Aug 06 2008
Question of the Week: Distractions
Welcome back to my Wednesday feature, the Question of the Week. Please feel free to use this question as the topic of a blog post, for personal journaling, or simply for self-discovery.
This week’s question is What are the biggest distractions in my life, and how can I minimize or eliminate them?
The biggest distractions for me are definitely watching television and surfing the Internet. Those are my go-to time-wasters when my brain feels overloaded or I don’t want to do what I “should” be doing. I’ve tried a number of different strategies over the years to limit these distractions but (sigh) they always seem to resurface.
The most effective method I’ve found so far is keeping a detailed time log. I think I’ll reintegrate that practice into my life (I may or may not post my logs here occasionally–I don’t want to overwhelm [ahem, bore] you with the minutiae of my life).
What are your major distractions? What can you do to minimize or eliminate them?
hmm. for me right now (I know this gets old
as I always say the same thing) it’s my Toddler.
so I try to frame it as USE THE TIME I HAVE, BE PRESENT WITH HER WHEN IM WITH HER, and MY TIME WILL COME LATER.
mine is the same as yours - tv and the computer! and the worst part is that mostly what i watch on tv are re-runs. damn that TBS, anyway (shakes fist angrily in the air)!!
i know i won’t quit the endless hours of tv cold turkey, so i’m trying to wean myself off gently by doing something productive while i have the tv on in the background, or by having music on instead. i need some noise in my world!
with the computer, i have been giving myself a time limit - i.e. at the next half hour or until the next commercial - if i’m just goofing around or playing games. then i do something like clean the kitchen, and then i can have 15 more minutes on the computer. i realize it’s the type of thing parents have to do so their children don’t spend all day rotting their brains, but it works pretty well for me.
the only other thing that’s throwing off my productivity and proving to be a major time suck-er is a new dating situation…but i’m not willing to change that quite yet! if my bathroom stays dirty because i got to lay on a blanket looking up at the stars last night with a great man, then i’m ok with that