END DISTRACTION & FIND YOUR FOCUS

The 21st century is characterized by connectivity. Over the past couple of decades, it’s become handy to connect with different sources of information and people. We can access the internet almost anywhere, we can make phone calls and text friends around the globe easily. This is how we get distracted so often and find it especially difficult to focus on finishing what we should do. If you are a typical American worker, you’ll be distracted every 11 minutes, and it will take you 25 minutes to actually settle down again to your task. The more complicated your project, the longer it takes to regain your focus because your brain has to put in considerable effort when switching between complex objectives.

But if you’re reading this, you value your time and want to take control of your attention. In this worksheet, you will discover the distractions around you and what you can do to stop being pulled over by these distractions and stay focused to get things done.

What is Distraction?

Distraction is the process of diverting the attention of an individual or group from a desired area of focus and thereby blocking or diminishing the reception of desired information. Distraction is caused by: the lack of ability to pay attention; lack of interest in the object of attention; or the great intensity, novelty or attractiveness of something other than the object of attention. 

The 2 Types of Distractions

Do you know there are 2 types of distractions? Most people blame external distractions when they can’t focus, but from our own experiences, more than 80% of the time, we distract ourselves internally. The problem is we don’t even realize we are distracting ourselves and time just passes by. 

Internal Distraction

 Internal distraction is a distraction you have inside your brain. It refers to mental blocks that hold you back from staying focused. What are these blocks? Being able to choose. The most common distraction we encounter is that we have too many options in hand. Ever think of why it’s so easy to start and finish a movie on a plane? It’s because your options are limited. You have limited motive options to choose from, have no Wifi (on most planes), no space to walk around, and not even a fridge for you to open. A lot of people find it hard to focus at home because you have so many options to choose from -- you can feed a dog, read a book, watch some tv, cook some food, etc. Your brain prioritizes tasks based on your existing need and satisfaction. In other words, you prioritize based on your short-term benefit or satisfaction, instead of long-term benefit. 

External Distraction

External distraction is a kind of distraction that is pushed to you externally. Examples include emails and messages notifications, and people coming to you when you’re in the middle of a task. 

How to Tackle Distractions and Stay Focused 

If you ever find yourself wasting your day, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can regain your focus and get important things done. Here’s how: 

Step 1: Eliminate Your Options 

As mentioned in the previous section, your internal distraction is usually overlooked. So how not to let yourself get distracted by too many options? Narrow down or eliminate your options. For example, if you’re in your room and have the option to turn on the TV, pick up your phone to play with or grab the bag of chips on your desk to start snacking, get rid of them. You can hide the remote control, turn your mobile off, and put the chips in the kitchen or anywhere that doesn’t take you 20 seconds to reach. Here’s a short exercise for you, before you start working on your next task, identify all the options that are around you, and think about how you can eliminate them: Now, try to rate your own ability based on the skills you identified in Step 2, and come up with concrete actions that you can take to bridge the gap between your current stage of learning and the targeted one: 

Step 2: Create Mental Stop Signs 

In this highly connected world, lots of things can serve you 24/7 and give you endless information and resources. Take YouTube, for example, it is always recommending you the next video whenever you’ve finished one. If you don’t stop yourself before playing the next recommended video, you’ll be watching YouTube for as long as you will. So in order to regain your focus, create mental stop signs. A typical stop sign is a time limit. You set a time limit for whatever you do. When you scroll through Facebook, ask yourself to stop in 15 minutes. You can even use a timer to control yourself. The second type is progress limit. You set a time limit on the progress of what you are doing. For instance, when you start to watch Youtube, ask yourself to stop after finishing 2 videos. Now, it’s your turn to create stop signs for your common distractions. # Distraction Stop Sign e. g  Stop watching Youtube videos after watching two videos. 

Step 3: Control Your Focus Environment 

It’s human nature to be triggered by our five senses constantly. Here’s how our attention is affected by our five senses: 

● Sound (e.g. chit chat, pets, white noise, music) 

● Touch (e.g the comforts of your chair, your clothes, cleanliness of the table) 

● Sight (e.g your screen, your wallpaper, your environment, your peripheral vision) 

● Smell (e.g. the smell of coffee, the smell of nature) 

● Taste (e.g. the aftertaste in your mouth, what you’re eating or chewing) If you want to stay focused, pick a place where your attention won’t be triggered by any of these five senses easily. To do that, you must identify what distracts you most in terms of the five senses, also known as triggers: Sound, Touch, Sight, Smell, Taste. Then, try to brainstorm places where you find the least number of these triggers: E.g. library, the co-working space nearby, etc. You can try out all these places you’ve listed and evaluate them based on how focused you can be as you work in these places. What works for others may not work for you. For some, coffee shops are their places to focus because they are comfortable with the white noise and the smell of coffee keeps them energized, but maybe for you, you find people moving around distracting. Therefore, don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of places so as to find the most suited environment to help you get things done! Take Control of Your Time If your unproductive days are starting to win over your productive ones, it’s time to figure out where your distractions originate and put a stop to them.