Workplace distractions are all around us and eliminating as many as possible ahead of time is essential. Photo: hubgets.com.
Chris Bailey suggests a useful tactic that can be used to train the mind to avoid the countless distractions that can destroy productivity on a typical working day.
What did you spend the past 40 minutes doing, before you read these words?
We often work on autopilot throughout the day, responding to what comes our way. As a result, we get caught up in responding to what’s latest and loudest instead of working intentionally.
This is not a productive way to work. The more intentional we become, the more productive we become.
Most of us know this, yet we often fall into cycles of automaticity. The following are some of the distractions that prevent us from working intentionally.
First there is email (especially for those of us who pursue the quest to have zero messages in our inbox).
Related to this is social media, where we mindlessly scroll through updates. Then there is YouTube or Reddit, where we consume and react to whatever the algorithm feeds us.
News websites draw us in to what is happening around the world, which may be very important, but are nevertheless a distraction from the work at hand.
Sometimes we even pay attention to things like these to procrastinate on difficult but important tasks.
Once you look out for reactivity cycles in your day, you begin to see them everywhere.
Distractions are all around us and eliminating as many as possible ahead of time is essential.
One tactic I have tried is to set a chime on my phone that goes off every hour or two. When it goes off, I reflect: What did I spend the past hour or two doing?
Was it a productive use of my time, attention, and energy if I’m at work? If at home, was the time meaningful and fruitful? Or, if I was simply vegging out, was it enjoyable and restful?
A lot of noise surrounds us these days. It’s never been more critical that we reflect on how we spend our time and whether we spend it on autopilot rather than deliberately.
Reflecting just occasionally on what you did during the previous 40 minutes is a great place to start when weeding out distractions, becoming more productive, and spending less time procrastinating.
Chris Bailey has written hundreds of articles on the subject of productivity, and is the author of three books: Hyperfocus, The Productivity Project, and his latest, How to Calm Your Mind. He can be contacted at https://alifeofproductivity.com/author/chris/. This article first appeared on Chris’s website.
