The most effective productivity strategies are usually pretty simple, and keeping a distractions list is no different. For focusing more deeply, it’s in a league of its own.
Here’s the tactic: As you focus on an important task, keep a sheet of paper by your side to capture all of the distractions that come up. I personally like keeping mine on these 4×6-inch Post-it notes.
The key is to capture everything. When you want to stop working on what’s in front of you to check email, capture that on your distractions list so that you can re-focus on the task at hand. When you want to pick up your phone instead of writing, put that on the list too. When it occurs to you to follow up with someone, capture that as well.
These days, it can be incredibly challenging to focus on one thing at a time. Especially when we’ve got emails flying in, tasks we need to remember to do, and ideas we need to capture that occur to us as we do something else.
Keeping a distractions list is a simple tactic, but it’s a great hack for staying focused on one thing at a time.
As a bonus, when you’re finished with the task you intended to focus on, you get to go to town on your list. I personally capture every distraction that tries to derail my attention as I focus. Then, once my focus timer goes off, I engage with every distraction on the list—many of which were originally an impulse to engage with something interesting, like checking my social media accounts.
Not all interruptions and distractions are within our control.
But more often than not, the things that derail your attention as you work are. Keeping a distractions list is worthwhile if you want to focus more deeply and accomplish more in the same amount of time—while enjoying yourself guilt-free afterward.
