There are days where I am easily distracted. To be honest in those moments I need to not sit and watch YouTube, scroll Instagram or any other not useful distraction. Normally I’d just do My Story Of I work that is finished easily but I have a hard time walking away from it so it is not an option. Meaning I had to think of other productive distractions that would do the trick and wouldn’t take me all too long. Another aspect that was important was either finishing the task or part of a bigger task and preferably have some variation in it all. A long list of demands to fill ~10 minutes at a time.
I found a really great way to utilize my moments of distraction. Kind of a cheat code to enjoy my distractions and get stuff done as well, instead of ruining my life with addictive things that help me waste even more time. I am looking at you YouTube.. The hours I’ve spent watching TEDtalks is kinda shameful. However no more or at least when I actually have the time for it. Anyways what I started doing is give myself 10 to 13 minutes of ‘’distraction time’’ to get it out of my system and then continue my tasks at hand.
I think my productive distractions fall under 3 categories; ‘’1 Preparing’’, ’’ 2 Housework’’ and ‘’3 Workouts‘’. Category number ‘’1’’ means preparing for things I can later finish or start up. I think the category housework speaks for itself and so does workouts. Even though I myself have not made the work out schedules. To make things more clear, I have some examples below.
My Top 3 Productive Distractions
1. Preparing
- … to do my nails by filing them. I know it seems weird but in my opinion I take an ungodly long time doing that simple activity so I tend to prefer doing it in passing. For example when I am distracted..
- … my face masks such as my honey mask. When I need them I just need to take one out of the fridge and smear my face.
- … for the next day. This really varies from ironing my clothes already, or preparing my lunch. Basically this has everything to do with making the next morning all about getting myself out of the door the way firemen do.
2. Housework
- Folding clothes. It seems logical to fold clothes that have just been washed, which I do however you only get so far if you live by yourself and are not wearing 7 sets of clothes a day. So what I started doing was tidying up my closet by refolding everything. I know, crazy, however the aesthetic you’ll end up with is very pleasing.
- General organizing. I do have to admit that I tidy up my house every night, just as in putting things back where they belong because I love waking up to an organized house. For me general tidying also means vacuuming, making a list of groceries or some dusting. Doing them all at once takes too long however, one task at a time is not that bad🤷🏽
3. Workouts
- So I think at the end of 2017 I started digging around for at home workouts. I ended up finding a bunch of those ‘’too good to be true’’ 30 day plans. The body they promise you’re going to get is really too good to be true.. I mean 30 days and ‘’six pack babe’’ action, to me, is an oversell. However, I use three different ones just to stay in shape and each one takes me about 15 minutes. All three of them are stretching variations with a little cardio. The reason I use workouts as productive distractions is because my mind goes completely blank and it leaves me feeling good and energized to tackle my to do list.
These are some of the things I do when I notice my focus is off instead of telling myself a million times to focus. As you might have noticed the list is full of things one tends to either put off or are things that if I do them at that moment I will be happier later. I hope the examples help you find things in your life you can do instead of being mean to yourself about not being able to focus. Remember just like your body needs rest, your mind deserves breaks as well!
Who knew being distracted could be turned into something lucrative?!
Love,
DCPR.
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