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  • Stress blog

  • Dec. 14, 2011

    To decrease stress, increase focus

    By Edward T. Creagan, M.D.

4 comments posted

On a recent Sunday morning I set out to do some important educational activities that I needed to complete for an upcoming medical school class. I'd budgeted time for this activity, but I became distracted because I couldn't find my cell phone. I spent a ridiculous amount of time searching for it.

Need more help?

If the stress in your life is more than you can cope with, get help right away.

  • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
    1-800-273-TALK (8255)
  • Go to the nearest hospital or emergency room
  • Call your physician, health provider or clergy
  • National Alliance on Mental Illness
    www.nami.org
    1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

Where was it? Three feet from my computer under a piece of paper. Funny, but not so funny, right? Most of us spend half of our lives trying to find things within two feet of where we left them.

I thought back to the biography I recently read about a prominent business man who was an agent of change in the world of technology. His accomplishments reflected two fundamental concepts:

  • Focus on the task at hand
  • Eliminate distractions

So my suggestion for all of us is that we try to focus on the one task that we most need to accomplish today and tune out the distractions. Let me know how it works for you.

4 comments posted

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MY01947 Dec. 14, 2011

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