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Feeling Busy and Distracted? It's Not Your Fault
Remove distracting apps
The smartphone is the simplest and most effective way to reclaim your time and attention.
In contrast to hacks like disabling notifications, removing apps cuts the distraction where it starts. The app is still available, and we can still use it and check email and read the news, but we can do it on our terms.
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Feeling busy
We live in a distracting world, and it’s not getting any better. We are constantly bombarded with new information.
It's natural to think we need more discipline or willpower to resist the onslaught of distractions. But self-control is a function of circumstances, and willpower is a myth. We need to create an environment for good decisions.
Acceptance of distracting technology
Technology companies work hard to create products that bring convenience and delight. In turn, they benefit when we use these technologies more.
Our willing acceptance of distracting apps and our culture of constant busyness shows how normal these things have become. So, feeling busy and distracted is not your fault. However, you can take up the responsibility to change the defaults of distraction and busyness.
Remove distracting apps
The smartphone is the simplest and most effective way to reclaim your time and attention.
In contrast to hacks like disabling notifications, removing apps cuts the distraction where it starts. The app is still available, and we can still use it and check email and read the news, but we can do it on our terms.
Log out and change passwords
You might find your computer's web browser just as hard to resist.
Create a barrier to distraction. For example:
- Change your passwords for your top distractions.
- Choose random passwords that are impossible to remember.
- Put the passwords in a password manager app.
- Log out of all your websites.
- Remove all bookmarks and shortcuts to these sites.
Proactive with your time
We should think proactively about what we're making time for.
Choose a highlight for your day. Maybe it's an activity that brings you joy, like a long walk or cooking a meal. Perhaps it's an accomplishment at work. Thinking about what you're making time for can create the motivation to set new habits.
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90% of your daily decisions happen automatically, many shaped by your environment. Thus, most decisions are a habit, not a deliberate choice.
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Designing your life
Design your life like a choice architect:
- Encourage smarter decisions you want to do by making them more accessible.
- Add friction to habits you want to quit, making them less accessible, or remove the option to perform them completely.
Richard Thaler
“First, never underestimate the power of inertia. Second, that power can be harnessed.”
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Learn To Use Procrastination
The desire to procrastinate is a healthy brain craving, a natural need for novelty and curiosity. We must stop the negative self-talk we have towards us not working as a machine all the time. The l...
Observe Your Need To Procrastinate
- Observe the need to procrastinate, recognizing and being aware of your desire. This is called meta-recognition and is what all the Gurus keep talking about when they speak about awareness.
- Label and accept your urge to waste your time, but without any negative judgement.
- Validate your urge to procrastinate, increasing your self-esteem.
- Approach procrastination as a friend, not as a threat.
The Real Enemy of Flow
The biggest obstacle, the main villain hampering our productivity is always in your hands, and rarely in your pockets. _It’s your smartphone. It needs to be powered off for some time. Your laptop, clamouring for attention, is not helping either. Remove all distractions and notifications so that you can get in the ‘flow’ mode.
Creating friction between us and the open black hole of the online distractions helps us focus on work.
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Urgent ≠ Important
Time management can be tough. What is urgent in your life and what is important to your life are often very different things:
- going to the gym today isn't urgent, but it is imp...
Eliminate half-work at all costs
Examples of half-work:
- You start writing a report but stop randomly to check your phone for no reason or to open up Facebook or Twitter.
- You try out a new workout routine. Two days later, you read about another “new” fitness program and try a little bit of that. You make little progress in either program and so you start searching for something better.
- Your mind wanders to your email inbox while you're on the phone with someone.
Do the most important thing first
Decisions and choices that you make throughout the day tend to drain your willpower. You're less likely to make a good decision at the end of the day than you are at the beginning.
If you do the most important thing first, then you’ll never have a day when you didn’t get something important done.
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