It’s become a reality of today’s workplace that many of us feel swamped with demands on both our time and attention. But is the problem less a question of how we manage our time and more about how to better manage what we pay attention to? That’s the idea I’ll be exploring further with international speaker and trainer Maura Nevel Thomas in this episode of “Leadership Biz Cafe”.
Maura is the most widely-cited authority on attention management, in addition to her work on productivity and work-life balance. Her insights on attention management have been featured in Forbes, Fast Company, and Huffington Post, and she’s also a regular contributor to the Harvard Business Review. She’s the author of three books, including her latest “Attention Management – How To Create Success And Gain Productivity Every Day”, which serves as the focus of this episode.
Over the course of our conversation, Maura and I talk about:
- How attention management differs from all the other time management strategies out there – and why this one actually improves productivity in the long run.
- The four different types of attention management and how to balance when to use them.
- How being in a state of “flow” allows us to do our best work.
- Why our ability to do our best work is dependent on allowing our minds to rest and wander.
- The biggest hurdle leaders face in learning to manage their attention instead of managing their time.
Now if you’ve been enjoying my leadership podcast, I’d be grateful if you could share my podcast with your colleagues or your team. The best way to do this is to share a link to the podcast page on my website, where they can find all past episodes of my podcast, as well as links to subscribe on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more.
Taking the time to get the word out about my leadership podcast will help me to continue to bring more of these insights into how you can succeed at leadership.
Noteworthy links:
- Buy “Attention Management – How To Create Success And Gain Productivity Every Day” on Amazon (or Amazon.ca for Canadian listeners).
- Learn more about Maura’s work at maurathomas.com.