The Science of Daily Distractions.
You can’t do big things if you are distracted by small things. - Anonymous
In the days of old, one of the capital punishments used to execute a person is tying each of his/her four limbs to four horses facing different directions. (North, South, East, West)
Once the person’s limbs have been fastened to the four horses, he is left lying at the center.
Four people mount the Horses and ride them all forward ripping the person to shreds.
This might be very graphic for you, but this is exactly the way your focus is being ripped in shreds by the distraction that you face daily.
We live in an age of limitless distractions.
I have lost count of how many times I have opened Instagram to do a quick check on something, and 15 minutes later, I am still on the app giggling at memes or checking out the next conspiracy from the Marvel Universe parody accounts.
Also, Thanos is the greatest Villian in comic book movie history. Quote me anywhere!
Venom still has his moments though.
Working effectively on any given day is hard, given all these distractions.
These distractions are not going away anytime soon. What matters is what you are going to do to snap them away.
The first way to eliminate distractions when working on a laptop, for example, is to keep your phone far away from you (preferably in the next room).
So whether you are taking a course on your laptop, or working, you would be less likely to pick up your phone to check messages.
Switching off all notifications for phone and laptop helps too.
For those who work or learn on their phone, there are some measures that you can put in place to ensure that you are always in the right frame of mind.
The first step is to optimise your followings and also status views.
On Twitter, I only follow people who I learn from or whose tweets challenge me.
I know how many times, I have stomped off Twitter because a tweet triggered me and pushed me back to work.
Sadly for most people, their reaction is to unfollow anyone who challenges them daily.
I know people on Whatsapp who have muted my Status Updates because I Intimidate them every day with my posts.
If a message resonates with you, then you should work on growing instead of shrinking from the work or responsibility.
You won’t grow by running away from challenges. You have to embrace them to grow.
Keeping motivated and high performing people in my network keeps me on my toes at all times and reminds me constantly that I have work to do.
If it angers you, look for the truth in it, if it comforts you, look for the lie in it - Naval
A lot of people are always eager to remain in their comfort zones, anything that challenges the status quo triggers them.
I call such people willing prisoners of circumstances.
You may believe that you have no power to change your present condition, that’s a big lie.
No matter the hand that you have been dealt by life, you still have the power to achieve greatness.
There are people who are worse off than you that have turned out to create a remarkable life for themselves.
You need to rise up and take a stand, banish the distractions that pays the rent for your comfort zone.
You need to move out.
If you read this newsletter and we are yet to connect on WhatsApp, you can message me by clicking the link below, I have a free gift waiting for you.
Thanos? Please!!!
Not that the marvel reference distracted me, but I can name every other villain whose better than Thanks. Dormamu would smoke Thanos like dryfish.
Anyways
Thank you for another bomb newsletter. I freeze all social media apps when times comes. Thank you again.
Brilliant piece. And also to add a distraction is an attraction which sidetracks one from his or her attention. Once we find the source of the distraction we should do well to close it up to avoid it spreading further. I'm motivated🙂