What Your Daily Routine is Missing
[Author’s note: This post is a chapter of my forthcoming book
RESET: Building Purpose in the Age of Digital Distraction]
Chapter Thirteen — Dodge
How can I avoid all the distractions of the digital world?
“There are always distractions, if you allow them.”
Tony La Russa, American Baseball Player and Manager
Simple changes have a big impact on your life. Launching your day is a fantastic first step, but it’s just that: a first step. Momentum by itself will not take you all the way to your goals. You cannot build a successful daily routine without another critical ingredient: freedom from distraction.
Choking is the enemy of purpose. That means we must be able to dodge the distractions being flung at us. To dodge effectively, we must take control of the devices that connect us to the digital world.
We’ve already discussed the first example of this in the last chapter: move your phone away from your bed. That simple change helps you avoid distractions when you’re going to sleep and waking up.
I’m not saying you should get rid of your phone, tablet, or laptop. That’s not practical. We can’t just unplug. All these new connected devices and products are great when we use them purposefully.
Instead of trying to cut ourselves off from the internet, we can focus on carving out specific times during the day where we remove ourselves temporarily from all the background noise. All we need is a some time to ourselves, the tiniest island of tranquility in a sea of endless content.
Air Travel
I actually practice using my iPhone in a productive way. All it takes is three steps that I can do in about ten seconds. I hold my phone lightly in my hand and slide the little lever on the side so that it’s on the vibrate setting. Then I swipe up from the bottom of the screen so I can see the shortcut menu. Then I tap the button to turn on airplane mode. That ensures I won’t get any incoming cell signal or a wireless network. In other words, I’m unplugged from the digital world.
With airplane mode on, I press the timer button, which is also on the shortcut menu. I have some timers preset: 15, 30, and 45 minutes. I choose whichever one makes the most sense based on the time of day and task I’m about to do. Then I turn the phone face down — that’s a good habit to be in — and gently place it on the table. After that, I crank though the most important task from my to-do list. If I need to work on my laptop, I also turn off the Wi-Fi so I don’t get distracted there, either.
If I finish early — and I almost always do without distractions — I may move on to another task, or turn back on my phone. And sometimes I just sit quietly and enjoy a little peace.
I engage in this weird little ritual from start to finish as often as I can, ideally two or three times a day. It’s a tangible reminder that I am in control of my exposure to the digital world.
The inspiration to do this came from stories about how stressed-out people sometimes have a hard time dialing 9–1–1 because they are so shaky from adrenaline and cortisol. Some vigilant folks — mostly first responders like firemen or police — train their families to dial 9–1–1 so they don’t freak out in an emergency. It sounds ridiculous until you end up in a situation like that and realize how much of your reactions in the moment are conditioned by nothing but instinct.
My phone ritual is one of the only consistent ways I’ve found to dodge the distractions of the digital world. By practicing this pre-determined sequence of actions, I am counteracting the bad habits that I’ve form with all the screens around me.
How many times a day do you pull out your phone and check your email or social media for no reason? It’s a terrible habit! So we need to find ways to neutralize it.
Screen Addicts
Phones, watches, laptops, and all the other fancy devices will be always be there. Beckoning us. Teasing us. Taunting us with an never ending supply of mindless entertainment.
You and I will turn to that screen almost every time. We can’t help it — we’re addicted. And like an addict, we trick ourselves with the same tired arguments. What’s the harm in a quick peek at Facebook or scrolling through a few emails? After all, it will only be for a second and then I’ll get back to work.
Except that you won’t. None of us do. One of two things will happen: you will get lost in the digital world and never come back to your original task; or you will return to complete the task with an drastic increase in the overall stress, frustration, and effort required. Neither of those options appeal to me. So I practice staying disconnecting from the digital world for at least 15 minutes at a time.
Another compelling reason to dodge distractions in this systematic way is willpower. Specifically, the effect of temptations on our willpower each day. Studies have conclusively shown that we only have so much self-control. Every difficult decision we make saps our energy, in a phenomenon referred to as ego depletion.
That’s why you may not want to keep cookies at your desk. It’s certainly why I don’t keep jars of peanut butter around my house! I would constantly be actively resisting temptation, which would leave me less energy to tackle the next issue.
That’s why we shouldn’t keep our phone near our bed, or in our hand. Resisting temptations drain us each time we are forced to do it. So our goal is clear. We should try to avoid the temptation entirely. That lets us keep our willpower in reserve for those unavoidable moments when we need it the most.
