Controlling the Sources of Distractions
There are more sources of distractions these days than ever. Back in the day people were only distracted by the phone, fax machine, solitaire, and co-workers. Now, people have to deal with texts, emails, Messenger, social media, news sites, music, movie, and TV streaming, a bunch of apps, and so much more.
So, how you can control the flow of these distractions?
Starve your distractions, feed your focus. – Unknown
For one, you need to be conscious about how much time you spend on your phone and online. Choose what you want to do carefully and focus on the most important information and communications.
Start fresh. Disconnect now.
It also helps to admit to yourself that you can’t consume all the information there is. There’s just too much information, too many people to communicate with, and too many tasks to finish. Once you acknowledge this, you have to choose on what you read and how to communicate and let go of the rest.
You may also want to consider going on an information cleanse by not checking your email, social media, and favorite websites, not watching TV or streaming movies, and ignoring calls/text. Instead, you should spend your time reading books or articles, only going online to do the necessary research and completing courses that will get you closer to goal(s). Doing this cleanse will help you clearly see that you can live without being online all the time.
Limit the time spent on even the online communications that you consider essential. It could be 30 minutes in your inbox, 30 minutes responding to text and DMs, or one hour of streaming. List these priorities down and follow them to the “T” each day, until it becomes a habit.
