Getting distracted easily? Find focus with this quick trick.

Let’s face it. Most of us have distractions built into our lifestyles throughout our day. Distractions have come be part of our lives. That constant stream of seemingly important notifications from all the apps on our phones — shopping, our food delivery services, our social networks, our entertainment media, our favourite news outlets. Then there’s TV. for those who still watch it.

Then there’s all the information we are seeking on the interwebs. What starts off as harmless focused research, intended to be a quick in and out, ends up into hours of browsing at the end of which we are either sort of enlightened or more likely even more confused and unstructured than when we started.

Amidst our own information seeking journey, there’s also the ads on all the apps that can give a whole new dimension to our journey — taking us to places

Its common to end our day with the feeling that while we had a really busy day, it turned out fairly unproductive with little progress on what really matters to us. Most days end up with a sense of frustration. To overcome this feeling and to relax a little before we hit the sack, we finally need a little entertainment and so we are back to square one — our social networks, our entertainment media, our favourite news channels. And the cycle starts all over again.

Distractions are great at giving us a sense of achievement and importance — we feel we’ve done a lot, been part of many things, attended to a lot of things that needed our immediate attention. But really, at the end of the day, we know there’s very little personal progress to show for all that work and time.

There’s just a zillion tons of information out there and it all looks important. Except that its not. 99.9% of it is not. Its not going to get us to our goal. Staying focused on our goal is the only thing that’s ever actually going to give us the results we are seeking.

The trouble is, and the reason why we indulge in distractions is, our work on our goals doesn’t show immediate results while distractions do. Distractions are very well structured if you notice. That 50% off notification will eventually lead to a nice looking set of choices and you can actually order something or see a set of well structured updates from all your friends — with ads thrown in generously and those ads take us to another nice looking set of choices from where we can actually order something. Its all information organised really well — unlike our own projects or goals that look drab and boring at the moment. And if we continue to get distracted at our current pace, there’s a good chance they’ll continue to look drab and boring well into the foreseeable future.

Secretly, we’ve all come to like them too. They’ve trained our brains so well into believing they’re good for us — if something gives us happiness or a sense of achievement or importance, it must be good, right?

So what’s the way out then? Answer: Cheat the Cheater.

First, know who your enemy is, what they’re going to do, and how they’re going to do it. Distractions are the enemy of your time, they want your money. To get to your money they’re going to distract you — with information that looks valuable, by making you feel important. How? Notifications, ads, sponsored posts on your feeds, news that’s not news really.

Maybe all distractions are not important. Only 99.9% are. You don’t want to go through 99 things in the hope of finding one that can change your life. Not if it costs you an entire day. Every day. You don’t even know what that one thing is or how it’s going to change your life. You don’t even know what is the life you want and what needs to change for you to have the life you want.

So just like how all the distractions are so well structured and organised neatly into a journey, it is best to structure and organise your life neatly into a journey. Set a goal, detail out what’s needed to get there — know what you want, discover what you have and what you need to get to your goal, decide with firmness, and then get down to doing it. Learn from distractions.

Don’t ban distractions completely out of your life. Plan them into your life. If you have 6 favourite apps, set aside 10 minutes every day for each of them. And you’ll be all caught up with all your feeds. That’s just one fixed hour instead of letting those notifications distract you throughout the day. Do it between 2–3, right after lunch when you’re a bit drowsy. Or whenever suits you, but fix a time for it. Don’t let them take control.

After all, two can play at the same game.

At Niche, we are focused on making you and your business successful. Found your niche yet? Let’s build a loveable business for you. Email us on growth@nicheb2b.com or call us on 9051446288 or 9918075999.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get great learning, invites to our weekly webinars, and practical advice you can use to grow your business.