#SYDWAC - How To Handle Distractions Better.
Sean, a high-performance coach, shares a framework for managing distractions: track how often you're interrupted, reshape your environment with headphones or closed doors, use 50-minute focus blocks with breaks, and take short restorative walks. He moved his work hours early and uses noise-cancelling headphones as a signal for deep work.
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Today we're going to be talking about how to better handle distractions. Because I'm not sure if you've been like me, but have you ever felt frustrated by all the interruptions during your day? Whether that's people walking up to your desk, people in your house, family members, you know, that are loud or are constantly talking to you while you're trying to read, trying to work, trying to do your thing. Or maybe it's technology where there's a lot of the boops and bops that are trying and struggling to grab your attention, pulling you away from the thing that you're trying to work on to advance your life, to advance your career, to advance the important, meaningful things in your life. Now, as a certified high performance coach and introvert, this happens to me all the time. And I'm talking about being an introvert in the whole sense that I get energy from being able to focus on things and not being in groups most of the time. So if that's true for you, one of the things to really realize is you do have more control over your environment than sometimes you realize. Right. For instance, one time I had in my corporate career, I had switched teams and they didn't have space for me to have my own office, right? So what they did is they stuck me in the lab and they had a couple other folks in there too, which is fine. But you know, having people in the space, having people coming and going into this computer lab as I was trying to do work, as I quickly found out, was really tough because there were always like just people being friendly, you know, hey, good to see you, how you doing? What's going on? You know, kind of just catching up, doing the whole whole thing. But you know, an interruption every 20 minutes is really tough to get into the groove, to get in the flow, to really get cracking on coding, which what I was doing at that time. So how can we better manage these environmental distractions? And for me in that particular situation, after I got fed up of being interrupted, I'm like, I'm not productive. I need to really figure this out. I'm like, okay, let me try a couple of different things. So being in Silicon Valley and being in a tech company, most people didn't come into the office until about 10, so I decided to take the early commute in. So I was usually in the office by like 7:38 in the morning. So that gave me two hours of pretty like hands off, just focused, dedicated time, which was great. And then to manage the people that were in the office or the people that kept coming in and out that were just being friendly. I'm like, I'm gonna get some noise canceling headphones. And so one, it signals that I'm working. Two, it's less distracting hearing things going on around me. I could just continue going until I took my break so I could advance the projects that I was working on. Now does this work for everyone? Absolutely not. Depends on your work environment, your home environment, you know, wherever you're doing your thing. There's a lot of different factors going on. And ultimately, was this the ideal situation for someone that needs quiet and dedicated focus time? Not really. But it did move me in the right direction and helped me focus on getting things done and being able to get into that flow state, which I think everyone should experience, if you haven't already. So what are a couple of things that we can do to help you effectively manage the distractions? Right, and that's kind of what I wanted to share today before we wrap up. But before I share all these, I'll let you guys know too. You can always go to SeanButter.com coaching if you need personalized help on trying to figure out how to minimize distractions in your life to brainstorm some new ideas, we do that as part of our strategy call that we do for you folks. So definitely check it out. If you're like, I need some extra help one on one, I'm happy to do that for you. So here are my ideas for helping to manage environmental distractions. Right. First is to notice how distracted you are. Right. And this is, you know, you don't have to be an introvert again for this to work for you. I think this happens a lot more than we sometimes realize. So if you're aware of how often you're getting interrupted during the day, if you are in a corporate environment, you know, going up to your boss and saying like, hey, like Today I had 534interruptions in an eight hour day. And it's really tough to get focused and get some progress on the projects I'm on, for instance. Right, but so all said is like be aware of when you're getting distracted, how you're getting distracted. So is it environmental or is it like you have a TV on in your office and you just kind of zone in on sports or whatever is playing on in the background. Right. So, so, you know, understand that. Second thing is how can you change the environment to better suit you? Right, right. You know, and like I said, some people love the people interaction. It helps them Focus and get things done. I'm not trying to discourage or disparage anyone on that. So if that is, how do you make your office more open so you get that type of energy? For me, you know, it was the headphones in my story, it was trying to change when I was working to be a little bit off hours, out of sync with people. Working home a little bit more in that particular case too, is helpful. It's just a way to manage it. And at home, here since COVID you know, a couple of other things is, you know, being able to close the door, have a place where you can close the door when you're working has been really helpful with me and my wife because she likes to talk a lot more than I do and I love her for it and it's amazing. But. But sometimes, man, geez, you know, just one of those things when you're living close to someone that just naturally happens. So that said, you know, so being able to signal to her like, hey, I'm working, or communicating, you know, hey, I'm working, has been helpful in setting the environment right and also cutting out things that I know will distract from me. There's certain music I can't play because I'll get more into just like kind of rocking out than doing the work. So, you know, that kind of stuff. I also, as in the high performance type work, we talk about doing block time. So knowing what you're going to focus on for 50 minutes and getting up and taking breaks also is really good at helping with distractions. Because one, you have to know what you're doing. And you're more likely if someone's like, hey, I need some help. You can be like, hey, I can help you after lunch. But right now I'm just cranking on this thing. I'm like, okay. Most people are pretty okay with that. And taking those energy breaks, I think is one of the things that people miss in their day to day in order to keep productive, to keep distractions away. Because, you know, that could be like grabbing a cup of coffee or getting, you know, going to the water cooler, saying hi, having that social interaction. So you're not like a complete hermit at work. But it, you know, gets you moving and could get you help you get focused just by taking a quick breath break, quick meditation, a quick walk, the bio break thing, get more water, whatever you do. So those are a couple ideas on how to beat distractions. Let me know what you guys do when you are constantly interrupted either by your environment or through certain people. What are your favorite techniques. Post those below this video and I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay? This is Sean saying, live with more joy, personal growth and impact in your community. Take care, folks.
