“There are always distractions, if you allow them” Tony La Russa
We love this quote because it highlights another ever-present and increasing aspect that affects our ability to live a healthier life.
In today’s fast-paced world with various and competing priorities, we often forget or choose not to look after ourselves. This is a flawed and unsustainable approach and causes more pain in the long-term. Typically we bring the wear and tear we feel to our home life, we may seem distracted or distant to those closest to us and it’s not until we stop that we fully realise how exhausted we are.
The good news is that in many cases there are things we can do to minimise this or avoid it happening completely.
One way to reduce the emotional wear and tear we feel and take better care of ourselves is by limiting the demands on our attention. Think of your attention as a bucket of water and every time your attention shifts to a new demand, a small cup of the bucket is taken. If that continues often enough for long enough, you might find that your bucket becomes completely empty. That’s typically about the time that any new demand feels like a mountain and your ability to respond in a measured and considered way goes out the window.
There’s a bunch of factors that might result in your attention shifting however the one we’ll address today is distractions.
Distractions are essentially anything that interrupts your attention or focus from the task at hand, typically of an unconstructive nature. Recent research completed by the Consumer Insights team at Microsoft Canada suggests the typical person has an attention span of 8 seconds and that this is actually reducing. Despite critics of this specific research pointing to its flaws, the general premise that our conscious thought and attention span has more external pressure than ever before is hard to deny.
Some common distractions which add little to no actual value and can be avoided with very little effort include:
1. Phone/application notifications
These notifications are intentionally designed to get your attention and take your focus from your current activity to the origin of the notification. Generally speaking the underlying purpose of this is to increase the amount of time you spend on a device or a particular application. Very rarely are these notifications necessary or important to you.
2. Text messages
Typically very convenient for the person sending the message, these interruptions usually consume our immediate focus yet by their very nature are non-urgent or time sensitive; otherwise you’d be getting a phone call right?
3. Email notification
The number 1 distraction in the office environment I dare you not to check your inbox after seeing that little yellow envelope or alert pop up on your screen. Ironically this will typically take your attention away from the task or activity that you or others decided was your highest priority only moments before.
No surprises for guessing the common theme here and it’s not a coincidence that we feel continually connected to the digital world at the cost of the psychical world we’re in. But by making a few simple changes, you can greatly reduce the constant interruptions you face allowing you to be more present, more focused and more effective on the task in front of you.
So what does this look like in action?
The overarching idea is to find ways to ignore them and go back to them at a time that is convenient and suitable for you. You can do this by putting in structural barriers to minimise their visibility and by being disciplined with how you treat them when they come to your attention.
Action for the week:
- Phone/app notifications can easily be avoided by turning them off completely. If that’s a bridge to far for now, turn only the sound off and put your phone out of arms reach when doing important tasks or activities.
- Text messages can’t as easily be turned off – well unless your phone has aeroplane mode and you want to be completely off the grid – but you can turn off the sound and vibration associated with these. Equally having your phone out of arms reach will make this even more effective.
- Email notifications can be turned off your work computer also. If you’re worried about missing urgent tasks, talk to the people who regularly send you emails and/or anyone else relevant (such as your boss) to set the expectation that in urgent cases they should call or come and speak to you.
There’s no rocket science here. These are all relatively simple to start and maintain if followed with discipline and can make a big difference to the demands on your attention which ultimately affects your mental well-being and the balance you feel in your life.
We’re going to change pace a little next post and talk to another critical way to help your mental well-being and achieve balance through physical activity.
We’d love to hear how you’ve gone with removing distractions from your life, what has or hasn’t worked for you and any other comments or questions you have. Please reach out to us at any of our social media channels.