The Art Of Confronting Distractions

Original Blog Post: 2021

You’ve probably felt this way before with a million different things being thrown in your direction. Being inundated with information and trying to synthesize what’s relevant. The endless scrolling, the clicking on links that take you to another website and then you often forget, “what was I trying to do?”

We only have so much processing power to remember key information as well as staying focused. Now might be the best time to find key information but the worst time to be productive. What do I mean by this? Many are constantly searching the internet browsing random articles, Instagram posts, listening to podcasts, or updating their LinkedIn feeds, you name it. We can often get so distracted that we find ourselves in a rabbit hole reading a one-hundred thread comment on a Youtube video or a Twitter post.

Not only is social media a prime distraction, but you throw in a smart phone and a smartwatch to your daily lifestyle and you really have information overload as you get pinged, buzzed, IMs, & push notified all throughout the day.

It’s important to recognize how we are spending our day and how much time gets allocated to tasks and correcting those distractive behaviors. For those of you who don’t suffer from distraction (I would bet it’s very few :), kudos!) For those of you who are trying to take better control and starve your distractions I suggest trying some of the below:

1.) Turn on Airplane mode for dedicated focus hours

Maybe 7AM-9AM is your best time to get into a state of flow or maybe you’re a night owl and you love the 10PM-1AM grind. Find whatever is best for you in order to focus on how you want to spend your time.

1a.) If you’re afraid that you’ll miss something so important, such as a phone call or an important text then try removing the phone from the table, desk, or location you are working. Having the phone in another room or putting it into a drawer (out of sight, out of mind) can be enough.

2.) Turn off push notifications (FOMO will subside). Do you really need to be getting notified that there is a “Flash Sale” at your favorite retail store or your favorite sports player was traded away?

3.) Mute many if not ALL notifications on your smartwatch (use it more like a watch instead of a second phone connected even closer to you)

4.) Write a sentence down of your outcome/objective (it can help your stay more focused and studies show leads to a higher probability of completing a task)

5.) Don’t install social media apps on your smartphone

6.) Unsubscribe from “junk mail” or create a folder(s) to filter unnecessary emails that don’t deserve your attention (check out unroll me)

7.) If you are addicted to checking your social accounts, (I have been there) sign out! Create more barriers that will prevent you from getting into those distracting situations

The above is not an exhaustive list to prevent distractions but certainly a good place to start. I would love to hear what other things you do to keep your focus throughout your day!