Interstitial Journaling for Attention

If you are anything like me then keeping attention and focus on one thing at any one time is almost impossible.

My Brain is always buzzing on the next thing even while working on the current one, or put another way, as the bee goes past the window I’m now following THAT bee until the next one goes past.

This appears to be a modern day problem for many of us regardless of any medical branding to identify and classify it. And the proliferation of devices and notifications to get our attention at a moments notice makes it even more of a problem.

For me, this is a never ending search to find ways to get things done and completed. This is where this idea of something called Interstitial Journaling comes in.

I have been journaling daily for years, but in a long form analog way because that forces me to slow down and think about what I am putting on the page with a pen.

This is where the interstitial part comes into play, at least the way I have been trying to use it.

Instead of thinking of this as something permanent and requiring as much detail as I care to put in, this is a short one line living bullet list of what I’m doing right now with a time stamp. This list becomes useless or achived once the day is over.

For example

• 9:15am - Email management
• 9:40am - Checking the calendar for the day
• 11:30am - daily sprint stand up (if it’s a work day)
• 12:15pm - lunch break
• 1:30pm - Ticket management and chasing tasks

I am sure the first thing that you noticed is how the timestamps are close together. This is designed with the intention that again, this is a real-time system. You write one line for the thing you are starting now.

Why? Because when the brain starts to get distracted or wander into random thoughts, you look back at the last thing on the list to remind yourself what you are working on and refocus.

Yes, that is overhead. by design. If you are someone that does not have this problem then this is likely to drive you crazy.

That’s the point here, this is a training system where all you need to remember is to write what you are doing now and use that as the guide.

As with all things, you get out what you put in. This may not be required every hour of every day. I use it when I need one of those days that requires my best performance.

For me, it is important that this is an analog system with pen/pencil and paper. That way there is no dependency on a machine or app.

Since I take notes through out the day with pen and paper, this is easy for me to adopt and continue to carry around in my pocket.

That’s it!

I will let you know how this works out for me over time, but I hope it gives those that need it something to think about and try.

Let me know how it goes for you using the contact form.