How to Set Up Distractions for Your Distractions
Distractions are everywhere…
At home…on the commute…work…the garden…favorite quiet area…
Everyone has to deal with some level of distraction on a daily basis. And though each distraction may defer by degree and annoyance, one thing is certain — they can throw you off of your productivity flow and obliterate your time management process.
A distraction is defined as a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.
That thing can be social media, a smart watch, hunger, boredom, trinkets…whatever exists in proximity to you during a period or desire for procrastination or brain fatigue will serve as a distraction.
Similar to multitasking, interruptions or distractions have an impact on your cognitive capacity. These “countless time fragments produce stress, increases errors and lowers productivity.” (Source)
The challenge with common techniques to limit distraction and reengage time management strategy is that no one wants to accept the fact that distractibility is in our nature. With an average human attention span of eight seconds, distractions are an inevitable part of life.
Even as I wrote this article, I was distracted about 20 times with needing to drink water, grab a snack, quell my kids yelling at their anime show, thinking about the holidays, and a lot of other things that I don’t even remember. That is why diehard creatives and innovators try to find a space of solitude and limited distraction to direct all of their attention to the task at hand.
✓Writers will go in residence.
✓Inventors will connect with an incubation hub.
✓Mothers of young children will lock themselves in the bathroom…lol!
Before you can begin to partake in any strategy to limit distractions, you have to accept the fact that distractibility is real.
If you are a human being, you are distractable.
Start by setting yourself up to be distracted from the distractions.
A practice I’ve incorporated to set myself up to be distracted from the distraction of checking social media is to move all of the icons to the very last screen on my phone. When I pick up my phone for a text or call, the notifications aren’t staring me in the face. I don’t think about checking replies and likes because there is nothing reminding to do so. It has done wonders for my productivity during peak performance hours.
I went from checking my phone and media every 15–20 minutes per day to checking media 2–3 times per day on Fridays and Saturdays only.
Admitting to distractibility is only the first step. You’ve also got to learn to focus.
Seven years ago, I committed to writing a novel. As a diehard Toni Morrison fan, I have a penchant for historical fiction, which requires a lot of time for research and writing. Anyone who has written for long periods knows that there is an art to crafting your time for true productivity. It’s a nice mix of inspiration, consistency, and talent.
Knowing that it would be difficult for me find focus during the day, I created a space of solitude surrounded by my research books and books by authors that I liked. Whenever I would look up to be distracted, I’d see the books and be reminded to keep going. I set timers when I needed to take real breaks for water or food and scheduled a time for when writing was done for the day.
That process helped me to produce 80,000 words of a novel (that is near complete).
The secret: recognize my shortcomings with distractibility and incorporate strategies for deep focus.
Deep focus is an art, not a science.
It is not about creating the bandwidth and stamina to do more in a compressed period of time. It is about creating a space of opportunity for your brain to disengage and expand beyond its perfunctory capacity.
Focus also provides clarity. It lifts the fog of useless productivity (the trap) to create a clearing for deliberate productivity. It’s always great to have time to be a visionary and craft thoughts and ideas that can facilitate targeted productivity.
In my recently launched time management checklist, I talk about the importance of focus and control. Focus is about control of your thoughts and actions.
Proper focusing is a skill that can be learned and developed.
The key to good time management skills is to manage what you control. It’s not time, but it can be your focus.
Let others know your intentions
If you don’t communicate, how do you expect others to know what you need? In the work environment, this process has its own challenges. Try incorporating asynchronous communication where messages are sent without the expectation of a quick response. You can also batch communications throughout the day to avoid the “slow drip” of constant messaging.
Block daily time
This is my go-to strategy, and I customize it to my timelines. As a 9 to 5er and entrepreneur, this is a must-do. Without blocking out periods for focus and stillness, my job time can infiltrate my business time, leaving no time for me to transition. This is also a great way to incorporate my 4% strategy to time management, which dedicates one-hour (4%) of your day to you. Take the whole hour, two half hours, four quarter hours, or any breakdown that works for you to build in that focus time.
Frontload important tasks
Frontloading (aka eat the frog) is all about prioritization. How long is your to do list each day? If you’re anything like me, it can easily be 10–20 items that you hope to knock out in one day — but that never happens! By frontloading, you have the opportunity to choose and focus on the top three tasks on the list.
Schedule downtime
Last but certainly not least, be intentional about your rest or downtime. This is a great time to do nothing but focus and think — or not. More importantly, it is about ensuring that your mind and body get the recovery time that maximizes your engagement and productivity time when you are on.
To learn more about reimagining your time management strategy, get your free checklist, or visit www.hanifabarnes.com.
