Is this worthy of my full attention? I’ve been asking this question a lot lately.

It started when I saw a number of articles about the high cost of multi-tasking. There’s this study out of London that found “Those distracted by incoming email and phone calls saw a 10-point fall in their IQ – more than twice that found in studies of the impact of smoking marijuana”. Or this series from the New York Times about the dangers of parenting while plugged in which says that “feelings of hurt, jealousy and competition [from their parent's technology] are widespread”. Lastly there was Peter Bregman’s blog post at HBR.org in which he describes his process of giving up multi-tasking. Working with a single focus enabled him to make significant progress on important projects, reduced stress, and improved patience. This all sounds good!

So if the benefits of paying attention to what we are doing are high, and the costs of multi-tasking are severe, why do I keep trying to do things while I’m distracted? The sad truth is, I multi-task when I get bored. That’s right, if I’m  on a conference call (even with you) and the conversation strays to a topic that I don’t need to be 100% on top of, my eyes will flit to my twitter stream, or I might check my email (it’ only takes a few seconds, I won’t miss anything). When there’s a lull in our dinner table conversation; maybe I’ll check the weather for tomorrow… It’s insidious. It’s so easy to avoid even a moment of boredom that I will do it almost every time. The problem that the “escape” to technology poses is that instead of choosing what to do with that moment, I spend that time scratching my anti-boredom itch.  Do I need to know what tomorrow’s weather is? Are those updates in my twitter feed really that important? What if instead I listened to the conference call to see if there is something I can add? Or if there isn’t excuse myself to get something more important done, or redirect the conference call to matters that are truly valuable and engaging to everyone on the call.

When I flit to technology to easy my boredom everyone loses, I’m not present, I’m not giving my energy and attention to the conversation and if we all do it, then someone rambles on with no one listening, and they get no feedback that they are boring. Yikes!

This is why I’ve started asking the question, “Is this worthy of my full attention?” If it’s not I should move on, if it is I should pay attention. Nothing is worthy of my partial attention, nothing.

I need to be clear and set good boundaries, either this is worth my time or it is not.  But beyond that, there might actually be a value to being bored. Peter Bergman again:

“Being bored is a precious thing, a state of mind we should pursue. Once boredom sets in, our minds begin to wander, looking for something exciting, something interesting to land on. And that’s where creativity arises.

My best ideas come to me when I am unproductive. When I am running but not listening to my iPod. When I am sitting, doing nothing, waiting for someone. When I am lying in bed as my mind wanders before falling to sleep. These “wasted” moments, moments not filled with anything in particular, are vital.

They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They’re the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen.

To lose those moments, to replace them with tasks and efficiency, is a mistake. What’s worse is that we don’t just lose them. We actively throw them away. ” (From “Why I Returned my iPad” on Peter’s Blog)

Is being bored worthy of my full attention? Sometimes it is.

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Brad Farris is a small business advisor with Anchor Advisors, Ltd. in Chicago, Il. Since 2001 Anchor Advisors has been helping creative professional firms to grow, by helping them clarify their purpose, get the most from their people, keep their eye on key performance measures, and implement consistent processes. Brad is also the author of The Business Owner’s Champion: 6 Practices to Build your Nerve and your Business.