Dealing with Distractions
Why are we so easily distracted… and what to do about it!
We’ve all been there. Sitting down to do a big important piece of work, or telling ourselves we are going to systematically go through our to do list today and not get distracted…
We sit down. We get up and make a cup of tea. We sit down. We get up to use the bathroom. We sit down. We get up to grab a snack. You get the picture. Does it sound familiar?
What is it that stops us staying focussed? Why is it so hard to stay focussed? Why does doing the washing or cleaning the bathroom suddenly become really appealing when we have a work deadline looming?
If you take magpies for a moment. We all know they’re attracted to bright and shiny objects. Well, we’re a bit like that too. But with dopamine. What do I mean by that? Well dopamine is the feel-good hormone that we get when we do something new, or feel wanted. It’s a chemical messenger in the brain that creates feelings of pleasure and reward which then motivates you to do that thing again.
Think of your phone. When you get a message, or a like, or 20 likes on your preferred social media platform, you get quite a large dopamine hit. According to one of my clients, who is very well versed in the area, the dopamine hit you get from a new message or a ‘like’ coming in, is bigger than when you see your child achieve something for the first time in the early stages of their life. That sounds nuts right? This isn’t a rant about the tech companies use of neuroscience to keep us addicted to our phones, but it does illustrate just why it can be so hard to focus on work, and actually getting through a project, a press release, a white paper, a budget or whatever it might be, if your phone is beeping at you.
When we complete a piece of work we can feel good and relieved, but we feel more pleasure by having interaction with people via social media. And if that’s the case then we’re going to keep doing the social media. Because our brains get more happy hormones that way.
But it’s not all the fault of the tech giants. Even before phones (yes, I’m that old), there were distractions. Even coaches get caught by irrelevant or untimely thoughts. Only today when I was supposed to be editing a course I’m writing, did I go down a rabbit hole to see if it is possible to make puffed rice at home. And that readers is so ridiculous I could not have made it up. Right in the middle of working I remembered that my daughter had wanted to recreate a treat she had had from a shop that had puffed rice in it. So off I dutifully went, right in the middle of my work day, without even pressing save on my document.
The truth is we are all continuously faced with the challenge of choosing between what catches our attention and what we need to be doing first. Our brains work like that because once upon a time a long time ago, our survival mechanism noticed new things first. Noticing new things, like new movements in the forest, or sounds, or unusual behaviours was part of our human instinct to survive. So it’s wired into us.
But that’s not an excuse to spend your day looking at new shoes, or puffed rice recipes. Rather, if you know what’s happening, then you can put the tools in place to deal with it. So, I’d like you to try these two things that I do to help you deal with the distractions:
Before you start the day I’d like you to make two columns.
In the first column write down all the things you would like to get done today in your personal life. It could be anything from cleaning the fridge, to planning the hike you’re going to do or the presents you need to buy.
Then in the second column write down three work things that you need to achieve by the end of the day. Tip, these can be things like, ‘make six pages worth of progress on the Board report’, or ‘read 20 pages of a text book’. They don’t have to be conclusive things, but of course they can be.
Then use a reward system. For every hour you spend on work, or for every task that you do (for a minimum of 60 mins) allow yourself 10 minutes of doing something from the other list. When you’ve completed the three things off your list, then take 30 minutes to do something from your wish list.
The idea of reward for investing is not a new one, but it’s a good one.
Let me know how you get on!