How to Eliminate Distractions. Transform Your Blog With 31 Day Writing Challenge: Day 4.

Distractacat: the practice of dangling shiny objects to divert a feisty rescue kitten.

Distractasteem: the act of allowing a popular social media blockchain to divert your attention from the tasks you should be accomplishing.

~He would have written and edited a novel by now had he not been distractasteeming every day!~

Ongoing studies by Prof. Gloria Mark GMD PhD at the University of California, Irvine suggest that we are more distracted from being distracted than we thought.

Let's face it: distractions surround us. Buzzing by repeatedly like annoying flies, distractions account for hours of lost work-at-home writer productivity.

How many times do you think you are distracted during the average work day?

Multiply that number by 25.

That is the number of minutes of concentration you lose. It takes almost 30 minutes to resume the original task after being interrupted.

Multiple studies confirm this. You can no longer say it's "just 30 seconds to check Facebook," because that distraction won't just kill your productivity for those few seconds, but for 23 minutes after.

And that's only if another distraction doesn't appear in that 23 minutes.


Not only do all these distractions sabotage your mental momentum and kill productivity, they have adverse emotional effects such as poor mood and higher stress levels.

Measuring Distraction

Prof. Mark's research into lost productivity from distractions included sending student observers to multiple finance and tech companies for three 1/2 days each. The researchers logged each employee's activities and times every task to the second.

For Mark’s research, observers were sent to shadow knowledge workers at multiple tech and finance companies for three and a half days, Mark told Fast Company. Researchers logged each worker’s activities and timed every activity to the second. They found people switch tasks every 3 minutes and 5 seconds on average. And that half of all distractions were self inflicted.

Pausing a task to switch tabs and check Twitter is an example of a self-inflicted interruption. A co-worker coming over to discuss a project is not.

Distractions are one of the biggest productivity killers for writers. The temptation of social media chatter, emails, games, and the daily interruptions of career, house chores, children, television, and relationships will always be there.


There are strategies to help keep you on track!

Exterminate annoying distractions with the following tips:

Back to Basics

If you find the temptations of social media or anything in your computer irresistible, try writing with pen and paper.

Leave the house and write in a coffee shop, or take a walk and sit under a tree with your notebook.

By eliminating your kryptonite and changing venues, you are allowing a sharper focus which is defined for one thing: creative writing.

Freedom

There are also productivity apps that turn off your internet connection until you have completed your pre determined amount of work.

Freedom is one that works with both Mac and Windows to block your internet connection for an amount of time you specify. Type in the number of hours or minutes you need and the internet will be banished so you can relax and create something beautiful.

Embrace the Enemy

It's not defeat when it comes to your writing ;)

Instead of fighting and running away from your distractions, schedule them!

You heard right! Put on some coffee, brush off the welcome mat and practice your smile because you're going to pencil in some time for interruptions to visit.

And why not? You love updating your profile and posting compelling images on social media. Hey, they are great outlets of creativity for writers ;)

By scheduling your messages and posts ahead of time by using a program like Hoot Suite, you won't be tweeting while you should be writing. Hoot Suite allows you to type up your update or message, add links if you wish, then set a timer for it to be published live.

We Steemmates have Streemian Just type your post, add images and tags, and set the time for it to be published. It's great for vacations, too- simply type a weeks worth of articles before you go and set Streemian to publish one a day. You'll be earning rewards while you sip Mai Tais on a tropical beach.

Whatever takes away from the time you have set aside for your writing is a distraction that must be addressed if you wish to be a successful writer.

Todays Challenge

List your top distractions in order of annoyance or time lost. Then decide a strategy to eliminate them the next time you write. Make a plan and stick to it.

If the strategy fails ask yourself honestly if it was your fault or that of the strategy. Tweak or completely change your plan of attack, or, in the instance of it being your fault- try again and commit.

Make time for writing, every day. Set aside 10 minutes. And commit to your craft.

And May the Fourth be with you :)

Sources: UCI, New York Times

Images via Creative Commons

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Join the 31 Day Writing Challenge!

Day 1 The Truth About Making Time For Writing
Day 2 How to Incorporate Ideas From Life in Your Writing
Day 3 Master the Art of Captivating Your Readers

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