Becoming Un-distracted in a Distracted World !

Solely blaming a smartphone for causing a distraction, is just as flawed as blaming a pedometer for making someone climb too many stairs. Unless we deal with the root causes of our distractions – we will continue to find ways to distract ourselves. Most people don’t want to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that distraction is always an unhealthy escape from reality. Distractions is just another way our brains try to deal with discomfort. If we accept this fact, it makes sense that the only way to handle distraction is by learning to handle dissatisfaction.

What drives us to get dissatisfied? We are wired this way for a simple reason – if satisfaction and pleasure were permanent there might be little incentive to continue seeking further benefits or advances. In other words, feeling content was not good for our human species.

There are causes why we tend to get distracted. Thankfully, there are steps we can take to help ourselves become less distracted !

Boredom, Rumination, Hedonic Adaptation and Negativity Bias are few of the primary factors that drive us towards dissatisfaction/discomfort which in turn triggers or causes us to become distracted. Let’s explore each of these.

1. Boredom – Boredom does not just pop out from nowhere. There are precursors that trigger it. Boredom only occurs when you are psychologically energetic and would like to engage in something but don’t have anything to do.

 A busy environment can stop us from focusing. The less control you have over a situation, the greater the chances of you getting bored. Whereas if you feel you can impact your environment – you will find yourself becoming absorbed in the task at hand. Boredom also functions as a signal that we are under stimulated. It tells us about an underlying need, to find interests and novelty in our lives. 

2. Negativity Bias – Negativity bias refers to our predisposition to focus on , learn from, and use negative information far more than positive information. Even when we experience numerous good events in one day, negativity bias can cause us to focus on the sole bad thing that occurred. This bias is thought to be an adaptive evolutionary function. Thousands of years ago, our ancestors were exposed to immediate environmental threats that we no longer need to worry about, like predators.
3. Rumination – The process of continuously thinking about the same thoughts, which tend to be sad or dark, is called rumination. Each time you find yourself ruminating, make a mental note of the situation you’re in. This includes where you are, what time of day it is, who’s around you (if anyone), and what you’ve been doing that day. Developing ways to avoid or manage these triggers can reduce your rumination.
4. Hedonic Adaptation – this is the tendency to return quickly to baseline level of satisfaction, no matter what happens to us in life. All sorts of life events we think would make us happier actually don’t, or at least, they don’t for long. Studies have shown that our circumstances don’t account for most of our happiness. Each person has a happiness set point, which refers to one’s genetically determined predisposition for happiness. This set point for happiness is responsible for about 50% of the differences in happiness from person to person.

All the above factors in varying degrees contribute to our getting distracted and losing focus. So what can we do to help ourselves ?

STEPS TO HELP US DEAL WITH DISTRACTIONS :

Look for the discomfort that precedes the distractions – focus on the internal trigger. What is a trigger ? A trigger is something that causes an event or a situation to get activated.

1. Write down the trigger – note the time of day, what you were doing, how you felt when you noticed internal trigger that led to distracting behaviour.
2. Look out for liminal moments – these are transitions from one thing to another throughout our day. Ex – have you ever picked up your phone while waiting for a traffic light to change, then found yourself still looking at the phone while driving ? Have you opened up a tab in your web browser, got annoyed by how long its taking to load and opened up another page while you were waiting ? There is nothing wrong with any of these actions per se. but what is dangerous is the fact by doing them for just a second we are likely to do things we later regret – like getting off track for half an hour.
3. Identify your Values – Values are not end goals. They are guidelines for our actions. The trouble is we don’t make time for our values, we unintentionally spend too much time in one area of our life at the expense of others. If we chronically neglect our values we become someone we are not proud of – our life feels out of balance and diminished. Ironically this ugly feeling makes us more likely to seek distractions to escape our dissatisfaction – without – actually solving the problem.

5. NO Multitasking – bring your full attention to one task at a time. We have a network of brain structures related to focus – there’s the default mode network, which is responsible for analyzing the past, forecasting or planning for the future, and reflecting on oneself and others -we’re in this mode at least half of the time! But when you need to focus your mind, you tap into the direct attention network, which allows you to put aside ruminations and stay on task. Distractions, in whatever form they take, pull you back into default mode, and the cognitive cost of regaining your focus is high.
6. MIND WANDERING – Notice when your mind starts to drift. Pay attention to what distractions are particularly hard to avoid, so you can catch them sooner. When you feel a desire to give in to a distraction take a breath and purposely choose not to react to it.
7. POMODORO METHOD – Train your brain to focus – this method asks us to set a timer and you are completely focused on a task for a period of time, 45 minutes without interruption. Then allow yourself a 15 minute break. If 45 minutes is a stretch then start with something more manageable like 25 minutes, then give yourself a 5 minute break. After the break its back to work again.

Take on more challenging work – if you are chronically distracted it maybe that your work is not engaging you fully.

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