Life’s Friction
Compare our battle with distraction to basic concepts in physics. An object — or a person — in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. We are generating momentum by launching, which takes a lot of energy. That should let us speed through the day, right? Except we are acted upon by an outside force: distractions.
Distractions act like friction, slowing down the object — in this case, your momentum toward your goals. If there is too much friction, soon there won’t be any momentum at all. A productive life must make every attempt to minimize the friction so we can get as far we possible.
A distracted life merely embraces the friction, accepting defeat. Mostly because there never was a destination worth going to, or people who cared when you arrived.
Reducing friction means dodging distractions. You should be acting like Neo during that epic rooftop scene in The Matrix. You’re avoiding every possible distraction “being fired” at you. All the notifications, the calendar invites, the calls, the emails, and the messages. Every buzzing, flashing distraction is another bullet heading at you. And you’re avoiding as many of them as possible.
Once the first distraction hits you, you start to lose speed. As your momentum slows, more distractions find their mark. The cycle repeats itself and before you know it, you’ve stalled. It’s over. You’re not going to accomplish anything fulfilling or creative for the rest of the day. Try again tomorrow.
All of us experience this feeling. What happens when you wake up and immediately check your phone? Suddenly you are swamped with other people’s priorities. Their issues, concerns, problems, goals, needs, and desires. It’s all about them and what they want, while your goals get shoved to the bottom of the pile.
Bottom line: distractions are bad. Hopefully you get it by now. So how to dodge them? We already talked about one specific example — putting your phone on airplane mode for a short period of time — but I want to explain the principles behind it, and why it works. Then you can get creative with your own day!
Let’s explore three simple but powerful techniques: minimize screen time; minimize distractions; and recharge yourself throughout the day.
Minimize Screen Time
It’s hard to stay away once you check your phone. After that you feel compelled to go back again and again. Now you are expecting replies, likes, comments, and so on. We all identify with that burning desire to dive back into the digital world and bathe in all those fake interactions. Remember: it was designed that way!
That’s why you need to plug in your phone near the front door, not next to your bed. Avoid plugging into the digital world for as long as possible. Yes, you can always lie to yourself and can say that this behavior is actually accomplishing something. But deep down, you know it isn’t.
Last chapter we focused on phones. Now we are talking about much more. We are talking about all connected devices, anything that plugs you into the internet. Most of us plug into the digital world even when it’s not the most appropriate tool for the job.
As the saying goes, to a guy with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. And so we use our watches, tablets, phones, and laptops all the time without asking whether we it even makes sense to start that way.
Let’s say you are starting a new work project. Stay away from the computer!
Why? Because the first ideas out of your head usually aren’t very good, but those become the foundation for the project if you jump right into the digital based on your initial searches. You anchor to your first few sloppy thoughts.
Remember the MVP concept? The first thing you come up with is a guess, not the correct answer. Don’t fall in love with the first version of your idea. Instead try starting with a piece of paper and pencil or a whiteboard and start sketching out some of your basic ideas.
Sketching is a fundamentally different experience than searching online. You know these ideas will change. When you have questions about something, you jot them down in the margin or make a note nearby. That becomes something you can investigate online once you have finished this first sketch.
All of the sudden you are using the digital world to answer a question, rather than mindlessly stumbling through a maze of distractions.
Another scenario is taking notes during a meeting. Everyone does this on a computer, which is a huge mistake for three reasons. First, it’s annoying to have to listen to the tap-tap-tap of everyone’s keyboards. Second, it’s easier to type than write, so you tend to write down a lot of the irrelevant stuff. Instead of writing down wisdom, we vomit a bunch of disconnected data into a Word doc. Third, using your computer during a meeting usually means you are also online, so you’re not fully engaged in the meeting.
Close your laptop. Put down your phone. Take notes on a piece of paper. Why? Because you won’t be distracted, you will be more careful about what you write down, and you now have the option making sketches or diagrams to reinforce the words. Not everything fits nicely into sentence form.
You may feel a little old school at first, but soon the benefits will convince you.
A hidden benefit is that you get to revisit your notes and then type up the stuff that’s important in retrospect. This reinforces the key ideas in your mind, helping you sort through all the noise that’s coming at you. Your boss and colleagues will all be impressed with the increased quality of your thinking and communication.
Minimize Distractions
You cannot get around the need for a computer for most of life. They are amazing tools and it would be counterproductive to avoid them. Fortunately for us, a lot of people share this problem of staying focused in the digital world. There are a host of solutions out there for any specific problem.
