The world is full of distractions. Unfortunately, the world also requires us to work. Coping with the first while still doing enough of the second is… sorry, where was I?
Ah yes, the world is full of distractions. If you work in an office, it might be emails, phone calls or colleagues with queries; if you’re at home, the contents of the fridge or a sudden fixation on dust mice under the sofa. Sometimes it takes even less. “If you’re sitting and doing work and someone near you says something particularly interesting, like ‘sex’ or maybe ‘Brexit’, that can pull your focus,” says , a psychologist and management expert at the BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo.
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So how can we rein in our wandering minds? Switching off email and messaging services helps. And put your smartphone and other extraneous screens away – they . “If you’ve got a screen, that’s not good if you’re trying to process information,” says Furnham.
If you are tempted to pop on headphones and use music to shut out distractions, avoid listening to anything familiar: knowing the words or tune well will distract you even more.
“If you use music to shut out distractions, make sure it’s music you don’t like”
Furnham’s own research shows this effect is most pronounced for introverted people. “The worst distraction of all time would be introverts doing complex word-processing tasks with loud, familiar music,” he says.
Not all distractions are bad, however. If you are doing something repetitive like stuffing envelopes or laying bricks, being distracted by listening to music or a podcast or engaging in a conversation with a co-worker can ultimately boost productivity.
Creativity can benefit from distraction too. , now at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has found that when people played Minesweeper or Solitaire for 5 minutes before coming up with new business ideas, they were more creative than those who didn’t play.
Switching between tasks can also help. In general this is an enemy of productivity: it encourages mistakes, stops us from completing things, promotes forgetfulness and lowers the quality of writing. But when we are trying to come up with creative solutions, task-switching distractions can on ineffective approaches.
So if you are a creative type, try lining up two or more tasks and spend your day frantically switching between them. Or if that doesn’t work, just go play with your phone.
Take-home message: Be distracted – but not too distracted
