Our focus is one of the “necessary but not sufficient” attributes of a productive life. Focus by itself won’t make you successful, but not being able to focus guarantees that you will never be successful.
Unfortunately for you, me and nearly everyone we know, that our attention is under constant assault. The results are predictably bad so prevalent that we no longer notice just how unusual the activity has become. That is until it starts to ruin our lives.
A Case Study of Distraction
One of the students I work with has seemed perpetually frustrated and annoyed. They are almost always behind in their work, late on their projects, missing deadlines more than making deadlines. They fell further and further behind until it seemed hopeless that they’d ever catch up.
Until today. They had caught up completely. They had ideas on how to finish their project. Suddenly, they had SMART goals. They had energy and vision. It was shocking. It was refreshing. It was fantastic to see.
I admit, I was confused, even a little suspicious. How had this person, a perpetual foot-dragger turned into a top-level producer seemingly overnight?
So I asked: What happened?
Fighting Distraction and Regaining Focus
Their reply was; “My mentor from Church sat down next to me at a coffee shop this weekend, and we worked side-by-side. They worked on their work, and I worked on mine. They held me accountable so I wouldn’t get distracted by my phone or websites. We worked all afternoon and I got so much done.”
Brilliant! This is so good, and it makes so much sense. The reality was that this person had fallen behind in their work. They felt bad, and whenever the onerous task of getting caught up presented itself, they just wanted to make that bad feeling go away.
So they self-medicated with social media, YouTube and a smorgasbord of apps and entertainment. And they feel good for a moment. They forget all the work they’re behind on until they look back at their assignment. Which makes them feel bad, and want to escape. Again.
The cycle repeats itself until you’re on the verge of failing a class. That’s when panic sets in, which really doesn’t help anything. The end result is feeling bad, and if you feel bad for long enough, you start to believe some dark things about yourself. Depression ensues.
We’d love to think that we can break this cycle by ourselves, but the simplest, most effective way to break the cycle is with a little bit of external accountability. Being open about our struggle with focus and then having someone there to help hold you accountable is a game-changer.
Regaining Focus
I asked this student how they intended to keep this new found focus. They replied: “I can’t get together with my mentor today, but we’re both working online, and we’re just going to share our screens with each other so we can help hold each other accountable to stay on task.”
Again, such a great idea. Throw your phone on focus mode, share your screen and get your work done. It helps with your focus, which helps with your productivity, which helps with your self-image, which helps build a habit, which helps build a discipline. It’s taking the negative feedback loop of distraction, depression, distraction and flipping it on its head.
How is your focus?
If you’re struggling with distraction, trying harder to focus doesn’t normally work. You didn’t end up behind and distracted in a day and you won’t escape the trap of distraction in a day either. Accountability and support from others is so helpful in starting to build a good habit of focus! Shedding off the burdens of being late can be absolutely transformative.