May 18, 2022
Have you ever sat down to complete your studies only to find that you have somehow wandered over to YouTube and are now binging some playlist of crazy cat videos? Yeah, me too.
Let’s face it, the Internet can be a very distracting place. Whether you’re taking an online class or simply trying to complete your schoolwork outside of the classroom, all efforts of productivity can fly out the window as soon as a viral video popup on your social media feed.
Although the Internet is an invaluable resource containing more knowledge and information than any other thing to ever exist, it can be a major distraction and hindrance to your classwork
So, you may be asking yourself, what are some ways that I can avoid distractions when doing my classwork online? Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to do. It just takes some determination, self-restraint, and planning.
Reference Books
For this blog, I referenced 3 books. If you are interested, I’d highly encourage you to read them
The 3 books:
1. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
2. Hyperfocus: How to Work Less to Achieve
3. Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do About It
Here are 10 tips to you help you stay focused and avoid distractions when online:
Not planning your week is bad. Planning your week without your priorities in mind is even worse.
It means you are able to handle everything “on your plate” but you won’t actually make progress on your own goals, because you are too busy attending to other people’s priorities. And this is the entire point of planning your week: being able to proactively block time for the things that are most important in your life and business right now.
What are your top 3 goals right now? In business? In life? Which activities, habits, and projects have a high impact on these goals? When will you block
uninterrupted time for these activities, habits, and projects?
For your work, this might be blocking 2 mornings for deep work on your top priority project. In your free time, this might be blocking untouchable time for your workouts in your calendar or making sure your kid’s soccer game is on your radar.
Multi-tasking is a myth. Changing from one task to another not only has a cost in time, but more importantly, it comes at a very high cognitive expense. That is, it makes you less productive because you let your limited focus and mental power drain as you switch from one task to another.
Do one thing, and one thing only. Don’t attempt to write a report while talking to your peers, or code a website while checking the news. It’ll easily take you double the time.
In fact, unless it’s your actual job, don’t surf the web. This has been happening to me a lot — I’m coding something and some random thought crosses my mind, and I just take a minute to check it on the Internet. Or I take a little break and go check the news for five minutes… don’t do it.
We all know what procrastination is. But why is it such a common issue in people trying to meet deadlines and get quality work done? There are some answers regarding this covered by behavioral psychology.
The main component in this self-defeating habit is called time inconsistency. This is where humans value immediate and instant gratification over long-term rewards.
Imagine that you have two selves, a present self, and a future self. In this instance, they are completely different people with different desires that do not overlap. When you make goals, you are making plans for your future self. It is easy to plan for what is best for your future self. You can see what you need in the future and you want that so you plan for it. Researchers have found that envisioning your ideal future reality is quite easy.
However, only your present self can actually do anything. To make goals reality, your present self has to take action. Sadly, your present self wants rewards now. It does not want to wait to see the results in the future. So it wants to avoid having to do work for long-term goals, favoring instead tasks that reward you right now. For example, you want to get a big project done to make money, but you really need a nap. You are going to choose the nap over work because that’s an immediate reward for your present self. Meanwhile, you are hurting your future self by napping instead of working.
Your future self wants goals that pay out at some future date after work performed in the present. The present self wants rewards that pay out now, which in turn often hurt your chances to get your future self its long-term rewards.
The best way to counteract time inconsistency is to move future long-term rewards into the present more effectively. That way, your present self sees the benefit and wants to stick to the long-term program. Waiting for a future reward is often not sufficient to motivate your present self because your present self does not want to wait.
The more you can go on auto-pilot for the mundane tasks (cooking, eating, hygiene, relaxing, choosing what to do next), the more focus you’ll be able to maintain.Something you can use the Internet to search for “morning rituals”, and read a couple of articles to see if one routine makes sense to you. Put it in practice and you’ll see how it pays off after a week or so.
Extra tip: don’t do email first thing in the morning. Your brain is at its best after a coffee and a shower, and you want to save this very valuable state for things that actually require this capacity. With some exceptions, replying to email isn’t the most mentally demanding task, so leave it for later.
One of my favorite takeaways from the “Indistractable” book is to make time for what really matters to you, according to your values. These are the attributes of the person you want to become. So, you should work in that line.
“If the trigger helps us do the thing we planned to do in our schedule, it’s helping us gain traction. If it leads to distraction, then it isn’t serving us”- Nir Eyal
This is the technique proposed in the book to tackle the issue of wasting your time, Having a schedule for your whole day, down to the last minute. I can say it from first-hand experience: It works! It’s amazing, just how well your mind adapts to having certain time constraints. It makes you focus on each one of the tasks you want to get done. I even include my hobbies in this schedule.
