Pop Quiz: Your Biggest Distraction is Closer Than You Think
Quiz time!!
Quick, name something you do 50+ times a day, generally without thinking.
Hint, the culprit is likely within 6’ of you at any given time.
The answer…
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How to notice when you are repeating a bad habit like phone scrolling without thinking.
Picking Up Your Phone. Not sure you believe me? Turn on your screen time monitor (Apple or Android) if you want to see your stats. Seeing those numbers really helped me put things into perspective. I dare you to start monitoring yours (and try to not be a little shocked at the results).
Surprised? It’s likely been in your hands the last 10+ minutes, googling, stalking, scrolling, ♥️ and hopefully adding meaningful comments (it is called SOCIAL media after all).
Then after we get our scroll fill, we set it down. And then within literally minutes (or less) feel the pull to pick it back up.
ping of a new email
incoming app notification
thinking maybe someone posted a new reel
squirrel attention span, allowing 10,000 other things that cross your mind and pull you back to your phone
The Phone Addiction
Sometimes it’s not even the actual notification alert that gets us, it’s just the pure impulsive, addicted desire for a quick dopamine hit or resistance to settling into focusing on what really needs our attention. I really woke up to the science of this in reading Unhackable by Kary Oberbrunner. He calls out how these distractions keep us from making progress on or achieving our goals. Having this called out and put into context about making progress on my personal growth and professional goals made the knowledge that much more meaningful.
“Dopamine starts you seeking, then you are rewarded for the seeking, which makes you seek more. It becomes hard and harder to stop looking at email, stop texting or stop checking your cell phone to see if you have a new message or new text.”
Break the Addiction
When we let technology take over, it can contribute to our sense of burn out. Mindlessly scrolling does little to fill ourselves back up and contributes to even more brain stimulation and exhaustion. Let’s work to break the addiction and set up some boundaries with our phones.
turn on the screen time tracker to establish your baseline
reduce notifications
place your phone outside of arm’s reach
set up focus time to get things done & actually live your life
Use Technology Better
As I shared on Instagram, one notification I didn’t mute on my phone was the I Am affirmations app. (Not an ad, just love this app) It sends me affirmations personalized to the areas that I want to focus on several times a day and it has been a bigger game changer than I expected.
It sends helpful reminders to refocus my thoughts and energies toward my intentions, generally popping up at just the right time. So while it is a distraction, it is one that helps remind me of what I’m working toward and gives me a little boost of inspiration I can put toward my summer bucket lists.
Power of Words
Today as I sat stream of consciousness journaling and my mind having a tough time getting the words out and throwing up resistance, I gave in and grabbed my phone so I could look up something. And in a moment of synchronicity, this was the timely reminder that had popped up-
“I will focus on progress”
That’s all you can expect of yourself, progress not perfection. If you’re raising your awareness and taking any form of action, it’s progress.
Even when it feels like it’s backward progress some days.
So here’s to progress, in all its forms, including raising our awareness of what is slowing us down. I’m totally cheering you on!
Leave a comment to tell me what you were most surprised about with your screen time numbers or what goal you are making progress on.
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