I don’t know about you but I feel the world is constantly trying to distract me in ways I don’t want.
At work, at home, everywhere!
I think of distraction as noise.
The more of it there is, the noisier it is.
And it’s not helpful or nice noise, it’s noise that interferes with whatever I’m trying to do.
Examples of noise:
- Phone and computer notifications
- Emails I don’t need
- Doom scrolling on our phones
- Myself opting for things that aren’t the best use of time, but make me feel like I’m doing something (like my email inbox)
Most of these things don’t take long, but they disrupt my time and there’s a lot of research showing just how much time we lose after being distracted by a ‘bing’ on our phone.
This means we have less quality time and can end up feeling harassed or fragmented in our day.
What is the opposite? Focus.
Getting things done that help us and feeling good about it!
I think you know that feeling right?
If you’re anything like me you might feel you don’t get enough of that feeling.
So here’s a thought for you this Easter break:
How can you reduce the noise?
As it’s Easter, I’m going to suggest thinking about this in your personal life, and you of course apply this in school.
Where is there distraction that eats away at your quality time?
How can you reduce it?
Simple things you might know (but have you done?) are:
- Turn off notifications that you don’t want – I love this one because it means I control my phone, instead of my phone controlling me.
- Go on an unsubscribe binge – to reduce the amount of emails that appear in your inbox*
- Remove apps that you doom scroll on
- Lists: consolidate them, group them, use an app/don’t use an app for them
What tips do you have? Please do share, I’d love to know.
How can you increase focus?
Block some time out.
You know this one, but do you do it?
At home, why not try giving yourself a block of time for you to do the things you want to do (instead of the things you need to do?).
At work, do you give yourself a block of time to focus on that work you really want to get to, but never seem to have time for (the important not urgent work).
Removing distraction definitely helps.
But we also need to force the focus time.
School breaks are important times to rest and recharge, which means this time is precious.
So here’s a challenge for you:
This Easter break, make time where you can do things for you.
Decide:
- how much time
- when it works for you
- and how you’d like to use it
Practise what I preach
This is what I’ll be doing.
I’m a morning person so I’ll make time then because I naturally wake up too early!. When is the best time for you?
I’m going to spend 10 minutes on my hobby of music, to do some of my Grade 3 music theory, and to practise some of my drum rudiments (it’ll be too early to practise the piano so I’ll need to find 10 minutes later in the day for that).
These are things I want to do with my free time, but struggle to fit in. I feel a bit guilty doing things for me!
The good news is that 15 minutes isn’t long, so this feels very achievable.
And I know I’ll feel good for giving time to something I want to do, but often don’t.
If you’d like to share what you’d like to do, then I’d love to know so email me 🙂