Reader Question: How to Limit Time on ‘Good’ Distractions
October 4th, 2006 by Dave Cheong
First of all, let me begin by apologising for not having posted an article for the last couple of weeks. In many ways, that’s a bad thing because there is a backlog of semi-finished articles I have planned to publish which are begging to be finished. In many ways though, that’s a good thing because it means I am busy, being productive and have other things (like a screaming baby) to occupy my time.
Being the perfectionist that I am and still not 100% happy with the quality of the articles I am in the middle of, I thought I should take a break and answer a few questions some readers have asked. I think the questions are relevant to a lot of people and others may benefit from the suggestions, which is a good reason to share. I’ll try to keep the post as anonymous as I can. I hope they don’t mind me sharing.
Hi Dave,
Since childhood I have found myself getting constantly distracted and not being able to focus on the task/activity I am working on. Although I got through more than three decades; through college and having good jobs, I feel if I wasn’t distracted as much as I am I would have fared much better or even excelled. I desperately need to find a solution to this.
One major distraction right now for me is login to the social network I belong to - dedicated to mothers and women. I find a lot of solace and answers to some of the challenges I face and I am addicted. This network/site has been very helpful for me so I can’t see it as a negative thing when I use your strategy but I am trying to limit how many times I access the site but it’s not working. I cannot afford to do that from work. What do you suggest?
Thank you,
Jo
Hi Jo,
Thank you for sharing and I’ll try to help as best as I can.
For me, I find that my time is often scarce and I have to make conscious decisions on how to spend them. Most of the time it is about opportunity costs - that is, what am I giving up by choosing to spend my time doing X instead of Y. The most important thing here is to make decisions consciously. Don’t let things happen without your control - if that happens you only open yourself to disappointments.
In your case with the social networking, I have three advice.
Firstly, whenever you want to indulge in it, make a conscious decision. Ask yourself, is this what you want to do right now? Is there something else you should be doing instead? What are the opportunity costs? If the decision to indulge in the distraction still stands, then ok but you don’t have to feel bad about it, because you have weighed up the benefits/costs and have made the best decision you can at the time.
Secondly, get it out of the way early in the day and/or try to limit the time you spend on it. If it is useful and it sounds like it is, then you don’t have to eliminate it from your life. All you need to do is allocate appropriate times during the day. Perhaps that’s early in the morning for 30mins - 1hr before going to work. Or maybe it is 10 mins between logical units of work (or timeboxes as I call them). Once you know there is a fixed timeslot you can login and look around, you won’t constantly feel as though you are missing out. What this means is that for all other times during the day, you can focus on what you should be doing instead.
The last thing I want to mention here is the Diminishing Distraction technique you are referring to can work from a positive angle. Instead of diminishing the enjoyment you could get in the distraction, try to enhance the experience of what you should be doing. In your case, if you think you could excel at work and achieve greater things if not for the distraction, imagine yourself actually attaining your goals. What does that mean? Maybe you could get a promotion? Maybe you could get a raise in your salary? In turn what does that mean? It could mean more discretionary money for spending on a holiday in Europe! Or buying that car you’ve always dreamed about. Get the idea? Once you put things into perspective, it will become a lot easier to overcome your distraction.
I hope these suggestions help. If you haven’t read my other articles, I suggest taking a look at:
- 18 ways to stay focused at work
- Waking up early and consistently
- Time boxing is an effective getting things done strategy
- How to Overcome Distractions Anytime
If there is anyone out there who has a suggestion on how we can help Jo, feel free to share.
Related Posts
October 5th, 2006 at 1:44 am
This happens to me all the time with reading news sites and blogs on my industry, an hours reading is still not a negative but also not the best use of my time. The way I get around it is to “timebox” as Dave calls it with a big clock counting down to zero.
I tried splitting the day into time segments before, but with little success until I added in the countdown. Maybe its just because im a competitive person - but as well as keeping me on track through the day it also gives me a productivity boost as I compete against the clock, egging me on to get what would take an hour without the clock into a 30 minute period.
There was also a recent article on how Google runs meetings that described the same thing. I think it was in BuisnessWeek if you week if you want to take a read.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:32 am
Dave,
Thanks for your reply and also for your suggestions.
I think some of these problems and anxieties stem from being a parent of a toddler and managing the challenges during the terrible twos stage in a hectic lifestyle. This mother’s network/people gives support & advice on everything under the sun and how to deal with things.
I think lifestyle overall for many has become very stressful and unfortunately there are only 24 hours in a day. Our todolist seems to be just growing and growing and now out-of-control. We’ve tried to optimize things and make the daily routine almost mechanical but there is so much pressure and demands from work, children, spouse, home etc and trying to provide the best. There is only so much a person can do. American work culture (well at least in technology industry that I’m in) is forcing people to produce more. My husband is already is workaholic and I cannot work more than 8 hours and yet manage all the other things. Achieving a work-life balance seems to be increasingly difficult for families. These are some of the reasons for various distractions through the day.
Thanks,
Jo
October 5th, 2006 at 9:31 am
Hi Jacob,
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. Like you I also now have a stop clock which sits on my desk. It rings every 30 mins which serves as a good reminder of the passing of time.
Sometimes I can get enraptured in my work that I don’t notice I’ve overshot on a Time box. Now with this clock, I’m more aware of time and it keeps me focused on what I’m doing and how much time I have left.
I wasn’t aware of Google adopting a similar technique - but it makes a lot of sense!
cheers,
dave
October 5th, 2006 at 10:01 am
Hi Jo,
Thanks for replying. I totally agree that life is more demanding now, and especially more so than what it might have been for our parents. I believe technology has enabled better information flow. As a consequence, these days we just have more stuff/junk to deal with.
I can only advice you of the importance of keeping things real. Focus on the things that matter. Weed out the stuff that don’t.
If you are struggling with the demands of your life, look to ways you can simplify it. I don’t know the specifics of your life but I’m sure there are a bunch of stuff you feel you “have” to do, but in reality don’t. One way to decide for sure is to simply stop doing it for awhile and see if you miss it. If you don’t, then you probably don’t need it in your life.
On the other hand, I’d be interested to see what this social network is all about. I’m curious because my wife and I just had a baby girl and we need all the help we can get.
Do you have a link?
dave
June 19th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Hello to Jo:
There is another way to reduce your compulsion to browse when you are browsing to know and learn. Turn to some very good books and learn all that you ever wanted and know a lot of the stuff. When you do that what you will find in the web is just a lot of people stumbling around in life because they don’t have the knowledge and there will be nothing left to gain from them and you can wean yourself off their forums
The advantage of books over the web is that you can finish books in your spare time and would hardly be able to read while at work