Mark, I've been kinda mulling this around lately, too. Like you, I find my attention span getting shorter and my ability to focus on tasks diminishing. Not only that, but remembering certain things and retaining info is taxing.
My work keeps me plenty busy, juggling many balls and having too many things spinning around my head. The last couple of years I have had a hard time letting all of it go when I'm home and not at work.
I've been a reader for the majority of my life and have almost always had a book nearby. Years ago I went through a spell where I didn't read much. So, in an effort to make myself cognizant of the fact that I NEED to read I started keeping a tally of how many books I read each year. It's just for me. Not to say "Look at me and all that I read!" but a way to keep myself focused on the simple act of making time for it. Sometimes it takes care of itself, like with one of those good books you can't put down. Other times I force myself to turn off the TV and put nothing else in front of me except for reading time.
Last week, I kinda went through the same thing with music listening. My normal routine is to sit down in my listening spot and work crosswords while the music is on. Lately I've been kinda going through the motions--rushing through things and just getting it done, rather than enjoying it for what it is. I consciously told myself to slow down, to give the music its time to work and to let myself get drawn into it. Also, I told myself, I didn't HAVE to finish the crossword, but to work on it and not be discouraged if I didn't get it done. It would still be there next time.
In a sense, I think I prioritized my relaxing time. I needed to do it. I think this works with many things in our life. Our downtime is important and often we need to treat it as such.
Yes, I'm still a bit of a scatterbrain, but I'm working on it!
And you know? We are bombarded with too many things to do in our down time nowadays--music, movies, tv, video games, internet, reading, hobbies, whatever. It's hard to pick one and go with it and enjoy it for what it is. Not a time waster, but an involving process we love.
