Eliminate Distractions
Get more done
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We all would like to get more done in the same amount of time.
To do this, we must avoid the distractions that cause our current workload to take up more time than it deserves.
3 main types of distractions:
Other people’s priorities.
Busywork.
Entertainment.
I will break down each distraction, clarify how distracting each one is with examples, and explain why distractions are so powerful.
1. Other People’s Priorities
Other people have their own priorities that they are often eager to give to you.
Sometimes this is malicious and driven by laziness, and sometimes these people are simply acting on what is important to them. Either way, for each incoming request or interruption, you need to consider it in light of your own goals. If it doesn’t meet your own goals, you must resist it.
Now, in a team or company, a project often requires shared goals. So, it is quite common that cooperation with others is essential to your own success. Thus, not every incoming request can be ignored.
However, most of us fail to really consider where requests from others fit into the shared goals. We want to please others and get along, so we simply interrupt our own work and respond to the request. In the cases where the request isn’t particularly important to the shared goals of the team, we are merely allowing external priorities to distract us from our own goals.
To address this, we must get into the habit of actively evaluating requests and rejecting them if they do not make sense in light of the shared goals.
2. Busywork
The second source of distractions is busywork.
This is work that is perhaps urgent to someone else or was important in the past but has lost its value over time. Companies are much better at creating required activities than they are at stopping them, so zombie priorities established in long-forgotten crises live on as busywork.
Legal departments, HR departments, and other functions are excellent at producing busywork such as mandatory training, paperwork, compliance, and bureaucracy that does not advance any primary corporate or personal goal. Usually, this work is aimed at preventing negative outcomes (like lawsuits) rather than producing new and positive outcomes (like growth).
Whatever the source of the busywork, it is usually an officially endorsed version of another person’s priorities. As such, your goal should be to avoid it if possible, delegate it if you can, or at least push it off until you are at a time of low energy.
Do not spend your best energy on a low-value activity!
Even if something is “required”, think of it this way: The person who is late to do their mandatory training because they were creating value is much more likely to be promoted than the person who fails to create value because they were busy doing their mandatory training.
Even when things are “mandatory”, the company will act in pursuit of its mission to create profit.
3. Entertainment
The final type of distraction is entertainment.
When we reach a point of low energy, our tired minds and bodies immediately seek “easy” things to do. The modern workplace is filled with options to satisfy our search: Social media, Wikipedia, chat systems, and many other options provide us with instant alternatives to really working. What’s worse is that these systems are intentionally designed to serve up the little burst of endorphins we crave, making them all the more likely to pull us away from work.
In this way, the concept of “snackable” content is perfectly named. Much like seeking an afternoon snack in the kitchen as a break from work, we seek an emotional snack in a Facebook post, YouTube video, or internal chat channel.
Example Distractions
To help clarify just how distracting such systems can be, I’ve compiled a long list below.