Skip to main content

How I Focus

I recently read about a self-help guru trying to quiet his mind enough to find sleep and it got me thinking about my own train of thought, which goes something like this:  I need to pull yesterday’s numbers so I can update that spreadsheet.  What happened yesterday?  The kids had a snow day.  Did John remember his lunch this morning?  What do I need at the grocery store? What’s going on this weekend?  How many days left until my birthday?  Ugh, so old!  I’m going to check LinkedIn and Twitter to do some research, find inspiration, write an article.  Why am I so tired?

Focusing is hard!

The open office environment that so encourages collaboration and team-building also creates intrusive ambient noise.  If you’re anything like me, this is disruptively distracting.  The technology we’re surrounded by and actively embrace forces multi-tasking in everything we do, not just at work.  We check email while watching TV, make phone calls while driving, consult Google in the middle of dinner.  The end result is that the task at hand is short-changed, at best.   

Distractions at work not only lead to expensive lost productivity, but also cause stress and fatigue.  And because only ninjas and mimes work silently, I’m just setting myself up for frustration if the sounds of my co-workers doing their jobs keeps me from doing mine.

Enter the aptly named Voyager Focus from Plantronics.  The superior active and passive noise cancelling gives me a bubble of peace so my work gets my attention.  And though I’m not wearing a headset while driving or eating dinner, I do spend the day with it at work, and I firmly believe it increases my productivity.

There’s so much to love about this headset – it’s light and comfortable, eliminating discomfort and fatigue.  The multi-connectivity means I can easily switch from my PC to my mobile phone to my tablet (again with the short attention span).  The construction, cutting-edge technology and high-quality components means I’m not going to worry about having to replace it any time soon.  And of course, the sound quality is enormously satisfying.

Here at Hello Direct, I work with a lot of headset geeks and the Voyager Focus gets great feedback. I’ll lend mine out on occasion, because I truly want everyone to experience it, but no way am I giving it up – get your own!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What motivates you?

My intention for this post was to wax rhapsodic about the motivational powers of music.  I would then elaborate on this theory by talking about the scientific evidence that our brains tell our hearts to beat at the same tempo as the music we’re listening to.  So for a really effective workout, we should listen to upbeat (120-130 bpm) music, whereas for concentration, we should listen to music that calms and focuses (about 60 bpm).  At this point I would segue brilliantly into the superior quality of Plantronics headsets that maximize the delivery of the right music for the occasion.  Finally, I would effectively come full circle and encourage you to turn up the music and get to work. I got distracted, though.  I polled co-workers, friends and family to see if I could find a common thread for motivation.  The answers ranged from the obvious (cash, survival), to the inspirational (excellence, curiosity), to the amusing (looking for lost keys, pickled bee...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can I Quote You?

I find people to be remarkably clever, and I’m often struck by their wit, wisdom, and ability to inspire.  But as much as I’m determined to commit their sagacity to memory, there’s just too much bouncing around up there for me to keep it all straight.  I’ll read or hear something that strikes me as profound and memorable, but if I don’t write it down, the best I can do is think, “There was this thing, that someone said one time, that seemed relevant, or important, or valuable.  I sure do wish I could remember what it was.”  So I started a list.  Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite things that other people have said: “All you need is love.  But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”  Charles Schulz “Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”  George Washington “I don’t know much about being a millionaire, but I bet I’d be darling at it.”  Dorothy Parker “When you reach the end of your rope...
Post a Comment
Read more

Feeling Unstoppable

 Has this ever happened to you?  You’re at the gym, working hard, getting pumped.  You finish your sets, climb off the machine, and bend down to grab your water bottle.  Then bam – your head is jerked back, there’s a sharp pain in your ear, and you see something swinging back and forth in your peripheral vision.   The wires to your earbuds caught on the edge of the machine, meaning you kept going, but your headset didn’t.   And while you attempt to affect a cat-like “I meant to do that,” vibe, it hurts, and it’s embarrassing.  Or you’ve found your cardio groove, you’re in the zone, and then you feel, little by little, the bud slipping out of your ear.  It’s frustrating, annoying, and breaks your focus.  Or the sound that comes through your headset is just plain bad. Or, my personal favorite, you take your earbuds out of your pocket (where they’ve been for less than a minute), and they’re hopelessly tangled. Now th...
Post a Comment
Read more