How to overcome distractions
Why guarding your attention is so important
Guard your attention if you want to get more done and achieve success.
The role your attention plays in success is simple. But if you want this habit hack to put you above the rest, then read further to understand how attention is so crucial to the subconscious.
In this article you’ll learn about three things:
-The importance of removing distractions
-Why willpower is not enough
-The role of attention and the subconscious.
Remove distractions
Remove distractions in order to get things done. Distractions can mean pointless things like surfing the internet or meaningful tasks that are important but aren’t relevant to what you’re doing now (like checking email when you need to be working on your budget).
Focus on one thing at a time. You have lots to do every day. When you focus on one task at a time, your brain is more efficient and you’ll move through all you want to get done more quickly. This is better than tackling everything at once.
Multitasking and distractions don’t work.
It creates stress and anxiety for your brain as your attention moves from task to task. This makes you create low level anxiety as your brain constantly monitors for some other thing to worry about.
Eliminate that anxiety and focus on one thing at a time. You’ve read about this in numerous past habit hacks: here, here, here, and here. These are all different habit hacks based on the same principle.
Focus your attention so your brain can get more done.
Willpower isn’t enough
You can’t make yourself more focused through willpower alone. Make decisions in advance that will control your future behavior. Set yourself up so that distractions and negative behaviors will be less likely.
For example, if you’re doing computer work, then you need to remove your phone and restrict your browsing access to the degree that your work allows. If you need the internet to do work on your computer, then you should at the very least restrict your phone access.
Just because you don’t spend your day making Tik Tok videos doesn’t mean you’re some kind of willpower god that can resist the phone’s allure.
The most powerful companies in human history are spending billions of dollars on cutting edge science and technology to capture your attention and make money. Phone apps are slick. You’re not strong enough to resist.
When you have the maturity to admit you’re no stronger than anyone else, then you’ll be able to overcome more than everyone else.
Because you can take action ahead of time to stop the temptation.
Grayscale your phone. Put it on airplane mode. Put it in another room while you’re working. Remove the easy temptation ahead of time and you will prevent distractions.
Obviously this applies to more than just the phone. Take the steps ahead of time to set up a work experience that prevents distractions so you’re not tempted in the moment.
Figure out whatever distracts you and remove it ahead of time. Then you won’t be tempted to turn to it as a diversion when you want to avoid a difficult task.
You can also read about setting up an environment that prevents distractions here.
I can’t repeat this point enough. If you want to achieve focus and avoid distractions, you won’t do it through willpower alone. Understand what triggers your distractions and eliminate those triggers before they arise.
Attention and the subconscious
Finally the most important reason to guard your attention - the role it plays with your subconscious.
When you use time-blocking and other habit hacks to focus your attention on what you want to achieve, you learn pretty quickly that...you actually can get stuff done! It’s amazing what a little bit of focus can achieve.
Whatever your hard to achieve tasks are, once you achieve flow and eliminate the multitasking mentality, it’s awesome to discover that you can actually do it.
You can be productive and create success.
Which brings you to the crucial point. Your subconscious acts on the messages you send it. Guard your attention and guard the messages you send your subconscious.
Your subconscious is the part of your brain that does all the work. This is the part of your brain that’s been keeping you alive and making you happy since you were born. Before you developed language and mastered rational thought.
Your subconscious is powerful. Your subconscious is the tool that achieves your goals.
But...your subconscious brain doesn’t “think for itself.” It acts on the messaging it receives from the conscious brain.
So even though your subconscious is the tool that achieves your goals. It believes in and acts upon the messages you send it.
Bottom line - believe in yourself
Now, obviously you are your subconscious (even though we’re referring to it as separate) but it’s important to guard your attention and prevent the kind of thinking and habits that send a negative message to your subconscious.
Thoughts are habits. You have habitual patterns of thinking regarding your self-image and capabilities. Guard yourself against habitual thinking that portrays yourself in a negative light or that projects incapability.
Develop habitual thoughts that project a positive identity and your ability to achieve goals.
Start by visualizing your goals.
Audit your thoughts and habits throughout the week and root out negative habits of thinking that you discover. Consciously reverse negative thoughts until positive thoughts become habitual. That will cause positive thoughts to inform your subconscious.
Your subconscious is the engine that achieves your goals, but conscious thought is important. It guides your subconscious. When you guard your attention from negative thoughts, you’ll send a consistent message to your subconscious and achieve more.
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