Shane Parrish from Farnam Street often says, “are you operating on easy mode or hard mode?”
Example: If you stay up late and you have a big presentation the next morning, you’re going to be operating on the next morning on “hard mode.”
I thought about that today. I had a hard time focusing on work.
My mind wandered to other subjects. New signals from Slack drew my attention away from my most important objectives. I ended my work shift late. I operated on hard mode.
Working on easy mode is hard. You must discipline your mind and your behaviors to operate that way. Get rid of signals that throw your attention. Tell everybody that your heads down and focused. Don’t make your phone your captor.
Life doesn’t need to be this way. Sometimes it’s a choice. When you have the choice, choose wisely.