Ep. 124 - Time Management: Distractions in Disguise

Continuing on this week with our time management series, we are going to explore the "sneaky ways" in which we can undermine our productivity. From busying ourselves with other tasks, over researching (or over scrolling), to perfectionism paralysis, there are many ways for time to disappear. Learn how to recognize the daily distraction temptations and time you’re trading for them. 

Transcript

Okay, friends, this episode is going to help us get real clear on where we are leaking our time. We all know the sensation of that busy buzz and then the fog of fatigue that follows. Today, we’re going to look closer at where we tend to donate our time through distraction. And, hey, we all do it. 

The purpose of this episode in our time management series is to help become more aware of when and how we’re trading our time through common distractions. Let’s start by revisiting Episode 5…

There's also a couple of different components of productivity we’re going to dig into today. One of them is called procrastination by productivity. And what I mean by this is I'm never more inclined to go into the kitchen and do the dishes unless there's something more important that I need to do. More urgent. 

But our brain tricks us by saying, “Wait, if we go get that other thing done, if we check something off the list, then we’ve actually been productive today. No, I didn't get around to doing that big thing. But I was busy.” 

It’s also a chemical response. When you feel a sense of achievement, regardless of what it is that you just achieved, your body receives a dopamine rush. These neurons that fire together now start getting wired together – they’re linking arms. And when your body feels this dopamine reward, your brain pays attention to it and says, hey, what caused that, and it makes a note to remind you to repeat it. 

So the next time you feel like you want to go online shopping when you’re supposed to be doing something else online, remember you got a reward sometime in the past for what is being called to you in the present that is distracting you. 

So pay attention to where you are finding yourself procrastinating but calling it productivity. When you are paying the bills or doing laundry or responding to that long list of non-urgent things when you should really be tackling that one bigger thing, or multiple larger things. And I'm just as guilty of this. 

Another way that we procrastinate by productivity is by research. If you’ve ever been looking to purchase something, and you've thought: Let me just read all these thousand user reviews. Let me go out and look at some articles on the best way that I should upload this, download this, add this to my cart. I once spent 45 minutes reading reviews of dog food. Seriously. Sometimes, we need to just do the thing. But we convince ourselves that we’re being productive. 

Another way that we can procrastinate is with an old friend to some of us, called perfectionism. I'm not able to complete that, so, I’m gonna procrastinate by being a perfectionist. I'll tell myself it's not the right time right now. I need to learn more, I need to get certified, maybe I should go back to school, you know what, I'll just watch a bunch of online videos, and I'm not going to share this with anybody because it's still a rough idea.

We allow our perfectionism to help us procrastinate because it feels socially acceptable. And, remember, our brain’s job is to keep us safe. Polishing the last 5% of a task for a few more months feels safe. 

Ooo, did any of those sound familiar? After teaching these three concepts for several years, I also discovered another common distraction, which is excerpted here from Episode 49 about other people’s problems and the distraction of good deeds:

The exploration on this topic is when help becomes a ready excuse for why you allow your time to be spent so freely by others – or you spend it yourself in service to others. What is the compound cost of that time against your own priorities and progress? 

The initial ask or opportunity does have a quick brain impulse. Ah ha! Someone needs something and I CAN HELP! That quickly percolates however into a busy buzz in the back of the brain and it starts to feel something like this: 

·        Hmm, this is taking longer than I thought it would. 

·        I hope they appreciate what I’m doing for them. 

·        How come people don’t help me like this?

There’s a lot marinating in our mind. Going back to the distraction element, the altruistic excuse is a very dependable one. How can other people argue about your delayed responses and actions when you were, very clearly, being of service to someone or something that is bigger than you?

This can show up as innocently as responding to someone else’s “Hey do you have a minute?” as a welcome break from whatever you were doing. But that minute never really seems to last only a minute. 

Or we start attaching hierarchy to the ask, such as when a boss or loved one asks for our help and we hesitate to say that we are actually in the middle of something else. Their need circumvents our own. There are also the times when we do this deliberately because we see it as a chance to get “extra credit” in the books. 

While all of these may make sense in the moment, the bill comes due at the end and you’re the one holding the check. Sure, the thing got done, the person got helped, and then you’re back to where you started – hours or days later – wondering why you’re not making the progress you want or why you always feel so fatigued. Or you end up spending extra time to catch up on your own list of things once all those boxes from other people got checked.

If any of this feels familiar, there is an opportunity to revisit the cognitive cost of your mental menu. How much does that “have-a-minute” actually cost? Maybe not cost them, but cost you. If there is a hesitation to share the value of your time, that’s often a signal that the people who order from your menu often benefit from discounted rates. And that’s not on them. They’re simply buying what you’re not selling. 

The challenge here is for you to look at the true inflation. What is the real cost of what you donate? An easy ‘yes’ today to be seen as a helper can quickly accumulate more meetings, tasks, and actions that you didn’t intend. It’s also important to ask if all that extra credit you think you’re accumulating actually carries any store credit. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t but it’s hard to know if you never actually try to redeem it. 

And the larger question here is how often and how willingly you jump to pitch in and help out. Even if others genuinely appreciate the effort, explore if this is a tactic you use to avoid the extra steps in the goals you said you wanted. 

If you’re busy making life easier for others, you don’t get to enjoy the fruits of your own labor. This is especially true if you’re the type of person who is always willing to help but rarely likes to ask for help.

It’s good to be good to others and it’s even more powerful to be good to yourself. That doesn’t make you selfish. That makes you dependable…to you. 

Thanks for listening. This episode was intentionally a little longer to combine the insights of different distractions. Not all apply or show up in the same way. You know yourself best so see where you find patterns and opportunities to move up on your own list. 

And in the week ahead, take care to take good care of you, first.