Distractions (workplace)
Common distractions in our workplace and how to override them.
[ dih-strak-shuhn ]
noun
- the act of distracting.
2. the state of being distracted.
3. mental distress or derangement:
That child will drive me to distraction.
4. that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration:
The distractions of the city interfere with my studies.
5. that which amuses, entertains, or diverts; amusement; entertainment:
Fishing is his major distraction.
6. division or disorder caused by dissension; tumult.
I bring you a theme that marks my daily life or it tends to mark, as I am on a process to revert that. I believe it afects you too.
It doesn’t always affect me in the same way, not every day, but it’s still frequent.
The theme of this story is DISTRACTIONS. More specifically, the distractions in our workplace, whether in a more circumscribed office or in a open space or even in your homes, if you work remotely.
In my case, it’s in an office. I often say that I don’t have time for anything, I don’t have time to dedicate to the personal area, whether is to frequent a gym, ride a bike, read a book for a long time, enjoying any other hobby or simply be more conscious of what it means to be present or to be absent within the intimite relationships, for example a marriage.
If you look closely, these types of thoughts consume us too much time and energy, and they are very limiting, because we are constantly believing and reinforcing that we can’t get the time, that we can’t shut down.
But eventually we have to stop, and analyse how it was our day.
Everybody has 24 hours a day!!! Right?
One of the biggest distractions we have today, is the cell phone. And notice that also the cell phone is constantly on our side those 24 hours.
How many of us sleeps with the cell phone right under our pillows, when we wake up, we grab it right away, when we go to the bathroom we take it and while we´re having breakfast, we check the Facebook feed, latest Instagram stories, LinkedIn or WhatsApp notifications?
Not to say that before hitting the bed, or already in bed, we take a quick look to check if all notifications we´re seen and dealt with.
Have you ever received news or read something that left you restless, with rage, with stress or got you feeling frustated?
Have you notice the emotion charge you carry to your sleep?
Most probably when this happens you will keep feeling these emotions for the following day.
The mobile phone for the good and the bad is one of the best tools we have at our disposal, but we have to choose wisely what purpose we will use it.
Let’s think about whether we want to use this tool or the to used.
I don’t know if you have any kind of anxiety, but I have some, and since my mobile phone is from the company, I am constantly looking to see if I have any notifications, whether it´s an email or a plain message. I have a huge difficulty in disconnecting, I believe that I must always be online and available.
The good news is that we can do it, but it´s not that simple.
You can start by askying yourself, why can´t I?
If you want better results, you have to make better questions.
Instead of asking, why can´t I have more personal time?
Try ask yourself, what can I do to have more personal time?
When you start a question with a “why?”, you´re focusing on the past, but if you ask, “what can I do?”, you will focus on the present, which is the time that truly exists.
If you ask the right questions, you change your focus;
With the focus in the right directions, you change the meaning;
If you change the meaning, you change the emotions;
The emotions change your actions;
Your actions genarates new results
You can adopt the following strategies:
- If you want to check the time you spend on the screen (all of them), I recommend you to use RescueTime. I use the free version, but the premium version is available for just $9 each month or $72 annually (avg. $6 month). You can even see in which categories, you spent more time, you many times you lit your phone, among other options;
- Turn off electronic notifications;
- Eliminate social media apps;
- Establish priorities and blocks of time to accomplish each task;
- View your emails 2x or 3x during your work day.
Did you know that we spend about a third of our time responding to emails?
- Take breaks regularly to restore your focus
- Hydrate
- At the end of your work day, and if you have a company phone, disconect
There is nothing in the world that can´t wait until the next day.
After this analysis, start writing your STORY and leave the story with the excuses behind your back.
