04: Addicted To Distraction

A few years ago I realized that I had a problem. I couldn't focus the way I used to. I felt on edge often; I wasn't having fun anymore. On this episode, I'll unpack what the root cause was and how I went about handling it.

Show Notes

We've gotten sidetracked somewhere along the route. Perhaps we don't understand how much our daily rituals, favorite devices and apps, and where we focus our attention have an impact on us. As my compulsive relationship with distractions reached a breaking point, I needed a way to hold up a mirror and reveal a new me.

We think we can multitask because it's normal. It's what we do every day - text and walk, Facebook/Insta and drive, email and surf while in meetings, check our phones while reading and studying. But with all this multitasking, are we actually learning to work more efficiently? On this week's show, we'll talk about my battle with this addiction to distraction, and how it nearly wrecked the life I am trying to create.

Who is in control of your fate? Is it possible that it's your devices? If you can't go more than a few minutes without checking your phone, or if you're prone to other addictions, you definitely want to check out this show.

If you'd like to support this podcast, you can go to http://www.buymeacoffee.com/OrangeNomad

As always, thanks for listening…. Stay humble and kind, and #DoWhatIsNecessary​ #entrepreneurjourney​ #entrepreneurmindset​ #entrepreneurmotivation​ #WorkplaceReboot​ #MSP​ #EntrepreneursUnite​ 

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A few years ago, I
realized I had a problem.

I couldn't focus the way I used to.

I felt on edge a lot of the time.

I just, I wasn't having fun.

I was almost always online or on my phone.

Needlessly consuming content, just
scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.

Diving deep into topics that
I used to find interesting

became increasingly difficult.

I couldn't sit and read a book
for more than 10 or 15 minutes.

I started forgetting things, making
lots of careless little mistakes.

I would catch myself staring at a screen
while pretending to listen to my wife.

I told myself that I had
everything in control.

I was cranking through my to-do list.

I was producing, I was learning.

I was studying.

But everything was taking
longer than it used to.

My relationships were
not what they used to be.

My connectedness and closeness to my wife.

Just wasn't the same.

I thought that it was.

I was just getting older.

You know, I'm in my forties now.

And I just thought maybe that's
that's what happens when we get older.

But it took eight weeks into
COVID lockdown last year.

Before I came to the realization that.

I had to create a new
way to deal with this.

Like I always did.

I thought the answer was just working
harder that I would just work more.

And when I would get
into periods of focus.

I couldn't, I couldn't stay there long.

And without coming up for distractions.

That was like the oxygen for me, email.

Social media checking
texts, seeing who called me.

I started to berate myself.

And I really, I started
really questioning myself.

I was losing my self esteem.

My confidence and creativity
were just completely flatlined.

I was slowly sinking into depression.

All of my distraction was preventing me.

From living as I truly
found life to be meaningful.

And I realized that all of my
toggling between apps and social

networks and email and text.

That that was having a tremendous
cost on the actual work.

That I was meant to be doing.

So I started to really examine.

My habits.

I started to look at what I was
doing every day and especially

the first part of my day.

I started to count how many times a
day that I would reach for a device.

I started as a count, how many
times I would check messages.

I started to count how many times I would
look at my social feeds for updates.

How many times did I have.

A need or a desire to share, just
eat a picture or just an experience.

How many times was I switching back
and forth between those things?

And my work.

And when I started tracking those things,
it was really eyeopening to say the

least I was, I was actually teaching
myself that it's okay to waste time.

My distraction was eroding my efficiency
and undermining my mental health.

And that's really what I had
to take a long hard look at.

That my happiness or lack thereof.

Was crushing my ability to be creative.

Now as an entrepreneur, my
happiness is directly related

to my ability to be creative.

And maybe that's what is the same for you?

Now, I'm not here to rail against
technology because I've spent the

majority of my career extolling the
benefits of technology and how it's

supposed to make our lives better.

But last year, I was
really at a crossroads.

I needed to free myself from
that barrage of distractions.

And rekindle my ability to create.

I had to unlearn bad habits.

I learned.

How to build a new regimen.

And in that first became from the
awareness of what I was doing every day.

And it took a lot of discipline.

I really, I started to, again,
look at what I was doing

when I first got out of bed.

That I forced myself to stop reaching
for a device as soon as I got up.

I stopped checking email and
social media and text messages.

As soon as I got up.

I actually deleted all the
social media apps from my phone.

And turned off every single notification
on every single one of my devices.

Because I am.

I'm.

Highly distracted.

When I see those little red
bubbles with notifications on

anything even updates on my phone.

My mind goes elsewhere.

It's I start to get squirreled.

And now it took an incredible
amount of discipline to really

force myself to do that.

And I actually forced
myself to schedule time.

Every single day for social
media, email and text messaging.

And for me, I started
to do that twice a day.

I actually got this idea from Tim
Ferris when I read the four hour

workweek, like back in 2008, 2009.

So I started to do those things.

I scheduled time on my calendar
every single day at 1130.

And five o'clock.

To actually allocate toward
social media email, text messages.

So anything.

That came in overnight or in the
morning, I would look at that at 1130

and I would deal with that from like
1130 to 1230 is what I have on my,

my schedule prior to going to lunch.

And then at five o'clock at the end
of the day, I take care of anything

that came in between 1130 and five.

O'clock.

And really where the discipline
came in is in the evenings.

I would force myself not to
look at social media after five

or five 30 when I was done.

And that was hard.

It was really hard for me to do that.

And it's, and I still it's a work in
progress, but I still find myself cheating

every now and again, but that's when
the most of the wasted time comes in.

For me, it was in the evenings.

I would spend all the way till 10 or
11 o'clock at night scrolling through

social media, looking at email.

Looking at texts and being distracted.

And that was having an
effect on the next day.

It was, it was kind of a domino effect.

But it's still, you know, again, I'm a.

I'm a year later.

And I'm still a work in
progress on that, but.

I'm happy to say that
my ability to create.

And just be.

Has has returned it's finally back.

I'm glad I came to that realization.

That I had become addicted to distraction.

And as entrepreneurs.

I know many of us have faced
a similar challenge and not

just entrepreneurs, many of us.

Have that addiction.

To distraction, to easily being
distracted in that, that need.

That dopamine fix on checking social
feeds and email and text messages.

And trying to figure out how to
fix that is, is really difficult.

And I would love to hear your
story and ideas or strategies

that you've come up with.

To manage and break free from distraction.

Thanks for listening to this episode.

I again, this is our journey
to doing what is necessary.

In your life.

And that was what was necessary for me
and still continues to be is breaking

free and staying free from distraction.

I'll catch you on the next episode.