Our world is changing, and it is becoming more difficult to stay focused on the task at hand. In fact, in an article about how technology has increased distractions, the author states that “the internet has made our brains lazy.” There are many reasons for this – from social media notifications to constant email alerts. But what can you do? The first step is recognizing that you have a problem with distractions and setting boundaries for yourself.
In order to stay focused on the task at hand and set those boundaries, put in place any rules that will help keep distractions away: turn off lights, put headphones on (no music! Just white noise), make sure there is no background noise such as TV playing in another room nearby. You can also take breaks during long periods where you’re working hard by going outside for fresh air or moving around during work time when standing becomes tiring.
We all get distracted it’s totally normal whether we’re accidentally scrolling TikTok for hours or online shopping forever and not buying anything… trust me, I’ve been there, still doin’ that. Here are some little hacks I used to try to consume less of my day with these things and work a little bit better towards some big goals!
Give Yourself a Time Limit
Time seems to literally FLY by when you’re scrolling through any kind of social feed, our brain is just so distracted and stimulated that nothing else matters. Next time you go to have your daily internet entertainment try to be conscious of taking a peak at the time before you get too consumed and give yourself 15 minutes or a half hour. It’s definitely hard to keep track and that’s exactly how they want it to be, we are glued to these apps it’s so crazy. These apps are made to be addicting so if you find yourself wanting to go back into it after 10 minutes of exiting, again, totally normal, but try to overpower those messages and put your brain in it’s place.
TURN OFF Your Notifications
You’re on a roll, you’re finally… and you lost it. It is SO easy for our mind to get distracted and having your phone on next to you, flipped up, with your notifications on might just be the worst thing you can do. You can say all day that it’s not a distraction for you but the reality is there’s something that happens in our brain when we get a notification that just needs to react, needs to look at it and then you are totally off your game and you lost that train of thought. Whats even worse is when you have your sound on… omg. You are literally a human Pavlovian dog, you are “trained” to respond to that bell, it’s just going to happen so turn it off, your friends will be fine, Instagram doesn’t need you all day and it’ll be such a nice break for your overstimulated mind.
Work in 90 Minute Intervals
Next time your boss asks you why you’re taking breaks every 90 minutes tell them this, how could they even argue with you? There’s this thing called an Ultradian Rhythm (I know it sounds made up) and it’s a similar concept to the Circadian Rhythm which is the system that controls your sleep/wake cycle over 24 hours. The Ultradian Rhythm involves smaller intervals of time throughout the day. The Ultradian Cycles consist of 90 minutes of high frequency brain activity followed by 20 minutes of low frequency brain activity. Instead of working 10 hours straight give your little ole’ brain a break, maybe a snack or some water and come back in 20 minutes for some efficient a** work!
Just Write it Down
I know, I know, it feels antiquated and like it doesn’t help but seriously write it down, whatever it is. You want to start posting that content? Write it down, give yourself a timeline. You have goals you want to accomplish? Write them down, write down your why and stare at it. Writing it down helps your brain to absorb information better, keeping it around you and consistently looking at these things is going to force you to remember and help with the whole “out of sight, out of mind” logic.
