The Curse of Technology

Posted August 22nd, 2011 / By Joren Kandel in Resources, Tips

The Problem We Face

This is the time of year, especially at my office, when things start to get out of control. Projects gather together and pile up into a huge wave, cresting, boiling and ready to crash down with violence. I can already feel myself squirming, hunkering down, ready for the impact. The work at my office, along with my personal side projects, is starting to feel very overwhelming. Sometimes it’s interesting to take a step back and take a look at how you are doing your job. I’ve done that recently, inspired by an e-book I read called “Focus,” by Leo Babauta. It’s tagline is: “A Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction.” It’s a free book, and I would definitely recommend everyone read it.

I’ve realized lately that my biggest stress is the fact that I am torn in so many different directions. And not on a large month to month, project to project scale. I’m talking about a minute by minute, second by second scale. Everything is screaming for my attention: Twitter, Facebook, GooglePlus, 7 different e-mail addresses, skype, music, forums, blogs, keeping up on blog comments, news, industry updates, new plugins, videos, inspirational sites, new techniques, job requirements, personal projects, side gigs, and heck, youtube and vimeo and ESPN.com. This is a very real problem we all face today. One second we’re working, the next second we click the twitter tab, or our RSS feed growls at us. Then we follow a link which leads to an image, which leads to an idea, which leads to a google search and pretty soon we’re watching a youtube video about an elephant painting with his trunk in Thailand. Is that for real?

“Without great solitude no serious work is possible.” - Pablo Picasso

One of the main concepts that Leo talks about is that humans are not created to multi-task. We are designed for focus. One task at a time. Recent studies have proved that the multi-tasking culture that we worship in our day and age actually is extremely unproductive and leads to wasted time and a constant, nagging stress. I want to share some tips that I have been implementing that have really helped me out. Not just in a “I think this is working” way, but in a dramatic “Holy dang, I just completely zoned in and now that project is done” type of way. If you feel like you’re in the same boat as me, try these things:

1. Internet Blocking Software.

At first, I always said that I didn’t need this. I’m stronger than this. But recently I tried it. I downloaded “Self Control” which is a free Mac app that lets you select items to blacklist, such as websites you frequent and e-mail servers. Then you simply pull the slider to how long you want these sites/features to be inactive, and hit “Start.” For that amount of time, you will be completely unable to access those sites or servers. This is a HUGE deal. I usually do it in 30 minute increments. I focus my mind, hit “Start” and crank away. At the end of 30 minutes I reward myself by spending a bit of time checking twitter or any new e-mails. It is unbelievable how productive I am during those 30 minutes compared to when “Self-Control” is off. That nagging temptation to become distracted is literally rendered powerless. Here are some more apps/add-ons that do the same thing. If you run Windows I’m sure there are plenty of options for you as well, including the browser extensions.

Mac:

Freedom: Disables your internet connection for a time period set by you.

Concentrate [much like the Freedom app.]

Megazoome: Allows you to put almost any Mac program into full-screen mode so you are not distracted by other things.

Think: A utility that fades out everything but the app you’re working on.

Browser Extensions:

LeechBlock (Firefox): Pick what sites you want to block in Firefox and for how long.

Choose sites to block.

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” – unknown

2. Capture Your Thoughts

The other thing I have been doing recently is capturing my thoughts. Your brain is always in motion, processing in the background, but it can only hold so much information without becoming overloaded and confused. Your brain is basically like RAM. So what you need to do is unload your thoughts whenever possible, and compile them in an organized way so you can come back to those notes later, and in the meantime free up your brain to not worry about them. If you capture your thoughts, you take the pressure off your brain to keep remembering that thing. Very strange concept, but very true! Find a system so that you’re ready when your brain spits out things like a creative idea, a script idea, a site you want to come back to, a tutorial to watch later, a business idea or design idea. Write it down, then get back to work.

Here are some websites you can use to capture these things:

Springpadit: SpringPad is a site to make notes that you can access from anywhere. It’s incredibly powerful, you can save images (design ideas perhaps), notes, addresses, websites etc. and put them all into categories.

Evernote: Evernote is very similar to SpringPad, with all of the same capabilities, but a different interface.

Tadalist: Tadalist is made by 37 Signals, the makers of Basecamp. Tadalist is a website to make simple to-do lists which you can access from anywhere, and check off when complete. For me, making daily to-do lists takes a huge load off my mind, and really focuses me on what I need to accomplish

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupe

3. Simplify

Let go of things that are not necessary. Take some blogs off your feed, cancel some e-mail lists, maybe quit one of your 7 social media outlets, stop checking your e-mail except for 2 or 3 times a day, unsubscribe to people on twitter, stop watching the news or a TV show you can do without. Simplifying will let you focus.

Those are three things I have been doing that have really helped. I hope you read “Focus” and start to really think about how you can become more productive and less stressed.

Let me know if you have any other ideas for managing this crazy life we all live!

My name is Joren Kandel and I’m a motion designer in Minneapolis, MN. I run a website for free AE and C4D training and resources which you can check out at The Pixel Lab. You can also find me on or on . Feel free to e-mail me anytime at .