Distraction leads to frustration. To be happier, pay attention to what you are doing.

*Distraction leads to frustration. To be happier, pay attention to what you are doing.*

I sat down to write this post today morning. Just when I was few minutes into the activity, I received notification on my mobile. It was a whatsapp message. I just casually scrolled through it as it wasn’t anything important. Few minutes later there was one more notification. This time it was LinkedIn message. Just like this, everyday we let ourselves to get distracted very often. We even feel that this habit is of no consequence. 

Unfortunately, distraction costs time and energy. Every distraction is accompanied with a “switching cost”. This is the time and energy required by your brain to reorient itself between tasks, which leads to a decrease in effectiveness in both tasks thus leading to less than ideal outcomes.

When we try to do too many things at a time, we cannot expect any one of them to be done exceptionally well. Multi-tasking stops us from fully engaging and gaining from any experience, which in my case was writing an article.

All this ultimately leads to frustration, causing unhappiness.

What can we do?

- Simply switch off distractions. Put your mobile on silent mode. Switch of that TV in the background. Close the multiple tabs that are open in your browser, shut the door of your cabin and request people around you to book a time slot in your calendar if they need your time. Unless you decide to be ruthless about saying no to distractions, they will keep walking into your life like uninvited guests. 

- Consciously choose to do one thing at a time. Be it work or talking to a friend on phone or simply having a meal. Make an effort to focus on the “here and now” and fully immerse yourself into that experience.

These two simple practices will help you to benefit much more from your experiences, and leave you feeling much happier than before.

Wishing you more Happiness, everyday.

Puneet Dhingra,

Happiness Life Coach.

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