Avoiding Distractions: How to Do It Based on Neuroscience
These days it seems like distractions are everywhere – texts, tweets, Facebook posts, alerts – you name it! But while we may think that distractions are a recent phenomenon, rest assured they are not! And avoiding distractions has always been critical to success, it’s just that we are being distracted differently these days.
A great example of avoiding distractions takes us back in time over 60 years ago:
“There is a story involving Yogi Berra, the well-known catcher for the New York Yankees, and Hank Aaron, who at that time was the chief power hitter for the Milwaukee Braves. The teams were playing in the World Series, and as usual, Yogi was keeping up his ceaseless chatter, intended to pep up his teammates on the one hand, and distract the Milwaukee batters on the other. As Aaron came to the plate, Yogi tried to distract him by saying, “Henry, you’re holding the bat wrong. You’re supposed to hold it so you can read the trademark.” Aaron didn’t say anything, but when the next pitch came he hit it into the left-field bleachers.
After rounding the bases and tagging up at home plate, Aaron looked at Yogi Berra and said, “I didn’t come up here to read.” He knew his goal, and he did not allow Berra to distract him.” 2
The Problem with Distractions
We are all prone to distraction in one way or another, baseball players and civilians alike! The problem with distractions, however, is that each time we get distracted, it means we need to go back to what we were thinking about again.
And every time this happens, it takes more effort to re-focus, which means we have a smaller pool of energy reserves to help us.
Despite our best intentions to get stuff done, oftentimes we are unable to get started due to all the distractions around us. Our minds begin to wander everywhere other than where we want them to be.
So, to be more effective, we need to learn how to change our brains so that we can learn more about managing and avoiding distractions – both internal and external.
External Distractions
According to David Rock, author of Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long,
“One study found that office distractions eat up and average of 2.1 hours a day. Another study, published in October 2005, found that employees spend an average of 11 minutes on a project before being distracted. After an interruption, it takes them 25 minutes to return to the original task, if they do at all. People switch activities every 3 minutes, either making a call, speaking with someone in their cubicle, or working on a document.” 1
Not only are distractions frustrating, but they are also exhausting! Every time we get distracted, we need to figure out where we were, and our ability to focus decreases even more due to less available glucose. All this results in less ability to understand, decide, memorize, recall and inhibit. This can also lead to us forgetting good ideas that we had and thus fritter away great insights.
External distractions are those we are all familiar with – phones ringing, emails flying in, co-workers walking into your office, etc. Hopefully, now that we understand how much energy distractions steal, we may be less likely to let them steal our attention.
One simple, common-sense way for avoiding distractions is to turn off all forms of communication devices while you are trying to get important thinking done.
Internal Distractions
Not all distractions are external, many of them are what is called internal distractions.
As Rock explains:
“As adolescence hits and people become more conscious of an inner life, many notice that their minds are hard to control. Strange thoughts pop into awareness at odd moments. The mind likes to wander, like a young puppy sniffing around here and there. As frustrating as this tendency can be, it’s normal. One reason for your wandering attention is that the nervous system is constantly processing, reconfiguring, and reconnecting the trillions of connections in your brain each moment.” 1
One study showed that on average, people only hold a thought for 10 seconds before thinking about something else. Good thing those random thoughts come and go because it’s hard enough to avoid distraction and stay focused as is without those intrusions!
Why We Get Distracted
One interesting theory that Rock discusses is that information around us causes us to get distracted in almost a knee-jerk reflex reaction – similar to a knee jerk.
Over millions of years, our brains have learned to pay attention to anything unusual. I guess you could think of it as part of our survival mechanism, for example, hearing a rustle in the bushes.
As Rock points out: “A new shape of car, a flash of light, an odd sound underfoot, or a strange smell—all get our attention because they stand out, because they are novel.” 1
Some of the internal distractions we face may be limited by the size of the stage itself. Perhaps we don’t have enough glucose for intense thinking, which makes us lose our train of thought. Or maybe we are trying to remember too many things at once, so we keep forgetting things. It is also possible that we are preoccupied with other decisions we need to make.
Putting on the Breaks!
With all these distractions going on – it is amazing that we are able to stay focused in the first place!
It turns out that being able to focus on a single thought isn’t so much being able to focus on that thought but rather being able to inhibit other things from coming into focus.
