Noise

Auteur

JOSEPH McCORMACK is the founder and managing director of The BRIEF Lab, an organization dedicated to teaching professionals, military leaders, and entrepreneurs how to think and communicate clearly. His clients include Bank of America, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, Mastercard, eBay, and select military units and government agencies. He publishes a weekly podcast called Just Saying that helps people master the elusive skills of focus and brevity.

Texte du rabat

It's time to manage the noise, or the noise will manage you. Noisy lives are the new normal. Our days are filled with always-on access to digital devices, boundless data, endless choices, and mindless chatter that erodes our ability to concentrate, think, and create. Information is now more of a threat than a reward. Attention is becoming our most precious personal resource. When our brains are filled to overflowing, we mindlessly tune out what really matters. We all risk becoming mentally anemic by digesting empty brain calories all day. We need to develop practical strategies to protect our minds from the barrage and strengthen where, when, and how we focus. A practical, encouraging plan to defend ourselves every day. Joseph McCormack has forged some old-school answers to a new-world problem. In this captivating follow-up to his first book, BRIEF: Make a bigger impact by saying less, he explores how the onslaught of information overload and constant connectivity is rewiring our brains for the worse. What's more, he shows leaders, employees, parents, and everyone else how to survive the tsunami of noise, regain our ability to concentrate, and help those around us too.

Contenu

Foreword xv

Preface xix

How the Book is Organized xxii

How to Read This Book xxiii

Acknowledgments xxv

Part One Weapons of Mass Distraction 01

1 Noise, Noise, So Much Noise 3

Kenny Chesney Gets it Right

Hearing Decline and the Loss of Focus

Access to Information Will Only Increase

Attention Spans Will Remain Elusive

Our Minds Will Become Anemic and Impenetrable

2 Huh? We're Going Collectively Deaf 11

So, Why Do We Tune Out? A Variety of Reasons

The Impact of the "Elusive 600" on Our Listening

How Words Become Worthless-and Triggers for a Tune-Out

My Mom Thought I Had a Hearing Problem

3 Brain Basics: Are Your Penguins Falling Off the Iceberg? 19

Our Brains are Changing

Working Memory in Decline

Brains are Like Computers

We're Losing Impulse Control

Our Brains Get Hooked

How Often Do We Check Our Smartphones?

4 Living in an Info Junkie Crack House 31

Training and Education Will Be the Gateway Drug

Impending Health Impacts?

A Potential Threat to Consider

Who Can Stop This?

More Brain Celery

Part Two The Big Tune-Out is Coming (Imagining The Unthinkable-Six Short Stories to Wake You Up) 41

5 Always Stuck at School 43

Serious Triggers

New Protective Behaviors

Terrified Parents

Disturbing Statistics

Our Children in Isolation

Is it Addiction?

6 A Misleading Leader 53

Streaming Information

Losing Momentum

Powerful Monologue

All Talk, No Action

7 The Loss of Civil Discourse 61

Her Civic Duty

Uninformed and Confused

No Respect

Tower of Babel

Catching Her Attention

8 Mind-filled Momentum at Work 67

Connected While Exercising

Last-minute Briefing

Driving Connected

Yet More Tasks and E-mails

Diving Right into the Weeds

Trying to Salvage Success

9 2050: A Parenting Odyssey 77

Technology Was Only a Mild Interrupter for Them

A Carefree Time

Deep Loss of Daily Contact

Struggle to Disconnect

Technology is with You Everywhere You Go

It's Just Living for Them

Why Did We Worry So Much?

Parenting without a Voice

Fighting a Force

10 Safety Briefing with Near-tragic Results 85

Part Three Time for You to Tune In: Awareness Management (AM 101) 93

11 Awareness Management 101 95

Lighting the Path Before Us

Lives Can Become a Blur

Missing the Moment Entirely

Our Minds are Spinning Beach Balls

The Elusive 600: Your Enemy or Your Friend?

Runaway Thoughts

Waking Your Mind from Mindlessness to Mindfulness

Directed, Undirected, and Misdirected

Commit to "Awareness Management"

What if We Don't Manage Our Awareness?

AM Pre-set Buttons

12 Take Aim: Set Your Sights on What Matters Most 109

Essentialists versus Non-essentialists

No More Deafening Noise

Pointless Routines

A Minimalist Decision: Keep it Simple

Aim Small, Miss Small-Tips to Direct Your Focus

Post It: Simplicity Isn't Complicated

To Simplify is a Deliberate Decision

13 Saying No to Noise 123

Just Say No

The Power of Self-Mastery

Overcoming FOMO

No, Here's How You Do It

Addictions Weaken Willpower

Running to Yes on the Road Toward No

Self-control is a Personal Way to Stop the Noise

Impulse Management: A Few Daily Distractions

Feel the Peace of Singlemindedness

Five Small Steps to Make That Little Word a Big Part of Your Life

14 Quiet Time: Restoring and Recharging Your Mind 135

Dimly Lit Dinnertime: Our Brains Barraged and Batteries Drained

The Extrovert Ideal and the Allure of Open Spaces

Why Be Quiet (I've Got Something to Say About That)?

Risky Isolation

Rewarding Isolation

Steps Toward Quiet

Contemplatives in the Middle of the World

15 Present Listening: A Gift Worth Giving Now 149

Why is it So Exhausting to Listen?

Professional Listeners: It Pays to Be Interested, Not Interesting

Becoming a Present Listener-Seven Critical Considerations

A Special Reward for Special Forces

Selling Yourself Short with Others

The Payoff of Present Listening

Part Four Getting Others to Dial In: Focus Management (FM 101) 159

16 Focus Management 101 161

Changing an Environment That Doesn't Want to Be Changed

Putting Fun Back into a Party

The Role of a Focus Manager

A Program Manager for a Life Filled with Simplicity and Clarity

FM Pre-set Buttons

17 Wanted: BRIEF Communicators 169

When So Many Words Become Worthless

Losing the Meaning

You Can Change It

Message Lost in Translation

Winston Churchill's Brevity Memorandum

Concise Communication: A Necessary Curriculum Requirement

BRIEF Basics

Clarity is Your Number 1 Priority

18 Communicate Like a Magician 181

Brain Science Behind Sleight of Hand

The Power to Make the Restless Rest

A Baker's Dozen of Communication Techniques, Tips, and Tricks

19 Preparing the Environment for Noise Abatement 191

The Failure of Open Floor Plans

Screens Everywhere at Work

Home Rooms Unplugged

Old-school Schools

Remaking Healthy Environments to Filter Noise Naturally

20 Herding Cats: Facilitating to Focus More, Fidget Less 205

The Joy of a Canceled Meeting

Teaching Students to Tune Out

Need Some Help Leading at Home?

Fundamentals of Facilitation: At Work, School, or Home

Making it Easy for Everyone to Work, Learn, and Live Together

Part Five Pre-Sets: Simple Programming for Noise Reduction 215

21 Personalizing Your Pre-Sets 217

Personal Pre-set Programming: Customize Your Settings to Manage the Noise "The Lineup": Playing to Win by Keeping Score

22 That Sounds Wonderful 235

Recommended Reading 239

Notes 241

References 249

About the Author 257

About The BRIEF Lab 259

Index 261