Staying Focused In A World Of Distractions

Life in our modern-day society is busy, fast paced, and loud. It is by no means surprising that we frequently get distracted, which means your attention gets pulled away from what you were intending to do. Add the role of being a parent with children interrupting you, and all of the added responsibilities, it is distraction overload. The good news is you do not have to be a victim or slave to these time and energy sucking distractions.

You can stand up tall and proclaim you plan on becoming undistractable. Yes, it is a word. I looked it up. It means you can become incapable of being distracted. You can do this by training yourself and your brain to be less easily distracted.

Hmmm…seem to good to be true? Well, I did not say you would never get distracted again, but you can definitely make yourself far less distractible. How do you do this wonderful magical thing?

Let’s not delay in fear you may get distracted from this awesome blog.

Here are some tips to help you become undistractable:

Declutter and get organized.

A space—this could be your desk, bedroom, office, or entire home—that is clean, organized, and free of clutter helps reduce distraction naturally. Get rid of anything you haven’t used in the past year and that you do not love and find a purposeful place for all the items you want to keep and use.

Create the right environment for staying focused.

Use your senses to think about other details in your space that are either a distraction or help you to stay calm and focused. This could include lighting, colors, smells and noises. If the lighting is too bright, get a light bulb with a warmer glow; or if find the gray walls to feel depressing then paint them a soft yellow.

Create an efficient schedule and routine.

Creating and writing down a schedule and routine for your day and week helps keep you focused. When creating this schedule, create deadlines for yourself and focus on the most challenging tasks first. Need help on organizing your tasks? Check out the Pomodoro Technique.

Make a positive to-do list.

To stay focused, a daily or weekly to-do list is a gentle reminder of what you intended to do. You can add a daily affirmation or encouraging words on your to-do list to support your mental health and well-being. Here is our daily affirmations and our daily schedule template.

Limit interruptions.

Ways to reduce interruptions include turning your phone on silent, get a babysitter for kids, and/or have older kids play quietly in another room with the door closed.

Close out social media apps.

When doing work on your electronic devices you are less likely to be interrupted when apps are closed. You can take it a step further and shut-off any alerts you get from apps as well or simply silence your devices.

Set timers on certain activities that cause you to lose track of time.

Activities to consider setting timers on include social media, reading, online shopping or your hobbies. This simply helps with time management. Setting boundaries and timers on your activities gives you the freedom to do everything you want to do without feeling like you didn’t get done what you wanted to accomplish that day.

Use visualization or guided imagery when you are struggling to start and finish a task.

Visualization is you closing your eyes and picturing yourself starting and completing the task. You can also try picturing a peaceful organized environment or image you have a clear and focused mind.

Use the buddy system when you are struggling to do an activity or make a habit change by yourself.

This means finding a friend who will help or who will make some of these changes with you. This way you can hold each other accountable. (Note: You can also ask your therapist or health and wellness coach to help you too.)

Journal when you have lots of feelings and thoughts weighing you down.

Journaling helps you create a healthy process of letting go of unwanted thoughts and emotions. It also creates awareness around what you are really thinking or feeling. Lastly, journaling creates a space for you to process and really think about what you are wanting to accomplish. (Bonus tip: For every negative thought or feeling write at least three positive ones.)

Give yourself permission.

Sometimes when we deny ourselves something we really want to do it becomes an even bigger distraction. So give yourself permission to do 15 or 30 minutes of whatever hobby or task you want to do before returning to the task at hand. With permission you turn a negative distraction into a positive brain break.

Feel your feelings.

Sometimes our feelings become so big that they distract us in a way that makes doing anything impossible. Pause and feel your feelings for 10 deep breaths before returning to your task at hand.

Be aware of your triggers.

When you are aware of what triggers feelings or spiraling thoughts, you can create a plan to handle them. For example, when my children talk to me while I'm making dinner, I can feel overwhelmed. Therefore, I am going to tell them wait to talk to me when we sit down to eat. This way those feelings and thoughts are less likely to distract you from completing your tasks.

Let go of perfection.

Sometimes we can get stuck in the minor details of a task to the point of making it impossible to complete it in a timely manner. These minor and sometimes insignificant details become a distraction from your schedule and routine. Focus on completing your tasks as best you can within the allotted time.

Break it down.

With bigger projects, break it down into more manageable steps. When you are doing a task for less time, it makes it less likely to get distracted. For example, most parents are more likely to get 30 minutes of interrupted time versus two hours.

Conclusion

These tips (and resources below) are helpful for all parents, but especially for those who have ADHD/ADD, dyslexia, are a highly sensitive person, or are feeling highly dissatisfied with their life. Although I wrote these tips with you, the parent, in mind, you can easily adapt and use them with your children, pre-teens and teenagers too. These tips are really helpful for the whole family in general. Children tend to feed off their parents’ energy, so if you are calmer and more productive, then they’re more likely to be as well.

So, that is it. What are you waiting for? This list won’t do itself. Wait, wait…I forgot the most important thing: Don’t forget to have a little fun on your adventure.

Resources

Books

Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

In Atomic Habits James Clear walks you through how it is often your methods that create the road block to creating new habits and breaking bad ones. He helps you learn tips on overcoming lack of motivation, how to improve your environment for success and overcome obstacles. James Clear aims to help reshape the way you think about your habits and give you tools and strategies that will help you through the process of habit changing.

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport

Author of seven books and a professor at Georgetown University, Cal Newport explains the concept of what deep work is and its benefits. He also gives examples on how deep work is used to create success. Then Cal Newport offers practical ways to achieve deep work in today’s culture.

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Author Charles Duhigg is a New York Times reporter who shares insights and stories about how people and business use the power of habit to create success. Duhigg explores the science behind habits and the what is the difference between those who succeed in making habit changes and those who do not succeed.

The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal Ph.D.

Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University created a course called “The Science of Willpower”. In this book she brings that course to the public giving scientific insight to what willpower is, how it works and why it is important to success. McGonigal offers advice and practical exercises to help people with living healthier lifestyles to becoming better parents.

TedTalks

How to Get Your Brain To Focus with Chris Bailey

In this 16-minute TedTalk, Chris Bailey, author of book Hyperfocused, shares that staying focused is connected to productivity, living a happy and purposeful live and creativity. From the research and his personal journey of learning to focus, he walks you through steps that could change your life.

How to Stop Screwing Yourself Over by Mel Robbins

Mel Robbins has this take charge energy to cut through all the clutter. She is a wife, lawyer and mother. In this 21-minute talk Mel Robbins helps make you realize that if you can just pick something to go after that going after it can be simple - IF you can stop making excuses of why you can’t do it.

Meditations & Visualizations

Get into a meditative state and visualize your path to success with this 10-minute guided meditation.

Having trouble focusing? Try listening to this 10-minute meditation to guide you to better focus.

Need some additional help with meditations and visualizations?

Visit Declutter The Mind or The Mindful Movement and find the right one for you.