4 Types of Inner Distraction and How to Eliminate Them
In this article I’m going to talk about something different. How to eliminate inner distractions. In articles that talk about eliminating distractions. The emphasis is usually on eliminating external distractions, such as clutter, our phones, or the people around us who interrupt us.
Inner distractions are those random thoughts and doubts that creep into our minds, or the pain we’re experiencing that’s distracting us from what we’re doing and impacting our productivity. These internal distractions can be just as bad as, or even worse than the external ones.
Self-doubt is the biggest inner distraction.
It keeps you second guessing yourself every step of the way. Self-doubt even has the power to make you quit what you’re doing and never even attempt to reach your goal. Talk about a major distraction. The best way to eliminate this inner distraction, is to boost your self-confidence. Do everything you can to boost your belief in yourself. Review your past successes, break challenging tasks into baby steps so you can see progress, find your very own cheerleader… do everything you can to start boosting your confidence and those self-doubt distractions will start to go away.
Having too much on your mind
Having too much on your mind at any given time is another big source of inner distraction. To eliminate this inner distraction, you need to get organised. As you get decluttered and get organised with the things around you and put calendars, schedules and the likes to good use, that mental clutter will start to diminish. Another great solution is to do a “brain dump”. Get out a notebook and pen, get comfortable, and jot down everything that’s on your mind. Don’t sort it, don’t judge it, just let it all out. You can go back to edit and organize this list of things later and figure out what you need to deal with. Writing it all down is incredibly freeing and will keep those random thoughts from disrupting you in the future. Make the time to do these brain dumps regularly for best results.
Instead of having a constant running mental list of everything you need to or should be doing, you have a physical one in your notebook that can function as a workable task list once you’re sorted through it.
Shiny object syndrome
Being distracted by new ideas, tools, and products is another big problem. Just like the grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence, these “bright shiny objects” seem more fun and want to grab more of your attention than what you’re working on right now. The potential future project seems much more interesting than the one you’re working on right now. If this is an inner distraction you have to deal with, a disciplined approach works best. It isn’t easy, but getting in the habit of finishing what you’ve started before you move on to the next task or project is the best way to resolve this. You may tell yourself that you can multitask, or that the current work can wait, but the truth is that you’re better off and much more productive when you focus on one thing at the time and see it through to the end.
Poor health is an inner distraction
Finally, let’s talk about pain and illness. I don’t have to tell you how distracting a headache, back pain, or a cold can be. Start by treating the symptoms, but more importantly, get yourself healthy. Eat better, get some exercise, go to the doctors, and get those underlying issues taken care off. While you may not be able to escape the occasional cold or stomach flu, there’s a lot you can do to reduce or even eliminate chronic pain and various other health issues. It’s amazing how much more you’ll get done when you’re healthy and well. We often don’t realize how much our poor health is distracting us until we take the time to fix it.
It’s very easy to concentrate on external distractions as they are obvious. Sometimes we have to take a look at ourselves, you may be allowing yourself to be your main distractor.
Till Next Time
Mike Gardner — The Time Doctor
