Defeat Distraction: Refocusing with Purpose

By Leo Babauta Here’s a scenario: you jump into email or [insert preferred social network here] and start doing a few tasks, reading a few things, taking care of business … but soon get lost in the swarm of distractions of little things, and two hours have gone by without getting anything important or meaningful done. Ever happened to you? Sometimes a big task will sit there on your todo list or email inbox, but you keep putting it off because you’re in the quick-task mode. It’s hard to do slower, more thoughtful tasks when you’re in quick-task mode. This happens to me all the time. I will breeze through 10-15 emails because they require 1-2 sentence replies or a 2-minute task each, which means I can knock them off. But a larger task sits there in my inbox, waiting for action, and can sit there for an entire day or two. Why? Because it requires a different mode of thinking. And so we put it off, and let the distractions of the Internet carry us away instead. What’s a better method? Refocus yourself. Change modes. Have a purpose for each thing you set out to do. This works for me every time. Here’s how: Catch yourself getting lost. When you see yourself putting off a bigger email or task, and getting lost in little tasks or distractions, notice this. Watch yourself. Then pause. Pull back. Take just 10-20 seconds to stop what you’re doing, and take a step back. Look at the bigger picture of what you’re doing. What&...
Source: Zen Habits - Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tags: Productivity & Organization Source Type: blogs