Distraction Can Ruin Your Focus And Reduce Your Productivity

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Avatar for Peter-Molnar
3 years ago

This article about distraction is my entry to @JonicaBradley's Writing prompt #17: Distraction

In a noisy world, that we live in, we have to deal with distraction all the time. It can easily lead us to where we do not want to be, or get us into serious trouble. Distraction also can lead to dropping performance in focus and productivity.

You can reduce distraction by limiting your tasks. If you have a limited number of things to pay attention to, there is a higher chance, that you are going to stay on task. You limit the chances of picking up something bad and ditching out on your goals. This is where having a to-do list comes in to play.

You have to make sure, that your to-do list is specific, detailed and a priority. Otherwise, your list is going to be cluttered with unnecessary things and you are only going to end up frustrated.

Never forget, that your brain is going to fill in the blanks. If you have a specific thing, that you need to do, your brain is going to try to make that happen. If you start putting a bunch of random activities on to your list, it is going to throw out the important things and just do the unnecessary ones.

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Dealing With Distractions

There are two types of distractions. The first is the external distraction and the second is the internal distraction.

External distractions are things like texts, calls, meetings or anything that is going to cause your brain to say "Hey, get your attention." These things can be handled. If you ignore them or you can't take them right now, then just circle them off your list and deal with them later.

Internal distractions are things like worries, insecurities, doubts and fears. These are things you need to work on addressing, but they aren't going to go away, because you ignore them or try to push them aside. The only way you are really going to get anything done is if you are fully committed to the task at hand.

Sometimes it is easy to get distracted by the things, that are frustrating. If you find yourself getting upset or angry about something, just take a step back and re-focus yourself.

A very important thing to realize is that you don't have to do everything on your list. In fact, it might be better if you don't. Nobody can do everything, so why should you have to? If you would rather stay in control instead, you could make things happen how you want them to.

Why Distraction Is A Problem?

The main problem that we have with distraction is that it takes focus away from what is really important. The people, who are always the most distracted, tend to have the least amount of accomplishments.

People who work on their phones have a lower amount of productivity, than people who don't. People who drink and do drugs, tend to have poor work ethics. Those type of people tend to have a lot of distractions and tend not to achieve much in life.

When you start to lose focus and get distracted, you start to make poor decisions and choices. This can lead to you doing things, that aren't going to help you reach your goals. You can't step into the future if you are stuck in the past.

This is why you need to stay focused and not lose sight of your goals. To help you with this, you are going to create a new routine, that is going to keep you focused and prevent you from being distracted.

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Preventing Distraction

When you are about to start a task, that is going to take up a lot of time, it is best to do it when you are most comfortable. This may be in the middle of the night, if that is when you are most awake or before you go to sleep, if that is when you are most relaxed.

The times when you are least focused on the outside world tend to be the best times to get things done. This allows your brain to process things more efficiently and find solutions to problems at a faster rate.

When you are going to do something, that is going to take a long time, it is best to do it in segments. This allows you to take breaks, if you need to and still make progress on your task.

The hardest part about all this is that you are going to have to take the long view of things sometimes. Goals that seem so close and within reach can quickly slip away if you take the short term view of things.

You need to be flexible about most things, but your goals are not one of them. They are set and you are not going to deviate from them just to please others.

With that being said, going to extremes of not being flexible isn't going to help you either. Being too stubborn and set in your ways is only going to hurt you in the long run.

Staying focused is going to be one of the few things, that is going to help you survive the coming chaos.

Increasing Productivity

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Now that you have a better idea of how to prevent yourself from being distracted, its time to work on increasing your productivity.

The best way you are going to be able to increase productivity is by taking advantage of the times, when you are most awake. During school and work hours, this is going to be during the day. At night, you are going to have more flexibility to do things.

The time, that you are going to spend doing this is going to be whatever time is left after you take care of all your other responsibilities. The less time, that you are going to be spending on other things, the more time you are going to have to do this.

When you first start out, this is probably going to be a small change. Over time though, you are going to find yourself being more productive and able to accomplish more.

In fact, you might be a little surprised at how well some of your ideas pan out. There are probably a lot of things, that you never would have tried before, that you should have. Now is the time to take advantage of that and all the free time you have.

Remember to stay focused. If you start getting distracted by silly things, you are not going to enjoy this period of freedom and you are going to be miserable. Stay focused and everything is going to work out.

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3 years ago

Comments

The cell phone is a means specifically designed to keep you distracted. Put it aside for a while, you will look at life differently.

