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Introduction
The 21st century is characterised by connectivity. Over the past couple of decades, it’s
become handy to connect with different sources of information and people. We can access
the internet almost anywhere, we can make phone calls and text friends around the globe
easily.
This is how we get distracted so often and find it especially difficult to focus on finishing
what we should do.
If you are a typical American worker, you’ll be distracted every 11 minutes, and it will take
you 25 minutes to actually settle down again to your task. The more complicated your
project, the longer it takes to regain your focus, because your brain has to put in
considerable effort when switching between complex objectives.
But if you’re reading this, you value your time and want to take control of your attention.
In this worksheet, you will discover the distractions around you and what you can do to stop
being pulled over by these distractions and stay focused to get things done.
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Most people blame external distractions when they can’t focus, but from our own
experiences, more than 80% of the time, we distract ourselves internally.
The problem is we don’t even realize we are distracting ourselves and time just passes by.
Internal Distraction
Internal distraction is distraction you have inside your brain. It refers to mental blocks that
hold you back from staying focused.
The most common distraction we encounter is that we have too many options in hand.
Ever think of why it’s so easy to start and finish a movie on a plane? It’s because your
options are limited. You have limited motive options to choose from, have no Wifi (on most
planes), no space to walk around, and not even a fridge for you to open.
A lot of people find it hard to focus at home because you have so many options to choose
from -- you can feed a dog, read a book, watch some tv, cook some food etc.
Your brain prioritizes tasks based on your existing need and satisfaction. In other words, you
prioritize based on your short-term benefit or satisfaction, instead of long-term benefit.
External Distraction
External distraction is a kind of distraction that is pushed to you externally. Examples include
emails and messages notifications, and people coming to you when you’re in the middle of a
task.
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Step 1: Eliminate Your Options
As mentioned in the previous section, your internal distraction is usually overlooked. So how
not to let yourself get distracted by too many options?
For example, if you’re in your room and have the option to turn on the TV, pick up your
phone to play with, or grab the bag of chips on your desk to start snacking, get rid of them.
You can hide the remote control, turn your mobile off, and put the chips in the kitchen or
anywhere that doesn’t take you 2
0 seconds to reach.
Here’s a short exercise for you, before you start working on your next task, identify all the
options that are around you, and think about how you can eliminate them:
Now, try to rate your own ability based on the skills you identified in Step 2, and c
ome up
with concrete actions that you can take to bridge the gap b
etween your current stage of
learning and the targeted one:
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A typical stop sign is time limit. You set a time limit for whatever you do. When you scroll
through facebook, ask yourself to stop in 15 minutes. You can even use a timer to control
yourself.
Now, it’s your turn to create stop signs for your common distractions.
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If you want to stay focused, pick a place where your attention won’t be triggered by any of
these five senses easily.
To do that, you must identify what distracts you most in terms of the five senses:
Senses Triggers
Sound
Touch
Sight
Smell
Taste
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Then, try to brainstorm places where you find the least number of these triggers:
You can try out all these places you’ve listed and evaluate them based on how focused you
can be as you work in these places.
For some, coffee shops are their places to focus because they are comfortable with the
white noise and the smell of coffee keeps them energized; but maybe for you, you find
people moving around distracting.
Therefore, don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of places so as to find the most
suited environment to help you get things done!
No matter what your distractions are, you are in control of your time and what you do with it
and where you spend it, never give that control away to anyone else.
As demonstrated in this guide, staying focused comes down to a solid system to identify
and tackle distractions that you weren’t aware of.
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If you want to learn more effective techniques to boost your focus and increase productivity,
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