Battling Distractions
Procrastination is one of my biggest struggles, and distractions play a major role in this. Distractions can be enjoyable or not and for me, they are usually pleasurable. There are many ways in which I get distracted, and I get distracted quite easily depending on what I am working on.
Taking breaks from something is not always effective for me. Many people suggest the Pomodoro method for productivity, where you work for 25 minutes and take a 5-minute break before continuing with the same method. While this might work for some, it rarely does for me.
This method only helps when I feel extremely lazy, creating the delusion that all I need to do is work for 25 minutes. Often, I end up working for longer, but those 5-minute breaks, allow distractions and the 5 minutes might never end, lol.
My phone is my biggest source of distraction, followed by friends, fictional books and intrusive thoughts. On my phone, I get most distracted by movies, anime, YouTube, and other online videos. I love watching anime and movies, and it‘s hard for me to be productive when there is an unwatched anime available. The same applies to interesting books; I feel the need to finish them before I can truly focus on my work.
Social media, especially YouTube and Instagram, is another major distraction. These distractions negatively affect my productivity, leading to procrastination and increased pressure as deadlines approach. Since distractions are always around me, there are some ways in which I try to deal with them. To be honest, I still trying to deal with distractions but these are the few things I do to minimize distractions.
For movies and anime, I avoid having them readily available. I don’t collect them from friends or download them unless I have free time. I also try not to start watching any of movies unless I know I have a free day ahead. With books, I can usually stop myself at the end of a chapter, or I avoid starting a new book unless I have free time.
Social media is a quite challenging distraction. I have considered deleting the apps, but I need YouTube for studying. To manage this, I download the educational videos I need in advance so I won’t be tempted to browse YouTube and get distracted by other content. When I run out of data, I can watch my downloaded videos before resubscribing. However, this strategy doesn’t always work, and social media continues to be a significant distraction.
I prefer not to take breaks to avoid falling into distraction traps. If I can find the motivation to start working, I’d rather go for hours until I’m tired than take breaks at intervals. I also try not to start my day with distractions, I get my work done before I touch anything distracting. This approach works okay for me, as it helps to maintain focus and avoid the lure of distractions.
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What enables me to get distracted easily are not having a clear definition and outline of things that I want to achieve, suppressing intrusive notifications, and not respecting my calendar. And your approaches to dealing with them are similar to mine.
Pomodoro method is a bit impractical to me, following it strictly. When 25 minutes are up, there are chances that I am still in the middle of something that may not even end soon and may not be able to interrupt. 5 minutes break - doing what exactly? It's too little to do anything worth cooling down with, especially doing it at consistent intervals.
Rather, I'd put my phone on DND, open the necessary tabs on my PC, follow to-do list, and ensure I stick with the realistic time assigned to work. Then, of course, I can take a good break, which could be anything from talking with friends to playing a games.
I hope you continually find balance as you're in school. I know it's not always easy.
Not having clear outline or planning might also lead to distractions. But even with clear planning I still get distracted, still trying to work on how to discipline myself. I envy people that are so disciplined.
I wonder how people stick to the pomodoro method, I rather do something for hours, when I lose focus, I find it hard to get my focus back. 5-minutes is quite short.
I do wish I have another device. Maybe a laptop or an iPad. I do most of my things on my phone, In fact, all things on my phone. Every study note is pdf or online, and every other things are on my phone.
I hope so, because as time goes and my next level, I have less time for myself. I can still vividly remember when I resumed this semester, now exam is in two weeks.
The first moment I started reading, I said but life is too short to not allow distractions take over😂
Anyway, you see that thing called YouTube over there! That thing!
Hmmm, I won’t even say anything again😂
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STOPGreat to know you have really good strategies to battle your distractions. It’s actually smart to download those videos so you don’t get distracted when you ran out of data.Thanks for sharing these with us.