Tony Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of The Energy Project, Gary Swart, Chief Executive Officer of oDesk, and Sherry Turkle, author of “Alone Together”,.

[about 20 min in] Tony Schwartz touches on the increasingly important need for individuals to initiate control and will power over the endless demand from the “ping” of email. The crack-berry thing might be actually true – people are vulnerable to this kind of trigger response and are becoming addicted to it.

Schwartz goes on to say that as humans one of our primary impulses is to escape pain. The promise of relief , anticipated pleasure, from an email alert would easily serve as a welcomed distraction from a difficult task requiring enduring concentration.

Managing yourself amidst enormous demands on your attention is resulting in you having to be increasingly intentional about what you are doing.

More on the book, Willpower, by John Tierney and Roy Baumeister  at http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/default.aspx?id=153981

Link to Tony Schwartz’s blog
http://www.theenergyproject.com/blog/no-new-yes-four-practices-reprioritize-your-life