I strongly recommend you implement something similar at the beginning of the week (or the month) if you want to keep track of your day. How do you start each week?
Many assume that they can switch between a state of distraction and one of concentration as needed, but as I just argued, this assumption is optimistic: Once you’re wired for distraction, you crave it. Motivated by this reality, this strategy is designed to help you rewire your brain to a configuration better suited to staying on task.
I propose an alternative to the Internet Sabbath. Instead of scheduling the occasional break from distraction so you can focus, you should instead schedule the occasional break from focus to give in to distraction. To make this suggestion more concrete, let’s make the simplifying assumption that Internet use is synonymous with seeking distracting stimuli. (You can, of course, use the Internet in a way that’s focused and deep, but for a distraction addict, this is a difficult task.) Similarly, let’s consider working in the absence of the Internet to be synonymous with more focused work. (You can, of course, find ways to be distracted without a network connection, but these tend to be easier to resist.)
With these rough categorizations established, the strategy works as follows: Schedule in advance when you’ll use the Internet, and then avoid it altogether outside these times. I suggest that you keep a notepad near your computer at work. On this pad, record the next time you’re allowed to use the Internet. Until you arrive at that time, absolutely no network connectivity is allowed—no matter how tempting.
Email, Telephone, Notifications. What was once considered a productive tool has now become one of the leading causes of distractions.
In his book “Deep Work”, Cal Newport suggests ways that will help you regain authority over how such technology accesses your time and attention, and arrest the erosion of autonomy.
Put your phone in silent mode or Do Not Disturb while you’re working. You can go further and just turn push notifications off on your phone altogether. Search: turn push notifications off with your device name and follow the instructions.
You’ll still be able to see messages and activities you’re interested in when you access your apps, but don’t let those disturb you when you work. An even simpler method is to put your phone in airplane mode when you work.
Is your boss, spouse, friend, or colleague worried because you’re not replying right away? Let them know that you’ll reply, but not immediately. You can say something like: “I’m not checking messages while I’m working.” Your boss won’t complain as you will deliver more in less time.
Once you’re done with your tasks for the day, shut down. If you can’t stop thinking about what you’ve done and what you need to do tomorrow, this is normal, but prevent yourself from checking email and browsing work-related stuff. If you work at home, close all work-related applications and lock your work-related tools away until the next day.
Develop a shutdown routine, something that tells your brain you’re done for the day. It can be exercising, listening to music, or having some kind of treat — something you enjoy and that sets a clear divide.
It's simple - the more often we scatter focus to replenish our mental energy, the more energy we have for our most important tasks. As our mental energy steadily depletes throughout the day, so too does our ability to focus. Recharging is critical and worth the time investment.
Research has shown that a refreshing work break should have three characteristics. It should be:- Low-effort and habitual;- Something you actually want to do; and- Something that isn’t a chore (unless you genuinely enjoy doing the chore).
In short, your breaks should involve something that’s pleasurably effortless. Fun, leisurely work breaks provide the same remarkable benefits of the habitual scatter focus mode: your mind will wander to the future as you create the attentional space for more ideas and insights. Fun breaks also energize you for when you do resume working.
Here are a few break activities that have worked for me:
☞ Going on a nature walk
☞ Running outside or visiting the gym at work
☞ Meditating
☞ Reading something fun and not work-related
☞ Listening to music, a podcast, or an audiobook
☞ Spending time with coworkers or friends
☞ Investing time in a creative hobby like painting, woodworking, or photography.
When you choose a break activity you love, you can still experience the benefits of habitual scatter focus while you rest and recharge.
A mindset is a mental attitude. It shapes your actions and your thoughts, as well as how you perceive and respond to events. A common example is whether you see the glass as “half-empty” or “half full". Your mindset can quickly change what you think, feel, and do. The irony of a mindset is that sometimes you don’t know that you’re stuck in one until you step out or adopt a different mindset.
The 4 mindsets: Here are the 4 mindsets that will help you finish what you started:
Mindset 1: It's all worthwhile. If you feel that your hard work will get you somewhere, you belong and are as good as anyone else, and you feel impact toward your overall goals, execution is easier to stick with.
Mindset 2: Become comfortable with discomfort. Everything you want to do will have elements of discomfort unless you just want to watch television all day by yourself. Thus, becoming used to this feeling allows you to tackle what you want without fear.
Mindset 3: Without following through, there is no learning. Only when you finish something can you evaluate yourself and correct your errors. Embody an information-gathering mindset.
Mindset 4: The detrimental power of stress and anxiety can’t be overstated. Even being in a poor mood is dangerous to your productivity and follow-through. Be aware and take proactive measures to modulate your stress levels.
