A 3 Step Process to Managing Distractions While Working From Home
Do you feel like your professional life is plagued by daily distractions trying to scuttle your work day?
You’ve got kid zoom bombers, hungry hippos wanting to be fed 24/7, a constant barrage of communication notifications, scary news cycles, clueless husbands, addictive social media apps and a new side gig you weren’t expecting, homeschooling!
It all feels like too much sometimes.
I get it.
The good news is you can master your distractions. And when you do, you are going to make your mind stronger and more powerful which will help you in all areas of your life!
The number one thing you need to know about distractions is that DISTRACTIONS ARE NOT OUTSIDE OF YOU.
The kids are not distracting.
Hubbies, cute dogs, the news, your colleagues, your comfy bed, and the dirty dishes are not distracting.
It is actually your BRAIN that is distracting. (It is internal)
Your brain is the problem...but thankfully it is ALSO the SOLUTION.
Distraction is defined as directing one's attention or focus away from something or someone else.
Distraction can be experienced as an action or a feeling.
Let’s take the example of your kid constantly interrupting you throughout the day and run it through this self-coaching model:
Circumstance: Kid asks me 10 questions a day.
Your Thought: I can’t work like this!
Feeling: Frustrated
Action: Loose train of thought and act distracted. Waste time. Spin in my head and complain that this work set-up is not fair. Numb feelings with food and check social media.
Result: I don’t get work done.
In this example distraction is an internal action because your distraction is created by the thought you are thinking in the moment. (Thoughts create your feelings, which then lead to your actions and results in life).
Distraction can also be experienced as a feeling because feelings are created by thoughts in our mind. This would also be an internal experience (vs something external like like our kids or social media notifications).
Instead of feeling “frustrated” in the example above, the thought “I can’t work like this” could generate the feeling of distraction for many and lead to various actions that don’t serve the result you want to create (getting your work done!).
So whether you experience distraction as the act of distraction or the feeling of distraction you are responsible for it and thus able to control it.
So the question is, when your kids come into your space, do you want to be focusing your attention on them or not?
If the answer is yes, then you are not really being distracted because you are consciously choosing to pay attention to your child at that moment.
It is important to note this differentiation because we have blamed our distractions on our kids when they aren’t responsible for that.
We are. Because we can decide in that moment whether to focus our attention on them or not.
Because of our prefrontal cortex we have the ability to choose in every single moment where our attention and focus is at.
Yes, it takes some PRACTICE but you can do it! 😉
My husband is sometimes better at this than me. He works in the living room and can tune out the kids walking back and forth to the kitchen a dozen times a day for food and water.
You want to know why?
Because he manages his thoughts about it better than I do. He has less drama about it in his mind.
The good news is we don’t need to control other people. Have you noticed they don’t like it and it worsens your relationship with them too?
We really need to focus on ourselves and get really good at controlling our minds and where our focus lies.
I got back in the driver’s seat of my life by learning how to control my mind better and so can you.
You are 100% in the driver’s seat of your mind. The first step is recognizing this and taking ownership of this fact.
So how do you do this?
Step 1. Bring awareness to your distracting thoughts.
When you notice that you are distracted ask yourself WHY.
The answer is always going to be the thoughts in your brain, not your external circumstances.
For example:
The kids shouldn’t interrupt me while I’m working.
I resent that I have to homeschool my kids.
I wonder what’s going on in the news today.
As long as you allow these thoughts in your brain that may not be serving you, you aren’t going to focus on work.
These thoughts spin in your head and create a whirlwind of distraction. It’s a waste of mental time and energy.
Step 2. Make a conscious decision to either keep that thought or let it go.
As humans this is a superpower that we can cultivate with practice.
You can decide if your thoughts are serving your end goal or not. Theoretically you can decide in a split second if you want to keep it or ditch it.
Step 3. Redirect your brain to where you want your focus to be.
If you want it to be on work, think thoughts that support that goal. Choose thoughts that help you focus. For me, I find these thoughts helpful:
Prioritizing myself is part of being a good mom.
I love that I get to help my kids and do my work.
My work is important to the future of my family!
Find thoughts that work for you.
Try to train your brain to focus on one thing at the time. That means learning how to hold one sentence in your brain at a time.
It takes practice to get good at it. I’m always working on this. Meditation helps with cultivating this practice.
As I write this blog, sometimes I have to repeat in my head “Focus on the blog” over and over to keep me focused. Or “what would most serve my clients now?” This keeps my brain from wandering to Facebook or Instagram to see how my posts are doing. 😉
We are human, it is natural for our brains to wander in many directions. So when it does gently and compassionately bring it back to the task at hand with the thoughts you choose.
I also layer this practice with tactical solutions for reducing electronic and physical distractions from my daily routine which I’ll outline in a follow-up blog, but none of it is sustainable unless I have the right mindset approach.
Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
#distractions #resultsdriven #thoughts #workfromhome #remotework #momswhoworkfromhome