A friend shared a quote from Charlie Munger with me:

I think people that multitask pay a huge price. They think they’re being extra productive, and I think they’re [out of their mind].

I think when you multi-task so much, you don’t have time to think about anything deeply. You’re giving the world an advantage you shouldn’t do. Practically everybody is drifting into that mistake.

Concentrating hard on something that is important is . . . I can’t succeed at all without doing it. I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span.

It’s telling that Charlie attributes his success to concentration, not intelligence.

I was chatting with a very successful person, and he shared with me that he blocks out time to think. He said he’s disciplined about when he checks text messages, email, etc. so he isn’t in a reactionary state. And he’s intentional about making time to focus on important topics.

These days, more distractions than ever are making it harder for people to know how to focus. This person and Charlie are both super successful, and both make a point of setting aside time to concentrate. That isn’t a coincidence.

I’m intentional about making time to think regularly, but not on the level of these two. In 2023, I want to look for ways to multitask less and lengthen my attention span.

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