Distractions come in many forms these days. From social media, unexpected e-mails, phone calls or visits, to distractions in our environment, it’s really easy to let ourselves get distracted. Sometimes I find that despite my best efforts to build barriers that should keep me from distractions, I still seek them out. I decided to start asking myself the question… why am I seeking out distraction?

I came up with four major roots of distraction and some ideas for how to combat them in the future:

1. Lack of a Good Plan

The first and most common reason I seek distractions is that I don’t have a plan for what I’m doing. I may have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, but if I haven’t given myself a specific or small enough task on which to focus, the size of whatever is in front of me seems intimidating and I stall. Sometimes I’ll be going along just fine and finish all of my tasks for the day, but because I didn’t have a plan for what I would do if I completed all of the things on my list, I end up meandering.

It’s not just having a plan, but knowing the level of plan detail you need in order to stay engaged that will help you to continue to stay focused on your work. If you get to a project and find yourself wanting to stall, break the project down even further and give yourself a more palatable task. If you get to the end of your list for the day, take a few minutes to plan strategically what you will do with the rest of your time.

2. Boooooring!

Another reason I seek distractions is that I feel bored. Everything, even the stuff that you love to do, has some boring task associated with it. There is a phase of the web development process that, though I’ve done it dozens of times, is extremely boring and tedious. I know I can do it, I know that it needs to be done, but it’s just time consuming and boring.

Find a way to add some excitement to this activity. Maybe time yourself and then the next time you can try to beat your record (as long as it doesn’t effect the overall quality of your work). Do some research to see if there is a way to accomplish this particular task more quickly with the right kind of tools. Maybe you are in a position to hand this activity off to someone else, so you can focus on what you really love.

If there’s no way to make this task interesting, just start. Human beings are naturally inclined to see a task through to completion once they’ve started. Starting is often the most difficult part, but I’ve been surprised before at how much I’ve been able to accomplished by simply choosing to start.

3. Unsure of What I’m Doing

A third reason I seek out distraction is that I have gaps in my knowledge. One of the ways I grow is by taking on jobs that, while within my expertise, contain some aspect or task that I know in theory I can do, but maybe haven’t done before. I have gotten in over my head a few times because of this, and sometimes in the face of something I don’t know how to do I become paralyzed.

When faced with an aspect of a project that I don’t fully understand, I remember the three R’s (I just made these up): Relax, Research, & Reach out.

Relax
Sometimes the best thing to do is to find some other part of the project that you do know how to do, and do that instead. Getting your mind away from the fear of an unknown thing and focused on a task that is familiar relaxes you and can put you in the right frame of mind for discovering a solution to an unknown problem.

Research
Researching is a GREAT practice and can help you grow exponentially in your expertise. You may have difficulty at first finding the answers you are looking for, but over time you’ll grow more proficient in your ability to research, using better search language and finding more reliable sources.

Reach Out
Finally, the most important thing you can do is to be plugged into a community of creatives who can call upon you and whom you can call upon when you run into difficult problems. I’m a part of the seanwes community and it is phenomenal! If you are not surrounded by people who are doing the same kind of thing you are doing with similar values and goals, GET SOME PEOPLE! We freelancers often operate as “lone rangers” but the best work out there comes from people who either collaborated with or were supported by a community of people who cared about them and their work.

4. I Don’t Really Care About This

This can be a tough one, especially if you’ve built a career or an identity around a specific creative pursuit. In this instance distraction becomes a welcome escape from the work that you don’t love, but it is especially toxic because it causes feelings of guilt… guilt that you are not doing something you do not feel passionate about. How yucky!

In this case I would welcome another type of distraction. Zoom out and be honest with yourself about this thing. The sooner you can identify it as something you no longer love and create an exit plan, the sooner you’ll be able to get back to work. Sometimes, knowing there’s a light at the end of the tunnel can give us the resolve we need to finish something.

Don’t Focus On The Distraction

It doesn’t matter what the distractions are if you can successfully identify and deal with the root of the distraction. Next time you reach out to distractions, instead of giving yourself a hard time about whatever thing it is you are allowing to distract you, ask yourself these questions: Do I have a clear and solid enough plan for what I need to be doing right now? Can I make this boring task more exciting or shift my focus to something else? What can I do to grow in my expertise so I can feel more confident when approaching this task? Do I really care about what I’m doing?