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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!

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