Distractions

In today's world we are constantly inundated with information in one form or another.  Be it passive like television or interactive such as reading RSS feeds and blogs on the web, there are countless things vying for our attention.  It is no small wonder it is a struggle to focus on any one thing.  Distractions make procrastinating easy because we find something else to occupy our mind with little effort.
Sometimes these mental diversions occur without our intentions.  You sit down at the computer to do some work, and you think ‘I better check my e-mail before I start , somebody might have sent me something important’, you check your e-mail and you see an e-mail from Jim Bob, that makes you wonder if Joe Bob has posted a response to what you wrote on his wall on Facebook, then on Facebook you see that link from Bobbi Sue to the video on YouTube of the pug licking the glass, that makes you wonder what was the name of the pug in the movie ‘Men in Black’ and so you google that and that takes you to wikipedia and at this point it is all over because pugs lead to House of Orange which leads to Dutch Revolution then to painters and so on.  Four hours later you are well on your way of becoming a real life Cliff Clavin, still have not completed one important item on your to do list.
The solution is remove and or manage distractions by forming habits and using tools that help you avoid them.  The central key is to remove anything that may pull your attention away from the task at hand and create an environment where you can focus on the task that you need to accomplish.  There are count techniques on doing this.  This article is just one of countless and lists ten things to do to avoid distractions which I think are effective, if practiced.
But you really don't need ten or twenty or even five techniques to be less distracted, you need to apply one.  My personal favorite techique to aid in the fight against procrastination is time blocking (apparently this term is outdated because an article in FastCompany, but it fits and I like it). Many times the task at hand is so daunting that you simply won't start.  You can a technique called time blocking by deciding to only work on the task for a predefined period of time.  For example, you have to write a report, you know its going to take you hours and you avoiding starting.  Simply decide to work on it for thirty minutes and then take a five minute break.  I honestly think this is one of the best techniques for improving your focus when working on a task.

Now stop being distracted by my amazing prose and witty , pick something that you NEED to get done today and do it!