Managing Distractions

‘You can always find a distraction if you're looking for one.’ – Tom Kite

Whether they're emails, text messages, social media, surfing the Internet or someone stopping by your desk for a chat, distractions take you away from what you are meant to be doing.

A distraction can be anything that diverts your attention, that you allow yourself to be attracted to. A distraction is a pleasant diversion. It can either come from yourself – something you're attracted to doing – or it can come as an interruption from someone else.

There's a difference, though, between an interruption and a distraction. Simply put, if you are driving your car, a red traffic light is an interruption. If you choose to take a detour, it's a distraction.

Distractions take away your focus from what you were doing for a longer period of time than an interruption. Distractions often need a lot of energy and effort to get you back to your main task.

And when distractions take up too much of your time and prevent you from getting your work done, it creates more stress for you and makes you more frustrated at work. But distractions are in your control.