Can’t focus? How to Avoid Distractions
(For real, all kinds of them)
We’ve all experienced it: as soon as we decide to start working, we take that first deep breath and remember that we have an email to respond to or an appointment to reschedule. My recent culprit has been the UberEats notification that my food is on the way, dragging me to check every single notification on my phone.
Living in the digital world, distractions are constantly surrounding us just a tap away. Our current work-from-home environment doesn’t make it easier.
So how do we avoid skipping from tab to tab or constantly checking our phones? How do we maximize our productivity, stay focused, and manage distractions?
Why do we get distracted?
Constantly checking email or responding to the “dings” and “blings” from our phones is often a symptom of a deeper issue. By better understanding the root cause of why we get distracted, we can learn to manage it.
In his book, Indistractable, (which, by the way, is the Bible of managing distraction), Nir Eyal states that distraction often occurs as a result of us wanting to escape a pain point. He says:
“As is the cause of all human behavior, distraction is just another way our brains deal with pain.”
Ever start checking notifications from apps you don’t even use just as you are about to start studying? Or worse, realize you’re watching a YouTube video titled, “How to ride a unicycle” when you don’t even own a unicycle or have any prospects of joining the circus? (True story 🎪)
This phenomenon happens as we unconsciously avoid facing reality: we steer clear of the pain that comes with more stressful, uncomfortable, daunting tasks.
We’ll revisit how to manage these internal pain points a little later. But hey, self-awareness is the first step to improvement!
Kinds of distractions:
Distractions come in all kinds of forms. Luckily, there are unique ways to manage each kind. I like to organize distractions into two big sets by thinking about where they are coming from and whether I could see them coming and then manage each unique combination of distractions differently.
Where do they come from?
Thoughts:
These are those lurking thoughts that pop up and grab our attention to keep us from doing what we’re supposed to. Thinking about what to order for lunch, how to deal with a tough conversation later, or remembering something you forgot to do.
Environment:
These are caused by our surroundings. You know the ones: notifications, background music, the phone rings, your partner asks where you left the scissors.
Can I see them coming?
Predictable:
These are the kinds of distractions you can eliminate ahead of time once you identify them for yourself. Social media, chatting with friends, Wikipedia wormholes, online shopping, and all the other things that creep into our productive time.
Unexpected:
Unfortunately there are some distractions that we can’t plan for - like a sudden, urgent meeting or phone call that appears out of the blue! However we can control how we respond to these kinds of distractions.
How to Avoid Each Kind of Distraction:
Let’s go through common examples of how these kinds of distractions combine and how to manage each situation.
Predictable Environment
These are what you would think of as quintessential distractions: our smartphones or a full inbox.
The good news is that they are often the easiest to spot. We usually know we are distracted from our plans when we find ourselves scrolling through TikTok for hours or responding to emails that really could have waited.
The solution:
These kinds of distractions are easy to control simply by eliminating them beforehand. Put your phone in another room while you are working. If your work doesn’t require the internet - turn it off. The mantra here is: out of sight, out of mind!
Here are some of my personal favorite tips:
Remove apps from your dock.
Our peripheral vision is unfortunately too powerful, and just seeing the little red bubble appear on my apps out of the corner of my eye, made me want to check what I was missing. It’s just one text, I would think, before I realized I had been texting my friends or replying to emails for the last half hour.
Close unnecessary tabs.
X out of your email or Twitter tab after you’re done checking them. Just having them in your line of vision can trigger that mental chatter of I need to email back my boss, or what are the more recent coronavirus updates?
Unsubscribe from emails and notifications.
It’s time to say good-bye to the promotional emails and the auto-signup newsletters. You weren’t reading them anyways. Change the notification settings for each app on your phone to decrease the number of calls for your attention.
Unexpected Environment
These are the kinds of distractions we can’t predict or plan for. Often they are a friend, family member, or co-worker coming to chat with you or asking if you want to grab lunch. These are also very easy to spot but more difficult to control beforehand.