We all have a system called the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPGC) which is the central system for inhibiting thoughts (There are others but the VLPGC appears to be the main one). As Rock says, this “braking system is part of the most fragile, temperamental, and energy-hungry region of the brain. Because of this, your braking system works at its best only every now and then. If cars were built like this, you’d never survive your first drive to the store.” 1 This is why it is hard to get that annoying thought out of your head sometimes and also why it is nearly impossible to focus at other times.
Another interesting implication of this breaking system is that the more you use it, the more its capacity decreases. According to Roy Baumeister from the University of Florida, who studies this stuff, “Self-control is a limited resource…After exhibiting self-control, people have a reduced ability to exhibit self-control.” 1
In other words, every time you stop yourself from taking action, it is harder to stop yourself the next time.
Avoiding Distractions – This is How to Do It
Even though the brain is busy sending all kinds of crazy ideas into your mind, you still do have “veto power”. This is also known as your ability to choose whether or not to act on a thought or impulse.
According to Rock:
“However, without an awareness of the separation of these processes—brain signal, desire, movement”—it’s likely you will go directly from brain signal to movement, the way most other animals do. You need to be able to discern these small time scales. The way to do so is by paying attention to your mental experience and noticing urges as they unfold.” 1
Let’s quickly summarize a few things to keep in mind for avoiding distractions when you need to focus:
(1) Completely remove any external distractions.
(2) Clear your mind prior to starting on difficult tasks. One way to do this is via simple meditation.
(3) Get into the habit of vetoing any impulses that may arise so you can prevent them from going from impulse to action.
(4) Practice breaking, including physical acts, to improve your mental breaking system.
Let’s End This Blog Post on Avoiding Distractions with Another Story
It’s the story of the gnat and the bull and it goes like this:
“A Gnat buzzes around the meadows when he spots a Bull standing quietly in the long grass. Observing that the Bull is quite at peace, the Gnat decides to rest upon his horn.
After resting for a short time, the Gnat decides it was ready to again take flight.
Before leaving, the Gnat suddenly apologizes to the Bull. “I’m sorry for bothering you today, you must be glad I’m about to leave,” says the Gnat.
“It didn’t matter,” replies the Bull. “I didn’t even realize you were there.” 3
The moral of the story is this: Avoiding distractions is never a bad thing, and that ain’t no bull!
Until next time, keep avoiding those distractions, and as always…PYMFP
–Rick
P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.
Use it Or Lose It
A few things to keep in mind for avoiding distractions that we discussed are:
(1) Completely remove any external distractions.
(2) Clear your mind prior to starting on difficult tasks. One way to do this is via simple meditation.
(3) Get into the habit of vetoing any impulses that may arise so you can prevent them from going from impulse to action.
(4) Practice breaking, including physical acts, to improve your mental breaking system.
When to Use It
Use these techniques for avoiding distractions whenever appropriate in your life.
What Do You Think?
What do you think of these strategies for avoiding distractions? Have you used any of them? If not, would you use any of them? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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References
2 Nehemiah, Learning to Lead, J. M. Boice, Revell, 1990, p. 38
3 https://blog.trello.com/classic-children-fables-teach-work-life-balance-lessons
If you have a job that requires mindful focus , then it is best to reduce distractions. When I would study for exams, I required quite isolation. On the other , my children went to open concept elementary schools. They were used to having continuous background noise. One of my daughters said she required background music while studying. I don’t know. I think that she was playing me.
Hi Eileen, I usually prefer some ambient noise and movement, I can block stuff out pretty well. Rarely do I need absolute quiet. The key is finding what works for you and going with it. Thanks and take care, Rick
You are on a roll this week. It’s tough to eliminate distractions – distractions are usually fun things that you would rather think about or do as opposed to the immediate task that should be focused on. Or something that does not normally occur that might seem interesting, as I was just distracted by the neighbor’s cat, who stood up on its back paws and drank out of the bird bath.
OK, back to writing commentary. Most distractions are external – the smell of freshly baked pizza, the ambulance siren out on the freeway, the plane flying overhead. I can be easily distracted by certain songs on the radio.
It’s difficult to avoid distractions. Just accept them for what they are, and then shift your thoughts back to the task at hand and continue.
“My mind often wanders. Sometimes it does not return.”
Hi Dave, I think the key is to eliminate as many external distractions as possible, or put yourself in an environment that reduces the number of external distractions. Then it’s just a matter of recognizing internal distractions and shift your thoughts as you said. Thanks, and have a great Thursday! Rick