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3 years ago

That's absolutely true. We think we are free, but mobile phone keeps us head and eyes down and keeps us away from the world and happenings around us. Imagine how much we are missing out just by looking at our phone. It is absolutely a must to put it down and go out.

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3 years ago

I tell you that I just got up and the first thing I do is pick up my mobile and start checking social networks and read in this case. :) definitely something is wrong.

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3 years ago

I know but the answer is for this is, because when you have pleasure you have dopamine in your brain. That's what we are looking for on social media. Looking for likes, comments, in this case rewards and all that give us pleasure. That's why we are so addictive to social media. The first thing you want in the morning is to find out what happened over night. Did you get answers, likes and rewards. Blame the dopamine.

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3 years ago

1000000% agree with you. Exactly what happens. Right now I look at the notifications every two seconds waiting for rusty to appear. She has abandoned me for several days and I have no idea why. If I told you that I feel good she would lie to you. I hope she did not put me on her blacklist, I have worked the articles as well as possible and followed the rules to my understanding, but nothing, it does not appear :(

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3 years ago

Rusty is very random. It will come back to you don't worry. You are not the only one.

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3 years ago

Like the john lennon song Imagine "I'm not the only one." Hopefully so. Thanks for the support. Good day.

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3 years ago

Welcome. I listened to that song a few days ago.

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3 years ago

I am the type of person who easily gets distracted by my surroundings and emotions. That's why, I really need to put goals, so thay I'll be reminded to kee going despite of the distractions. This article helps a lot.

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3 years ago

I agree. Without a goal you will not be motivated. If you have a goal and put the action in it too, then even if you are distracted it is easier to get back on track, because there is something keeps pushing you to achieve that goal.

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3 years ago

I have so many things to do that I always get distracted by anything. While I take advantage of the few minutes of a good wi fi signal then they come looking for me to see a client who wants plants. Or someone who asks for me and wants to say hello. or the cats are fighting. or. or. or. or so many distractions. So I have to get the best out of myself quickly or else I lose valuable time.

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3 years ago

It happens to me as well. For example I pick my time to write my articles in the evening, when my child is in bed and it nobody can distract me. Otherwise I would never finish my articles.

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3 years ago

lol, we can work miracles when we set our minds to it.

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3 years ago

yep. sometimes its hard to stay focused especially when your gadgets is besides you... though sometimes.. distractions helps us too..

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3 years ago

Yes as you can see it helps ARTicLEE to relax.

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3 years ago

I have to admit I let myself be distracted from work. I welcome distractions for that will help me relax, take away my mind from work especially if it gets stressful and when I go back to doing my tasks, I am more focused.

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3 years ago

Then distraction for you takes a positive effect on you. That's good.

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3 years ago

I sometimes feels distracted and that almost lead me to not doing anything, like writing article. Good thing I know a ways how to manage it. It's just actually my thoughts that making me distracted and by listening to some good music, walking outside our house and watching movies my peace of mind will take over again and that's how I mend myself for being distracted.

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3 years ago

Yes if you feel your head is full of thoughts just take a break like you do.

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3 years ago

I admit that technology made our life more convenient but it was also one of the rampant distraction to all of us especially using social medias. So we really need to control ourselves not to be distracted that much.

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3 years ago

Oh yes that is modern digital distraction. I can get lost very easily in all the social media platforms.

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3 years ago

I got distracted easily but I see to it I get back to my work or chore. I am a mom so the kid comes first, a cute distraction :)

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3 years ago

I am s dad with a little one here and I agree. They come first.

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3 years ago

There are too many distractions online. Even noise and readcash haha..especially if you have a full time job.

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3 years ago

It is hard to stay focused when you have noise and readcash. Haha.

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3 years ago

Distractions are the main enemy of a writer. Arghhhh

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3 years ago

I experienced that too. Haha.

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3 years ago

Distraction affects person productivity. This is one of the big challenge on how we can remain focus on what we're doing to achieve our goal.

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3 years ago

I just say what I said to Ellechim. If we have fewer tasks it is easier to deal with distraction.

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3 years ago

Which i would like to agree as well.. That's true

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3 years ago

Distraction and productivity really crash against each other. Now, because of this, I am doing what should be done as early as possible. I won't let distractions get me.

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3 years ago

Yes that can definitely help to get things done. The more task we have later on the day the harder to handle.

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3 years ago

Distraction really put ourselves into unproductivity with these lot of distractions. Yayy so hard to handle. Haha. Specially those that are addicting. But yeah we must stay focused to reach our goals and our optimal productivity within a certain period of time.

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3 years ago

I find it hard sometimes to handle distractions. So many things around us, but when I do something serious I have to be focused.

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3 years ago