The Storm Trap

Being a leader is hard. As soon as you hit the door, people start hitting you with quests and tasks. Then you have to deal with a series of emails, fires, and other people’s requests. So you end up putting your plan for the day on the back burner… again. I call this phenomenon the Storm.

When we’re in the Storm, it’s a different state of mind. Even if we’re cool on the outside, the lizard part of our brain is overwhelmed. We become reactive, instead of deliberately targeting our attention where it’s most impactful.

For another thing, we’re bombarded by so many tasks that we’ll do anything just to “get something done,” even if it’s a low-value activity like answering an email. Each time we complete a task, we get a little dopamine hit, and it turns into a cycle.

This is a horrible state of mind for decision-making.

FACTS:

The Storm is a unique state of mind.
In the Storm, we tend get pulled away from our plan for the day.
This causes us to make bad decisions, including the most important decision of all: how we choose to focus our attention.

When you’re on a mountain, a storm can change everything. One minute the skies are clear. The next, you’re bombarded by a whiteout. You’re focused on conserving energy, and following your snow stakes to safety if need be. To survive, you must focus on what’s important, not get distracted by the storm.

The same thing happens in the Storm of the office. Under the avalanche of emails, text messages, and seemingly-urgent requests it’s easy to lose sight of your goals. The bombardment disrupts your entire plan for the day, and the constant task-switching also robs us of our ability to focus and causes Attention Residue.

SOLUTIONS:

Set environmental boundaries to “silence the sirens”.

In addition to your attention budgeting session, develop a distraction plan to keep you on track in the Storm.

Use the stakes that you've planted to keep you on track.

“Once a week I step back to make strategic decisions about my business and personal life. It is too easy to slip into reactive mode without such a ritual.”

- Sam Roberts, CEO of InfoSales Group