Create More, Consume Less: Reclaiming Focus in the Advertising Industry. An exploration of how implementing focus, flow, and deep work strategies allow advertisers to maximize productivity and produce high-quality, creative work.
In writing a white paper that reflects on the advertising industry’s loss of productivity when it comes to unintentional scrolling, I discovered as an advertiser myself, that I’ve lost way too much time scrolling too. In order to reach our full potential, and produce engaging, goal-driven, meaningful work, we must attack these poor scrolling habits that keep us coming back to social media as a distraction, and not a tool. The way to reclaim our attention relies in addressing the concerns head on, looking at the facts, and both strategizing and implementing focus and deep work methods that will allow us to reach flow, a passage of uninterrupted time devoted to creating meaningful work.
The Facts
After breaking a period of focus, it takes your brain over twenty three minutes to totally refocus on the intended task. So, imagine constant noise: emails, notifications, messages, and everything else distracting, pulling you away from accomplishing your work. It is difficult to distinguish when advertisers are using digital platforms as research versus when it becomes a distraction. My white paper looks into the negative outcomes of this constant noise and digital culture that promotes quick responses and constant task switching. When we can’t properly focus, we can’t correctly and creatively complete a task.
The Solution
Implementing focus, flow, and deep work strategies allow us restrict our digital over consumption and create intentionally and creatively. If we are constantly being fed content, it is challenging to think uniquely and creatively, two key frameworks of advertising and agency work. So, when we apply focus and deep work strategies, we can reach flow.
Flow: a mental state of complete absorption, energized focus, and enjoyment where a person becomes fully immersed in an activity.
Scheduling focus-blocks, periods that are solely used to work, without any noise, taking true rest breaks, and designing work for flow all aid us in the process of working creatively and authentically. When we feel we can accomplish a task, and are truly locked-into the content, we are motivated, attentive, and innovative, producing high-quality work.
Try out these strategies. You never know what they’ll lead to you producing.
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