How beating Distraction is Simple but not Easy?

Distraction is an evil that can encumber your growth and repel you from being successful.

“I think I might have a notification...”

I was between a very important work – what do I do? Okay, let’s check the phone-I think I might have a notification, and then let’s scroll Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the list goes on and on and hours pass by…

Does this happen to you? Then, my friend - Congratulations! (Sarcastically) – You are being HACKED by your own technology!

In the present overwhelming world, we’re surrounded by countless things that continuously keep us distracted and we struggle to focus on more imperative work. In this race of always being ‘first’ and increased competition, we try to do various things at a time and end up with nothing.

Do you check your phone very frequently and can’t hold yourself back from checking social media often? You think of doing various tasks at a time and end up doing nothing? Have you spent the whole day binge-watching Netflix and missed out on completing your essential tasks? – Then “yes” you are being distracted and I’m here to help you eliminate/reduce this distraction from your life.

Following are the 5 Mantra’s that would help you to avoid distractions in life. Also, there’s a bonus tip towards the end - so keep reading till the end and apply these mantras in your life which would help you to be more productive.

1. Prioritize the main task:

Managing time efficiently by prioritizing the task is by far the most important and essential mantra to keep yourself organized and productive throughout the day. A human brain is cognitively biased toward doing as many things as possible so we fill our platter with extra things that we can’t handle at one point of time. As a result, we end up doing all the quick and simple things in the beginning and the main thing keeps lying in the backburner.

So make a to-do-list, prioritize your task, set time limit and you are good to go for the day.

2. Ask for privacy:

I’m sure that something of this kind might have happened to you as well while you were studying:

Your mom just came in to ask you about your day.

Your friends might have dropped in just to have a chat.

Your siblings came in to ask for advice.

And the list goes on…

Yes, relationships are important but I unfalteringly believe that the quality of your relationships determines the quality of your life. Therefore, just before you begin your study session- go up to the people who you think might disturb you and say something of this kind to them –

“Look, I’ve got an important assignment to be completed. Would you give me little privacy and not interrupt me for the next one hour unless it’s very urgent.”

When you go about it in such an intentional way they are more likely to respect it and give you the space that you want.

3. Protect yourself from Screen Sucking:

Frequently, we see that people don’t achieve the success that they are looking for, not because they are dumb and lazy but for the reason that they are smart and way too intelligent in meaningless things in life.

A study shows that – “On an average, a person spends 4 hours a day in front of the television and if we calculate that for an entire lifespan that would come to almost 13 years of a lifetime.”

It’s atrociously shocking that almost a decade is spent sitting in front of the television for doing absolutely nothing. The amount of productive work that an individual could have done in that amount of time would probably make him a successful person in his life. It would be noteworthy; if we track the number of hours we spend in front of our electronic devices and manage our time resourcefully with the help of apps like Rescuetime.

Activity: Make a list of all productive activities that you can do when you’re bored which would stop you from using your electronic devices and make your life more consequential.

4. Fun- Trick to keep you productive and avoid distraction:

At times we feel that our mind is boggled up and runs in different directions making us lose our attention on the work that we are liable to complete. If this happens to you then you should follow this trick. The fun trick you should apply at this instant is the “Rubber-band” trick. In the scenario when our mind is moving in diverse directions and you aspire to fetch it back then wear a rubber band on your wrist. Yes, you heard it right “wear a rubber band on your wrist” and whenever the mind goes away, pull the rubber band and pop it on your wrist to disrupt your mind and tell yourself – “Back to work, dude”. And at any jiffy, you find that the wandering thoughts are actually essential then jot it down in someplace like a Procrastination Pad where you can scribble things down and deal with them at a later stage.

5. Aids to block distraction:

Imagine, you are at your workspace and find that the atmosphere is very noisy or your colleagues are talking nineteen to the dozen and eventually you get distracted which is very obvious. To overcome this, you can use some Noise Canceling Headphones or hit upon a quiet place to work. It’s hard to evade distraction but you always have measures to focus on your work and be productive. Also, you can set yourself up for success by switching-off your notifications in your cell-phone because most of your time is hindered by technology. Whenever someone likes your photo/post on Instagram or Facebook, it pops up on your screen and your mind starts drifting here and there and according to a study, it is said that it takes 23mins for your mind to come back and refocus after every interruption. It’s hard to avoid any kind of distraction, nevertheless, you could use some tools that will help you to boost up our willpower and shun interruptions. Try using some of these site-blockers like Blocksite, Stayfocus or LeechBlock to block the unnecessary traffic in your systems. Additionally, you shouldn’t be checking your emails every now and then rather allocate a fixed time block to do that. This will help you to keep focus and maintain your concentration at the highest level.

BONUS TIP: Resist playing the hero and learn to say NO !

It’s not necessary to play the hero every time. Definitely, you must be having good intentions to lend a hand and incline towards avoiding them from any harm, but bear in mind the sayings by the air-hostess in airplanes –

Before you help anyone else, put your oxygen mask first.

Schedule some time in a day to analyze the things you need and understand what is the thing the other person requests out of you and before you say a YES determine whether you are the best fit in that scenario.

Every now and then we crave to achieve success. By staying focused you will be more productive and less distracted. Let us know how you maintain your focus in the comments below.

Have a focused day!

To learn some more click to play this video