Where Did All That Stress Come From?

Have you noticed an increasing amount of stress in your life? Sure, there are plenty of things to be concerned about, not the least of which is the economy.nnHowever, I'll bet that before things turned south, you still had more than enough stress. If this sounds familiar, then I'd like to explore a sleeper source of stress and tension. We all know the obvious ones, or at least the ones that seem obvious. This one may be a little less obvious.nnIn the past two weeks, we have looked at the difference between multi-tasking and multi-goaling. One of the keys turned out to be what I called "half-tasking." Half-tasking is that kind of experience we have probably all had - you start working on one rather simple task, and then your eye catches another piece of paper, and you start working on that one; then you notice a new email has arrived, and so you turn your attention to that; then the phone rings, a text message shows up, you leave for a meeting, and so the day goes.nnAt the end of the day, that one simple thing you started to work on is still there, still incomplete, still occupying a piece of your attention. Part of the problem is that as much as we have attention on that one thing, we also have attention on multiple things. Human beings seem to do better when they can focus rather than having their attention or focus split.nnThat's where we're heading: what has your attention? Perhaps even more important, what has your fleeting attention? And even more important, what takes your attention away from where you have your attention?nn nnContinue reading on The Huffington Post