I anxiously awaited the arrival of my new iPad. It was the first time I pre-ordered new technology, ever! In anticipation of its arrival I was thinking about “focus” (one of my three words for 2010). The iPad can only do one thing at a time. You can’t surf the web while checking e-mail. It’s one or the other and there are advantages to this single threaded interface.

Those close to me know that “focus” can be a challenge as I have to work hard to stay focused. You can label it Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), remnants of preadolescence impulsivity or just the fact that we live in a world of “hyper-distraction”. But staying focused is harder for many of us today than it was for our ancestors. These days we find ourselves tethered to our iPhones and Blackberrys scanning e-mails, checking Facebook and texting friends and colleagues while at the kid’s soccer game. (Remember: “Wherever you are be there?” I forget it all the time).

Habits are hard to change, especially those we’ve done for years. For instance, most of us believe that we can effectively multitask. Sure we can chew gum and walk, but when it comes to intellectually challenging stuff I stand by the notion that multitasking doesn’t work. That’s because it is humanly impossible to simultaneously harbor two conscious thoughts in your brain at exactly the same time. Sure you can unload the dishwasher and talk on the phone. Because unloading the dishwasher is a relatively “mindless” function. But if you were to notice a crack in a dish, your mind would focus on that. How did it crack? Was it cracked before it went into the dishwasher or did it break during cleansing?

For things that require mental effort what we are really doing is time slicing. We are “switching” our thoughts from one thing to another rapidly - thus creating the illusion that we can multitask.

How many times have you picked up the phone to take a call in the middle of reading e-mail? At first you might be focused on the call, but as the conversation begins to wind down you start focusing on e-mail again. Guess what? The person on the other end of the phone can usually tell when you’ve mentally checked out. I do this to people when they call me from time to time and it is ineffective and inconsiderate.

The pie charts above show the effect that interruptions (represented in green) can have on your thought process. When you are taken off task it takes some time to mentally pull away, pay attention to something (or someone) else and then refocus back on that task. Depending on the level of complexity the “refocusing” stage can be time consuming, especially if you are in the midst of doing something creative or highly technical.

In his book, “The Myth of Multitasking“, David Crenshaw shows how to minimize interruptions by coworkers and how to deal with distracting electronic communications such as e-mail and phone messages. I am not advocating you lock yourself in a cave and accept food rations under the door. But I do recommend setting aside times in the day for concentrating on projects or tasks. These times should be periods in which you can’t be interrupted unless the building is on fire.

I read some great blog posts at the dawning of the new decade. The amount of quality content out there is staggering. Some of my favorites were posted by Josh Bernoff, Radian6 and Seth Godin .

One of the most practical posts I read was Chris Brogan’s My 3 Words for 2010 . The 3 words are to be used as a guidepost for the way you should conduct your efforts in the year to come. The words can help you set goals, and establish projects with deadlines. Brogan claims that this technique is helpful for those who have struggled with goal setting in the past.

My 3 words are: FOCUS, LEARN, SIMPLIFY

FOCUS: I have begun to lay the groundwork for pursuing what has the most meaning for me; both personally and professionally and then focusing on what’s important to achieve these goals. I talked about this in my post entitled Threads of interruption: How to keep your day from spinning out of control . My next post will expand upon this and discuss the 80-20 Rule.

LEARN: In 2010 I want to explore new ways of doing things and new ways of thinking. It’s time to embrace change and to stop looking through the “lens” of the past. In the internet age, “rules” are being challenged and broken at breakneck speed. For me, this will be the year to completely embrace Social Media as a tranformative and lasting means of communication.

SIMPLIFY: This has some deep meaning for me that I won’t share in this post. But some of my philosophy was introduced in my Boating: The Good Old Days post. When I read Walden in high school I thought that Thoreau was a nut job. However as a middle-aged guy who’s collected a lot of “stuff” over the years, I think back on Walden Pond and wonder if Thoreau was on to something.