When distraction gets in the way of the good things...

I bumped into a friend the other day and our conversation went something along the lines of: “I know I need to do my neck exercises (or, for those who have had two kids, one by C-section and the other using … hmmm, perhaps we won’t go there – let’s just say one’s pelvic floor may not be in its best shape and one should be doing pelvic floor exercises…) anyway, back to the more acceptable, and relatable, topic of neck exercises. “I know I need to do my neck exercises. I’ve set the reminder on my phone and my screen. But I’ve also discovered the ‘skip’ (delete) function – it always comes up when I’m half-way through something!)” Yep, I hear you! Then it just becomes habit to ignore the regular reminder, delete the alert and skip the screen fade. Its just too distracting. And we don’t have time. (Nor we do we have time to go back to the physio again complaining about headaches, and simultaneously confessing to not having done the hourly neck exercises… but somehow that doesn’t factor into our immediate decision making). 

Then I discovered a trick. We need a dedicated time for the neck exercises / stretches / the 2 minute walk (or whatever it might be) where we’re not feeling like we’re being interrupted and required to immediately “down pens” (that’s a throw-back to the good ol’ days of pen and paper… ahhh, such fond memories..) and do the required exercise. The problem with the regular hourly reminder is that its pre-set without any regard to our other ‘stuff’. It simply becomes an inconvenient distraction, and like our kids do to us, we tune it out. 

My other big problem was being too ‘bitsy’ through the day (this is a technical term… somewhere…. I’m sure….). You know – you sit down at your desk and start going through emails, naturally responding to all of the ones that appeal, that, lets face it, aren’t THAT important and probably could be done another time. We then get a text and respond, notice a Facebook or interesting post – get hooked into that for a few minutes (for some that could be longer) – and then, start the meaty work of the day. Then you notice you’re hungry (for those of us who don’t have breakfast, that occurs quite early on in the work day). So 15 minutes after starting your task (but you’ve been at your desk for 40) you’re up getting said food. Back to the computer – you see a school alert on your app and realise the fundraising money is due today, and get distracted for another 5 minutes. Then start your meaty task again. Then you realise your water jug is empty, so you fill that. Your back at your desk for another 5 minutes into your meaty task, and your reminder pops up for your ‘exercise’. NOOOOO. I’ve barely even started my ‘meaty’ task. And I’ve been at my ‘desk’ (aside from the food and water break) for an hour! Feeling slightly guilty and overwhelmed having already wasted 30 minutes of my morning, I simply don’t have time for the exercises now. I’ve got to get the task done! 

 Apparently it takes a lot of energy for us to inhibit ourselves from these distractions (and so, you guessed it, time to be kind to ourselves for succumbing to a natural function of the brain). And when we get distracted (apparently it commonly occurs in offices every 11 minutes) it can take 25 minutes to return to the original task with full focus. Also, we can only concentrate for a certain period of time in one go (which is different for everyone and decreases as the day progresses – no surprises there). 

 Here’s my solution to the neck exercise problem and the general feeling of being constantly ‘bitsy’ and not in flow (it’s not new, and there’s even a Tomato version (ok, so its proper name is ‘The Pomodoro Technique’, but let’s not get technical.)) I basically break my day into ‘blocks’. My morning blocks are generally 45 or 50 minutes and my afternoon blocks around 30 minutes. Before I start, I ensure I have all refreshments and things I need to get me through that block (water, coffee (VERY important), food) and I set my intention for what I want to achieve during it. And then I set my timer and get cracking. No emails (unless I’m in the middle of settling a transaction, in which case emails are an essential part of my job), no calls (see former caveat), no texts or social media checking. At the end of the 45 minutes I then take a purposeful 10 minute break. The idea is that you do something which is away from your computer – brilliant, neck exercises and stretching are perfect for that! As is making a coffee…

OK, so I’m not perfect at this every day or even during the entire day. But when I am, I find that instead of feeling guilty and a little on edge after scrolling social media and answering irrelevant emails, I feel relaxed and entitled having just pumped a solid 45 minutes of on-task stuff out. Setting these blocks of time also makes it easier for me to ‘inhibit’ the distractions - we should probably try to make things easier for ourselves at times (although, apparently some of us are hard-wired to make things harder for ourselves. Explains soooo much).

So, give yourself permission to do the good healthy stuff by keeping the distracting, mindless stuff within boundaries, be kind to yourself when you succumb to the inevitable distractions, get yourself back on track and get sh*t done.    

 Love Lisa

 Ps – while I was writing this, I admit to getting distracted by some texts. But it was 9pm and I had been writing past my 45 minute block. So my kind self says that its ok … and it shows how when we work past our 'concentration' limit, we get distracted more easily. Kindness.