Distractions, Performance & Resilience

I was doing a leadership session the other day and was asked the question: “what is something that everyone must do better with?”.

My response in the moment was “manage your distractions” and I thought to share that here.

I’m probably a bit of a time management “freak”. I believe in rigorously maximizing time and focus during the day. Maybe even to a fault.

But when you stop and think about it, distractions can cause stress, anxiety and for sure personal performance issues.

Every time we “allow” (yes, allow) ourselves to get distracted, depending upon how deeply we were immersed in something, it can take upwards of 20-30 minutes to get fully back into it. It’s a huge productivity time suck. And those distractions add up mentally, causing task time compression, which can chip away at our cognitive energy and slowly deplete our resilience due to the stress and anxiety induced.

To get better here, be more tuned into your self awareness and rigorously practice denying the distractions. Take more control of your time and more deliberately manage life’s “rabbit holes” (or whatever phrases you like to use to describe “off roading”). Make every minute count.