Did you know that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to a task once you are distracted? In this episode, Jen talks about how you can minimise distraction, take back control of your time and sharpen your focus to prevent overwhelm.
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SHOWNOTES
Did you know that it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to a task once you are distracted? That’s crazy! Putting it into real life, imagine you are working on something at work or home schooling the kids or busy on emails or cooking dinner, whatever it is, and an interruption comes in – it takes you 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back on task.
The things that are the most distracting to us now days are our phones! If you’re like me, I have mine with me 90% of the time. Whether it is an incoming call or a notification from an app or social media, that is what is distracting people most of the time and overwhelms them.
I’m all about living from a place of prevention, so this is a practice I put into my life twenty years ago when I started teaching preventing burnout. It was a practice I put in place to prevent my own overwhelm.
As I work worldwide, I get messages across all time zones. I’d get a message, and it would be nearly bedtime for me, but in another time zone it’s just started work time, so I’d “just deal with that message”. With mobile phones and smartphones, in particular, there has become a sense of urgency and the pressure that we have to deal with everything straight away.
In my podcast episode on Urgent vs Important (Episode #15), I spoke about how we could once get back to people as soon as possible (ASAP) instead of immediate response that has us off track instead of on track most of the time.
The reality is, will the world end if you don’t answer a call, email, social media comment or message or app notification immediately? No, it won’t! It really won’t. But we let ourselves be ruled by it, and we lose productivity, and we go into overwhelm because we’re taken off track.
How I prevent overwhelm
The number one way I prevent burnout is to turn off all of the notifications and alerts on my devices. I choose to run my life by my calendar, and I set alarms to help me not get distracted.
If you want to ring me and I don’t have your number saved in my phone or an appointment with you, I don’t answer my phone. If a person leaves a message, I get back to them as soon as possible. My phone is always on silent unless I know I’m expecting a call, then I set my phone 5 minutes before because there is a call coming in for me.
That’s it! I’m not in overwhelm; I’m not at the mercy of my phone. That makes such a difference. I have time allocated to check my social media and emails twice a day in my calendar. I still get everything done, but I do it in a way that I want to get it done, and I’m not at the mercy of everyone else’s schedule or my devices. Without those notifications and alerts, I can power through tasks.
Now, it might not be 23 minutes and 15 seconds for you. And you can train your brain to bring your attention back sooner in 20 minutes or 17 minutes or less to get back into that state of flow. But it is so much more powerful for you to take control of your day, and live it on your own terms.
Healthy Life Hacks
So, the healthy life hacks I want to leave you with today are:
- Go and turn your notifications off right now! Go on, now you might squirm a bit first, but I promise it’s worth it.
- Set alarms for the tasks you want to do each day (e.g. checking emails and social media) so you do it on your own terms.
- If you have gone down the rabbit hole, train your brain to get back to focus and flow faster.
Did you enjoy the podcast today? Please let me know by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts. Every month I draw one lucky reviewer to have a free one-hour consultation with me. Also, remember to subscribe wherever you’re tuning in from so that you always catch the next episode.
Are you looking for more great resources? Get a free copy of my Feed Your Body ebook here and be sure to explore my blog while you are there.
