Distraction is Not Your Problem

Turning off notifications on your devices won’t help you get your work done.

Turning off your devices won’t help you get your work done.

Taking a break won’t help you get your work done.

Saying “no” to people won’t help you get your work done.

Reducing interruptions won’t help you get your work done.

Working in a quiet office on your own won’t help you get your work done.

Listening to motivational audiobooks won’t help you get your work done.

Getting a mentor won’t help you get your work done.

Not reading the news won’t help you get your work done.

Working out won’t help you get your work done.

Reducing your sugar intake won’t help you get your work done.

Deadlines won’t help you get your work done.

Distraction is not your problem. To get your work done, you have to actually do the work.

I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.

- Somerset Maugham

When I don’t get work done it is because I didn’t exercise the discipline to do the work. There is no other reason. Almost everything else is an excuse to not do the work.

The issue of distraction is certainly more problematic now that there are more ways of getting distracted, but when I think of the reality, it is simply that measuring productivity is harder for knowledge work than for the work my father or every generation before mine had to do. In those days, unless you were a writer (and Maugham was one of my father’s favourites) or someone involved in a few other creative endeavours, you showed up to work and you ploughed through the work you were paid to do. If you didn’t show up, or if you showed up and didn’t work, you didn’t get paid and you couldn’t feed yourself or your family.

You might think this bitter medicine is directed at you. It is not. Like all advice, this is the counsel I need.

I work alone. That is my choice. I am working on a video game. That is my choice. I am plagued by self-doubt and impostor syndrome, again, thinking this way is my choice, and I’m blessed that at my age, I recognize this dangerous voice of Resistance quickly and move on and do the work. The enormous agency I enjoy is still highly unusual, but it doesn’t change the basic facts. I will only succeed if I work.

I don’t have a boss managing me every day, so it is up to me to be disciplined. If I have some ‘70s TV on in the background, it is likely to interfere in my thinking, because ultimately, it is entertainment, and entertainment is not about discipline, it is about wasting time. So I no longer have ‘70s TV on in the background. But ‘70s TV (and for you it might be music with lyrics or Tweetdeck with its Matrix-like updates in multiple columns) might be distracting, but is not the reason you’re not working, or working much less effectively than you know you can. The reason is that you’re not motivated in the moment to do what you need to do to make good progress. The reason is that you’re not disciplined.

Discipline is a severe word with some baggage, but let me put it another way. Discipline is simply you doing what needs to be done, whether you feel like doing it or not.

And yet, discipline has an upside. If you’re prepared to discipline yourself as a type 1 diabetic not to eat sugar or starchy carbohydrates, you will find it easier to control your blood sugar and you will live longer.

If you are prepared to get up at 5am and go for a swim, even for a few minutes, you will feel better, and your chances of developing heart disease reduce fractionally.

If you are prepared to learn something new every day that taxes your mind, the reward for some cognitive discomfort is excellence in the long run that will make your work seem effortless and the results almost magical.

Distraction is not your problem, Shahid. Discipline is. And this is why I work on my discipline every single day, because if I don’t, distraction will feed me to the wolves, forever braying at my door.