The Off Switch

We are the always-on society. On the phone, on the computer, on the go. We do email like Pavlov's dogs; the new-mail bell dings, the screen exerts its magnetic pull, and our mouths start watering (at least mentally). We check our phones waiting in line, while talking to others, even while driving. We spend hours in ineffective meetings, re-deciding what we thought we'd decided in the previous meeting. We scurry through the warrens of the Internet, chasing after an elusive link (or the latest sports score) as if it were a white rabbit with a pocket watch. We're trying to ride off in all directions at once. It's neither fun nor efficient. It isn't low-stress, either. It's also avoidable, or at least controllable. What we need is an off switch. Actually, we need a collection of off switches. Just as each room in the house has its own lights with their own off switches, each of these threats to productivity (and sanity) have off switches. This straightforward and highly focused book defines those off switches. It describes how and when to use them, and it does so in simple, readable terms that lead to action and results. Author Steven B. Levy takes a new look at attention, focus, efficiency, and effectiveness. He shows readers how to escape the trap of the tense present, how to stop bouncing from mini-task to mini-task. Reduce interruptions and partial-attention tasks, and we reduce stress as we build effectiveness as workers and as leaders. Levy's book shows us how we can accomplish more with the same amount of effort. We need to find the off switches in our workplaces and working lives, and flip them. That's the process of discovering our work-work balance... which is the first necessary step in achieving a long-term work-life balance.