I think the notebook is a good idea, although I'm personally prone to unconsciously doodle if the person I'm speaking with is going on and on. (Once I doodled a caricature of an old teacher I had and the person stopped talking and said, “is that supposed to be me?!”)

I also block my calendar off during times like the first hour I'm in the office, and the first hour after lunch. Your comment is a good one about the post-lunch coma hour. You can't be present if you're still waking up or trying to hold your blood sugar levels up with a rope. Most people are pretty good about understanding that…and it's time you can quietly work on other things.

Thanks heaps for a great comment, Sas!

I always have a notebook with me so that if someone triggers or reminds me of something I can make a note and come back to it. And organising my day/week helps. When I am alert and have high energy (i.e. not the post-lunch coma hour) I can deal with the people that require full attention.

Mostly though it's about respecting the team, understanding they need to trust me to tell me when the manure is about to hit the fan.

I have found that yoga has taught me how to stay present and in the moment.

This is also a strength – you are holding a lot of information in your head and being able to problem solve while doing something else – this is called multi-tasking. The trick is to multi-task with two mutually exclusive (right brain, left brain tasks) so you can do both well. For example riding my bike through the park and mentally updating my risk register or cleaning the white board before a presentation while anticipating likely questions.