How to manage distractions

What do you think is the biggest challenge for most people?

It’s focusing!

Does anyone know what the average attention span of a human being is? The average attention span of a human being is three to four seconds.

Does anyone know what the attention span of a goldfish is? It’s seven seconds!

Goldfish will take over the world if we’re not careful.

I’m fully aware that most of you are either distracted or recovering from distraction two to three hours a day. And that means most of you are wasting 14 to 18 weeks a year either being distracted or recovering from a distraction.

So what can you do to manage your distractions?

1. Learn how to structure your day in a way that protects your time and space.

That means planning out your day, week, month or year in advance and breaking down those goals into tasks with realistic timelines. That means prioritising the big, important and urgent tasks for the start of each day when you're most productive and alert. And that means planning time at the end of your day for tasks like emails.

It's all about PLANNING.

Check out the Covey Quadrant on how you can prioritise the right tasks first:

And use my planning formula in my free 2020 Planner that you can download here.

2. Realise that multitasking is a myth.

Multitasking is a sophisticated distraction technique.

It doesn’t fucking work. In fact, it is far less efficient than people who focus on just one thing at time.

It takes time to get back on track every time you switch tasks and that means wasted time refocusing every time you multitask.

And while it's important for us to develop a mental agility to be able to deal with multiple things in short periods of time, but execution requires the ONE THING mentality. Do that one thing well and move onto the next task. That's what will you move you forward the fastest.

The One Thing is one of my favourite books that I always recommend people read.

3. You can't control time, but you can manage your energy.

We can’t add more hours to the day, but we can manage our energy so the hours we do have are more effective.

One method that works really well for me and the people I recommend it to is the 90minute rule. Work for 90 minutes straight. No breaks, no swapping between tasks, no distractions.

Then, take a 10-minute break. Fill up your water bottle, walk around the block, stretch, meditate, anything good for the mind and body.

It allows you to get into the flow, really sink your teeth into a task but also keeps your mind and body from burning out.

Utilising rest-work methods like this, no matter which method, is one of the most important energy management techniques you need during work. Professional athletes all rely on the power of rest to recover and reset, so why shouldn't we?

And it's not just about using techniques like this within your day. It's about your whole life. Where are you working too much on and not taking enough rest?

Self-care is so important. And that includes quality nutrition, hydration, exercise you like doing, supplements if you need as well as spending time doing things you love, movies or games, whatever it is, taking the time off when you need a reset to relax.

These are some of the best things that have helped me manage distractions and really focus on what's important. And if you still find you need more tips on distractions, check out one of my podcast episodes on Unstoppable with Nir Eyal, author of the bestselling book Indistractable, who came on to share his top tips and methods that actually work on becoming Indistractable right here.

And if you have other tips that have helped you with distractions, comment them below!