Productivity Toxins: Getting Past Distraction

Anybody out there every procrastinate? Raise your hand. No, you don’t need to look around. Yep, just as I thought. Everyone.

We all know about procrastination. What you may not know is that there are procrastination toxins…people and things and situations that turn the possibility of procrastination into certainty. Today we will look at these productivity toxins and how to fix them.

I am a procrastinator. I live in a world where there is always time to do it later. I put off the necessary, and then feel bad about it, so I don’t get to the fun stuff. My interest in productivity is largely due to noticing that if I don’t address procrastination, my life is frittered away. Getting past procrastination is the key for me to get the things I need to do done…so I can move on to the stuff I really want to do.

How Others Affect Our Procrastinating

It’s part of the human condition: we are all prone to putting things off when something else comes along. Our very survival depended on it back in the day. Think about it: if you were out gathering tubers to eat, and a bear came up, it was necessary to put off gathering and deal with the bear situation. Failure to do so would mean death. We are hard-wired to look at the situations around us and be distracted.

Our modern age brings unprecedented opportunities for distraction. We may not be dealing with bears or any other life-and-death situation, but we still have the response. *Ping* ooh, let’s check email/Facebook/Twitter/instant message. “Hey, do you have a second?” person stops by and all of a sudden you have lost you focus.

And once you have lost your focus, you are prone to procrastinate.

Applying Newton’s Laws To Focus and Procrastination

Newton’s first law of motion states, “An object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. An object in motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.”

Think about the distraction as being the unbalanced force. The distraction sends us careening off into another direction, and if we continue on that path, we will never get back to the original.

I’ll bet Newton didn’t think he was addressing productivity issues with his laws. 🙂

How To Spot It

So how do you know when you are facing one of those events that will pull you off task?

The first step to conquer procrastination is to be fully aware of what you are doing.  You have to know what path you are on in order to realize when you have been pulled off.

Once you know what you are doing, you need to be aware of what is your intention for doing.

So to spot the procrastination toxins, look at everything that pulls you away from your intent. The unbalanced forces in Newton’s world.

Let’s say that you sit down to do some writing. You know you are writing, and then next thing you know you are texting a friend. You know you were writing, you know you were texting. And even if you go back to writing, that text was a situational procrastination, pulling you away from your original intent.

Don’t Even Think About Playing The “2 Minute Rule” Card.

“But it took less than 2 minutes, and David Allen says that if a task takes less than 2 minutes, you should do it now.”

To that I say: [male bovine excrement].

The 2 minute rule is not there to get you off task. The 2 minute rule is there to be used within context not to pull you out of your current context.

If you know are sending a batch of texts, and the text will take less than 2 minutes, send it. If you are in the middle of doing something else and you remember you need to send a text, note it down somewhere and get back to your original task. Doing otherwise gets you into brain thrash.

How To Fix It

The best way to avoid being pulled off task by productivity toxins is to avoid the toxin. Don’t let something pull you off task. Here are some specific ways to do this:

Limit Visual Distractions

Limit as much as possible what is in your field of vision. If you are in a computer program, see if the program will go full screen. If you are at a desk, clear everything off but what you are working on. If you are doing yard work, focus on exactly what you are doing, and wear sunglasses if that helps to keep you from looking around.

As I was writing this article, I was distracted by the stuff on my desk. My phone was right next to me, and I stopped to pick it up. Then I moved a notebook to put on top of the phone, and I saw the pens that needed to be put away…and so on. Luckily, this was limited to about a minute, no more.

Limit Availability

If people are your toxins, find a way to limit your availability. Most of us don’t have the luxury of being able to close doors anymore. But a note on the back of the chair, or on the cube wall can let visitors know you are not to be distracted.

I find that wearing headphones and making sure they are visible from the cube entrance helps as well – even if I am not plugged into anything.

Turn Off Notifications

This is a big one for those of us addicted to the little pings and whistles. Turn off your notifications on your cell and computer, or put yourself in do not disturb mode (most smart phones and Windows 10 have this feature built right in)

Yes, it’s a pain, but think about it this way: the makers of the program want to constantly draw you back to that program so they can expose you to ads and other money makers. By reacting to their ploy, you are making money for someone else.

Use A Timer

Timers work if you use them correctly. Set a small amount of time on the timer, and don’t stop working on the task until that timer goes off (make sure to start the timer, though!)

I still favor a freeware timer called Instant Boss, which I have written about before  I actually have it running right now, as I had a terrible bout of procrastination as I was trying to finish this article up.

Use Sticky Notes

Sticky notes work when you are not at a computer. If I have a sticky note in my line of sight, I am constantly reminded of what I am on track to do. If I am making dinner, and I see that the fridge needs to be wiped down, but the sticky note is on my leg, I know I need to wait until I have a natural break in the cooking process in order to take care of the task. Until then, it gets noted on the notepad on the kitchen counter.

Over To You

What are your productivity toxins? And what do you do to minimize how they affect you? Share below, or email me your answer to laura@lauraearnest.com