Driven to Distraction at Work:
How to Focus and Be More Productive
by Edward M. Hallowell, MD
BF323.D5 H35 2015
New Arrivals, 2nd floor
Author of the 1994 classic, Driven to Distraction, CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap, and Shine: Using Brain Science to Get the Best from Your People, brings us a new installment in time to help us focus our energies where they count for the upcoming academic year.
This title may just as well read “Driven to Distraction at Work – and School,” considering that regardless of our role on campus, many of us may relate to the most common distractions Hallowell describes. Do any of these sound familiar?
- Chapter 1: Screen sucking: How to Control Your Electronics so They Don’t Control You
- Chapter 2: Multitasking
- Chapter 3: Idea Hopping
- Chapter 4: Worrying
- Chapter 5: Playing the Hero
- Chapter 6: Dropping the Ball
In part two, Hallowell offers sensible advice for training attention by drawing boundaries, such as creating pockets in the day reserved for screen time and avoiding the use of devices to alleviate boredom. For the person intent on multitasking, recognizing the neurological challenge of concentrating on two tasks at once is a start. Not surprisingly, the inability to say “no” contributes plenty to distraction, and his suggestions for confronting this behavior are practical. Each of these examples sound trite in summary, but in the context of Halloway’s discussion, are part of a sound strategy to begin reclaiming control of work life.
For more books and articles by Hallowell, visit Research@UWW.
