🔋 Let Yourself Get Distracted

One of the most common words I use in these pages is "focus," so what I'm about to say might sound odd: I firmly believe that you should let yourself get distracted (sometimes).

The Global Obsession with Focus

At bottom, I use this blog to explore what it looks like to get things done while deepening and exploring what it means to be a flawed, messy human. It isn't about getting things done at the expense of everything else, or about denying the inherit challenges of practices like disciplined focus. It's about embracing that "everything else" and still staying, more or less, on target.

Newport Law (as I call it) has long been my anchor: work accomplished = intensity of focus x time. The formula is simple. If you aren't focused, you'll get nothing done, no matter how much time you allocate.

Some might interpret this as saying that you need to hone an ability to always stay focused. There are some productivity obsessives who would likely find that a worthy end goal. But that's not only ill advised; it's demonstrably impossible. Beating your head against a wall to try forcing focus is not going to help. Ask anyone ever who has tried to do so.

When I teach on time management and cite that formula, I like to draw a different conclusion: if you find yourself in a state where you need focus but you simply can't find it, do something about it other than criticizing yourself and trying in vain to redouble your efforts. Get up. Switch tasks. Take a break. Self-flagellation will get you exactly nowhere.

Here, let's take that a step further: I think you should actually let yourself get distracted. As with most things, if you take this to the extreme, it won't turn out well. But in moderation, I'm increasingly finding something magical here.

The Justification for Distraction

Distraction is a signal. It could be a signal that you don't have the mental capacity to focus right then. For folks with conditions like ADHD, that's even more likely to be the biological case.

But it could also be a signal that your brain has something else that it wants to explore. Why try and quash that opportunity without even exploring it?

I started thinking about this topic when I made a reel responding to a satirical sketch of side questing: doing new, unecessary projects instead of doing the thing you're actually "supposed" to do.

My off-the-cuff argument was that side questing can be good! Innumerable songs we listen to, things we read, movies we watch, and products we benefit from resulted from people embracing side quests. Where they ran with an idea born out of a lack of focus and fed it the energy it needed to bloom, instead of stomping it out so they could get back to the email they were supposed to be writing.

The Routine

In moderation, running with those ideas is good. But how can you keep it in check, avoiding the temptation to lean into every conceivable distraction?

• Step one: When you lose focus, don't immediately give up on the task at hand, and don't immediately beat yourself up for getting distracted.
• Step two: Interrogate the moment. What did you get distracted with, and why did it happen?
• Step three: Make an intentional choice to either rebuild focus or to embrace the distraction.

Let's look first a rebuilding focus. Is there something environmental you can change that pulled your attention? Are there conditions you can change that give you a fighting chance at accomplishing that task?

A quintessential example in the student case is that of pseudo-studying. A student is spending time in the library, but they're doing everything except study. Run it through the formula, and you see quickly that it doesn't matter how much time is spent if no attention is paid to the intended task. There, distraction is likely coming from the conditions, and the solution is almost certainly to step away from the task and try again later.

On the flip side, if the environment and conditions are set properly and you still find yourself distracted, could it be because your brain is pushing you in a worthwhile direction? Did something you were working on spark a creative impulse? Did your mind naturally push or pull in an unexpected direction?

The Spark

Our brains need space to think! I always return to the example of shower thoughts, where your mind wanders in a relatively distraction-free environment and produces some unexpected thoughts.

If you catch a spark, why not fan the flame, if you can afford the time? Life is too darn short not let some beautiful fires burn.

I suspect your distracted-yet-creatively-productive brain will thank you. I look forward to hearing about your resulting side quests.

Merry Christmas, ya filthy animals.

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