The solution
Just like all distractions that we don’t have control over from happening, we can control how we respond. Chris Bailey suggests two ways:
Get back on track quickly
If something important calls your attention, it’s important to deal with it and get straight back to what you were doing after finishing. If it’s not actually urgent, you can say no or put it off till later.Enjoy them
Sometimes, these can be fun distractions, so if they are and you’ve got to manage them, let yourself enjoy them without feeling guilty -- guilt doesn’t help anyone!
One way to practically and efficiently implement these two suggestions is to break time into 15-minute chunks. The Time Hacker Method suggests that it is highly efficient to commit to short, highly focused time chunks, ideally 15-minutes, which is what we suggest when you use Mana to track and understand how you use all your time.
Set a timer for 15 minutes and commit to them being either your intense focus time or relaxing break time. When working, 15 minutes feels less daunting and more realistic than telling yourself you won’t be distracted for one hour. Giving yourself a 15-minute break to enjoy spontaneous time with your family or co-workers is long enough to spend some quality time but also gives you a deadline for when fun is over and you need to get back to work.
Predictable Thoughts
Internal distractions are often harder to notice. But once you realize that you are getting distracted, it’s easier to manage. A common form of this distraction is multitasking. While we might think we are accomplishing more, multitasking is a myth. Goldman says mental chatter is a common cause of multitasking as we try to juggle everything we need to accomplish.
The solution
Focus on one thing at a time, and prioritize what matters (we’ve written a lot on this topic). Often the root cause of this chatter is that we are confused about what to prioritize.
Once you’ve figured out your priorities by asking yourself what truly matters, schedule one thing at one time. One of the best ways to do this is by timeboxing your schedule.
Timeboxing means deciding what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it. Schedule in your entire day by blocking off chunks of time for each important task you need to complete - one at a time. Don’t forget to also schedule in your breaks and “social media” time to give yourself a little rest and some time to recharge to then go on to the next task.
Unexpected Thoughts:
This last kind of distraction is not only the trickiest to notice, it’s also the hardest to manage. These are distractions that don’t actually feel like distractions and are masked by us thinking we’re doing productive work.
Parkinson's law of triviality (also known as bikeshedding) states that when given an important task, we often get hung up on something trivial for a disproportionate amount of time. For example, spending days mulling over what template to use for your next email blast (yet another true story).
The solution
To spot and avoid bikeshedding, Melinda Palmer, suggests that before moving forward with a task, define the specific goal and why it matters. Another way to think about this is through the two opposition concepts: “traction” and “distraction”, pioneered by Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable:
“A distraction is something we do that moves us away from what we really want. The opposite of distraction is traction. Traction is something we do that moves us towards what we really want”.
He explains that the key difference between distraction and traction is intent. So the same activity can be distraction or traction depending on whether it’s aligned with what we intended to do at that moment. Tricky to spot, right?
If you catch a task that feels like it’s taking way too much time or keeps getting half-done and moved to tomorrow’s to-do list, ask yourself two questions:
Will this decision matter five months from now?
If the answer is no, it’s probably more of a distraction than the kind of productive work you want to be doing.Is this problem helping me reach my goal?
If something isn’t moving you closer to your goals, find another solution for it — it’s distracting you from what matters!
Reflect and Refine
Knowing what kind of distraction you’re dealing with is the first and most important step to managing it. Next time you catch yourself getting distracted, ask yourself what kind of distraction it is and use the tools here to cope.
Managing distractions is not something we can learn overnight or from reading one blog post - it takes time and practice, and even the most effective people are constantly refining their methods, so don’t feel discouraged if you’re still getting distracted!
Instead, use each distraction as a mini-lesson to reflect on how you can better manage the distraction next time. Mana is especially helpful for this since I easily have:
Encouragement to set resolutions that align with my most important goals
A quick and comprehensive overview of how I spend my time so I can quickly see
How much I spend working toward goals
Where my other time is going
Space for journal entries on specific activities, so I can reflect on the number of hours I spent on my goals and other activities: I either feel accomplished and know I’m on track, or I know what to change for next week.
Curious to try out Mana? Get started today with a no-obligations free trial!
