marian Blum – Teresa Kopel – Julian Watkins – Brid O'Connell – Shannon Herschman – Linda Ayotte – Holm Hedegaard – Isa Tousignant – Connie Haneline – Erin Greer – Alicia Davis – Heather O'Connor – Carollynne Jensen – Sheri Orlekoski of Plant Powered for Health – Karen Smith – Scott Mirani – Karen and Joe Crabtree – Kirby Burton – Theresa Carrell – Kevin Macaulay – Elizabeth Rothschild – Ann Jesse – Sheryl Dwyer – Jenny Hazelton – Peter W Evans – Dennis Bird – Darby Kelly – Lori Fanney – Linnea Lundquist – Emily Iaconelli – Levi Wallach – Rosamonde McAtee – Dan Pokorney – Stephen Leinin – Patty DeMartino – Mike and Donna Kartz – Deanne Bishop – Bilberry Elf – Marjorie Lewis – Tricia Adams – Nancy Sheldon – Lindsey Bashore – Gunn Marit Hagen – Tracey Gulledge – Lara Hedin – Meg from Mamasezz – Stacey Stokes – Ben Savage – Michael K – David Hughes -Coni Rodgers – Claire England – Sally Robertson – Parham Ganchi – Amy Dailey – Brian Tourville – Mark Jeffrey Johnson – Josie Dempsey – Caryn Schmitt – Pamela Hayden – Emily Perryman – Allison Corbett – Richard Stone – Lauren Vaught of Edible Musings – Erin Hastey – Sean Owens – Sagar Naik – Erika Piedra – Danielle Roberts – Michael Leuchten – Sarah Johnson – Katharine Floyd – Meryl Fury – for your generous support of the podcast.

Disclosure

This post may contain amazon affiliate links. I may receive compensation from your actions on such links. It don't cost you a dime, tho.

1 comment on “Defeating Distraction and Living Powerfully with Chris Bailey: PYP 301

  1. Tracie says:

    I love the idea of the different levels of consequence. I am already using this concept in how I think about choices and deciding whether to make them. I especially like that it gets rid of black and white thinking. I can acknowledge, for example, that a Lara bar tastes good and then move on to think about the additional consequences. Thanks Howard and Chris! Can’t wait to actually read the book now!!

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