Take a minute and see if you can remember an environment where you consistently started choking in the last few days. Is it in the car before you drive? While sitting on the toilet in the bathroom? Or maybe while you’re walking to work?
Once you know the distraction you want to remove, Google can quickly direct you to the appropriate resources to solve the problem. It may be in the form of a great blog, online course, podcast, or some other amazing content by a world-class expert on the topic.
That’s one of the incredible benefits of the digital world: someone has figured it out and is willing to be your teacher. You just need to stay focused long enough to consume, digest, and apply that information in your life.
Technology changes quickly, and so does the nature of digital distraction. I will not suggest specific programs, tools, or extensions in this book because they will already be outdated. If you are interested in learning more about the best options for your particular needs, go to my collection on the website Product Hunt. I will maintain an updated list there, and remember that you can always find options on your own.
Remember that accessing information is not the problem. Taking meaningful action is the problem. The point is that you can customize your experience in the digital world using tools that others have built for that exact purpose.
Recharge Yourself
Dodging is all about maintaining the momentum from your launch. You will be bearing down on your daily goals, fired up to have an impact. This type of purposeful life can be exhausting, just like any other activity that demands a lot of your body and mind.
You will become more susceptible to distractions as your energy levels decline throughout the day. Fortunately there are options to help you restock your energy levels.
The most practical way to quickly recharge is a mindfulness practice, which encompasses a variety of activities, including meditation and prayer. Dr. Emma Seppälä is at the forefront of this research and practice. She does a lot of work with veterans who return from war with Post-Traumatic Stress and other mental conditions, which is how I became aware of her.
Dr. Seppälä’s research builds on a huge body of existing medical evidence that confirms a some important benefits about meditation: increased positive emotions; increased life satisfaction; increased memory; boosted social connection; increased resiliency; decreased anxiety; and decreased rates of depression.
For our purposes, focus on the benefit of increased resiliency. That’s why you should develop a mindfulness practice. We must be able to repair ourselves quickly. If we can’t stay refreshed, we won’t maintain the mindset and daily habits that propels us to a purposeful life.
Does mindfulness mean lighting candles and playing soft instrumental music while you sit on a big pillow? No! It can be something as simple as closing your eyes and taking ten deep breaths, counting out five seconds while you inhale and five seconds as you exhale. Or it could be walking around the block without your phone and quietly observing the world around you. You will be surprised how rested you can feel after a few minutes unplugged.
Like many people, I was a skeptic about this stuff at first. But I decided to give it a shot. I went all out to see if I noticed a serious difference. I spent ten days at a silent meditation retreat in the backwoods of Northern California. That completely changed my mind. I slept, ate, and felt better during those ten days than any other time in my adult life.
But you don’t need a ten day retreat. The most practical advice about mindfulness comes from marketing guru Seth Godin during an interview with internet celebrity Tim Ferriss. He describes the foundation of any practice, showing you how easy it can be:
“I’ll just sit, and I’ll close my eyes, and I’ll breathe. And when I’ve had enough of that, I’ll go back to what I was doing.”
Simple enough, right?
When you need to be connected, be connected. But remember to carve out time and space for you and all the things you care about. This is especially important at the beginning and end of every day. And don’t forget to occasionally take a break to replenish your energy and enthusiasm.
Be aware. Come at each day strong from the beginning and preserve your momentum as much as possible. Launch and dodge!
What to remember about “Dodge”
- Dodging lets us keep up that momentum from a good launch
- Reduce your screen time by staying away from your computers
- Reduce the likelihood that you will be distracted during screen time
- Periodically stop and recharge yourself throughout the day
Actions that require under 10 minutes
- Write yourself an email with the subject line “My Environment” and choose one distraction to remove from your life, when you’re going to remove it, and what the penalty will be if you fail to follow through.
- When you are beginning your next work session, organize your workspace and place your to-do list in front of you so it’s easily visible. Place your phone on vibrate or, better yet, in airplane mode. Turn down your computer’s volume, too.
Actions that require under 30 minutes
- Choose an environment where you are often distracted. Identify a new place where you can move instead, or commit to specific ways you can reshape that environment to make it less distracting (keeping your phone on vibrate or wearing headphones, for example).
- Make a list of activities that you always do on a computer. Identify a way to accomplish that task without relying on a computer, at least for the initial phases of the activity. Schedule a time to try this new computer-less activity in the next few days.
