How to stop distractions once and for all

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The internet is the perfect distraction. Because of him, we have forgotten how to perform complex tasks that require prolonged concentration of attention. The life hacker explains how to recover this skill and deal with distractions.

We've all become more distracted

Many have severe concentration problems and find it difficult to do so-called deep work. This term was introduced by Professor of Georgetown University Cal Newport in his book “Deep Work. Rules for Focused Success in a Dispersed World. Such work implies complete focus on the task at hand. It requires significant mental effort, continuous improvement of our skills, the quality of our work and its results.

It is contrasted with superficial work - performing tasks that almost anyone could handle. It requires minimal training. Superficial work includes checking mail, making plans, and any action that is close to mechanical.

Over the past 10 years, our ability to stay focused on something for a long time has come under an unprecedented attack. Just sitting quietly and thinking, not succumbing to the temptation to be distracted by gadgets, has become an almost impossible task.

Alain de Botton British writer, philosopher and television personality

So which side is this attack mentioned by Botton coming from? Research shows that we have fallen into the trap of internet addiction and created a culture of distraction.

Economic research data confirms this. In the United States, annual worker productivity (a standard measure of productivity in America) has declined from 3% (1945-1970) to 0.5% (2010). Recent indicators of productivity growth have gone into negative territory and amount to -0.4%.

The Internet is the perfect distraction system. We live in a world where you can enjoy all the advantages of the Web, but in the end we cannot resist and not open a bunch of unnecessary tabs that interfere with work.

Social networks and various applications work on the same principle as slot machines. In psychology, this is called probabilistic reinforcement. When you check your social media feed or enter your inbox, you don't know what awaits you there. You may not find anything interesting. Or maybe you'll get a really cool message. It is the randomness of the result that makes us addicted. The companies involved in these technologies are well aware of this principle, and we are practically unarmed before it works.

Yes, distraction has become a real problem, but nobody wants to take it seriously. Or no one simply knows how to deal with this problem.

How to protect yourself from distractions

In everyday life

• Remove all messengers and social media apps from your phone if you feel that you are becoming addicted to them. If necessary, you can go to social networks through a mobile browser, but this is not so convenient, so it will be easier for you to resist the temptation.
• Make the toilet a telephone-free area. It sounds ridiculous, but you will see how much time you can save.
• Don't put your phone next to your bed. Checking your email before getting out of bed? If the phone is not there, then you will stop doing it.
• Do not carry your smartphone in your pocket. Have it in your bag. This makes it harder to get hold of, so you will need to do it much less often.

At work

• When you need to do deep work, mark it to yourself and tell yourself that you need to focus. This will make it easier to stop yourself when you are tempted to open a new unnecessary tab.
• Remove all distracting extensions from your browser.
• Install an extension that will help fight procrastination. For example Timewarp for Google Chrome. It does not block resources (although it can do that if you wish), but sets a timer for the selected sites. With its help, you can find out how much time you spent on any resource. You can also use a more persistent extension like DistractOff. appbox fallback https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mmmhadpnjmokjbmgamifipkjddhlfkhi?hl=ru appbox fallback
• Turn on silent mode on your smartphone and remove it from the desktop.
• Use the full screen mode of the browser or application you need to work.
• Close mail attachments and set a special time to check them.
• While working, listen to classical music or simply unobtrusive compositions.

How to master deep work

There are two more tips to help you do better in deep work.

• Plan ahead of time when you will be doing a certain thing. This way you won't waste time figuring out what to do at the moment.
• The projects you are working on should be interesting. Otherwise, it will be much more difficult for you to keep your attention. Enforcement of this step is more difficult than it might seem. Yes, work does not always captivate you. But you will not be able to constantly force yourself to engage in activities that are not interesting to you. This is already information for thought.

conclusions

We may be more addicted to the internet than we think. Take the first step - admit the problem. It will take time and effort to solve, but you will succeed.

Remember:

• Deep work requires prolonged concentration on complex assignments.
• We are addicted to the internet and its associated distractions.
• You can help yourself by reducing distractions in general and in the workplace in particular.
• Special browser extensions can make the task easier.
• You need to learn how to plan in advance what you will do during your work day.
• All this is much easier to do when you are working on projects that are important and interesting to you.

Analyze what distracts you and say no to those factors.