Anuradha Sridharan

In my previous post , we discussed the need to measure our attention span instead of relying on averages concluded by popular media. Do try out the proposed exercise in that post for a week and gather your observations. In this post, let me share with you 5 strategies by which you can increase your attention span. Tried and tested by yours truly🙂 (1)  Avoid multitasking - yes. Stop doing more than one task at once. Going for a walk? Enjoy the walk. Don't try to optimize that time by listening to an audiobook/podcast. When we stop multitasking, we are focused on that single task we are engaged in. This increases our ability to stay mindful for a longer duration. (2) Avoid frequent context switching - this is an extension to the first strategy, but deserves a separate point, given the amount of information we consume across multiple sources. Reduce the number of people whom you follow on social media. Identify 2-3 topics you are interested in and follow people who share content on...

 We often keep hearing about how the attention span of humans is dwindling. Popular research articles declare that the average attention span of humans is now 8 seconds and we are lagging behind the goldfish (9 seconds apparently).  Instead of arguing over whether such studies and conclusions are valid and accurate, let's do a personal exercise. On a normal day, how long are you able to sit with a task at hand?  Let's say, you are reading a book. How long can you read without getting distracted by your phone or other temptations? You are cooking lunch. How long can you focus on this task without picking up your phone? When you are engaged at work, putting together a presentation/document, how long can you focus on this task without checking email/Slack/instant messaging/social media, etc? I'd highly encourage you to do this experiment for a week and note down the times you have been able to focus on various tasks.  You could refer to this sample template to track: Le...

  Thanks to the Information age we are currently living in, we consume humongous amounts of content every single day through multiple sources - books, social media posts, podcasts, videos, webinars, conferences, workshops, courses, and much more. Irrespective of the source, we can group the content (across various topics/genres) into 3 broad categories. Since I create a lot of food-related content, let me elaborate on these 3 categories using examples from food. Information - Mostly facts, either verified or unverified. For eg, nutrition profile of millets, recipes using millets, where to procure them => a few examples of content that fall under this category Perspectives - An individual's analysis / understanding / experience / interpretation of a concept / topic. For eg, I write about how consuming millets have helped me in reversing my PCOD. This is my perspective and may / may not apply to everyone.  Implementation - An individual's approach / action / next steps tow...

What's the most valuable resource that all of us have been bestowed with?  For many years, I had thought of TIME to be the most valuable resource. All of us have the same 24 hours in a day. How we use this time determines the quality of our life. As I pondered more on this question, I have concluded that more than time, our attention is the most valuable resource. Attention implies all that is within our awareness at this very moment.  Our attention can be captured by our thoughts, taking us on a time machine ride to the past - triggering nostalgia, good memories, regrets, bad decisions, remorse to the future - triggering worries, anxiety, uncertainty Attention can also be captured by external factors through the content we consume - social media, OTT, Youtube, news channels, etc through people whom we interact with through objects in our vicinity Let's consider this situation - It is a beautiful morning. You have woken up early and have gone for a walk.  What are the thi...

 This post has been lying in my drafts for over a year now. Finally wrapped it up as this is something I want to convey. Do you love reading? Does your child love to read?  If yes, continue this powerful habit, even if you hear otherwise. If no, that is perfectly okay too. There are various other ways by which we can learn and understand the world. I belong to the first category. I love to read, so is my 9-year old daughter. Our conversations at home are mostly triggered by books.  There are multiple reasons why people read. Some enjoy reading as an activity per se. They read for pleasure - just the process of reading a moving prose or poetry that paints a beautiful picture is such an elevating experience in itself. From the magical world of Harry Potter, certain lines of Dumbledore are stuck to my mind for eternity. " Words  are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it. " Reading helps y...

 A particular situation comes to our life to teach us a lesson. If we don't reflect on the situation and learn the lesson it intends to teach us the first time, the situation repeats in 2X magnitude to make sure we learn the lesson.  In the past year or so, this is what I have observed from my life. A situation literally increased in magnitude from 1X to 2X to now 4X. I don't want to get into the specifics but I'm glad to share that I have indeed learned my lesson. And that is what I wanted to talk about in this post. I had been desiring for a perfect space for myself in my home - a room or even a cozy nook which is accessible to me 24*7, where I can keep my things, where I can focus and do deep work, where I can practice Yoga, meditate or journal without getting disturbed.  Ever since Mar 2020, this desire has been eluding me so much. The harder I tried, the more difficult it kept getting.  I realized that I have been using this "lack of space" as an excuse. As I...