Worried about what being so distracted says about you?
Does it mean there’s something wrong with your brain? That you have ADHD, or some cognitive decline?
I gave a couple of talks recently, one specifically about managing distractions and one about productivity in general. I have a lot of takeaways in my talks, but I think the best received message was this:
Don’t feel bad if you’re distracted. Even if you were never “this way” when you were younger. (Most of the people who say they never used to be distracted are my age or older, which means they, like me, lived an analog life for a while.)
It doesn’t mean you have a bad or broken brain, or that you’re on your way to dementia or that you have ADHD. Being distracted simply means that you live in 21st century America.
But you can take your power back and stop being so distracted – if you want to. Because, just as you need to be a little contrarian to be productive, you’ll need to be intentional about the info you consume if you want to be less distracted.
You don’t need news alerts on your phone (or anywhere else.) Nor do you need social media notifications, unless you work as a social media manager, and maybe not even then! You don’t need social media on your phone. You probably don’t even need to watch the news, and certainly not at all hours. At least not if you want to have a productive day!
Turning off notifications alone will immediately help you be less distracted. And that means all the way off - no visual notifications or auditory ones. No vibrations either.
Think that’s radical? Try this on for size – March 3 is National Day of Unplugging. If it’s a workday for you, you probably can’t unplug all day.
But what if you didn’t check your phone or laptop AT ALL before you went to the office, whether working from home or otherwise? What if you shut off your computer, your phone, your tablet, etc. once you left the office?
If reading that sentence made you panic, then you definitely need to unplug. Imagine what you could do with all the time you free up when you decide not to be a slave to your phone: catch up with friends (best in person, but over the phone is good too).
Play games with your partner/kids/pets. Play solitary games if you prefer. Try out a recipe you’ve wanted to test but never had the time. Do a hobby. Read (something fun counts, it doesn’t have to be business/educational). Watch the sunset. Imagine it - what would you do with all this time?
Give it a shot on March 3. Unplug and find out what you have time for when you put the screens away. Your brain will appreciate it, and you might rediscover how to focus your attention.