How to Eliminate Distractions and Be More Productive

It’s human nature to be distractable, but you can learn how to overcome that weakness to be more effective and productive

Photo by Charles Black and courtesy of Chuck Black Photography

It’s you on the cold hard table in the operating room. The surgery is important. Your future health and happiness lay in the balance. Do you want you surgeon to be “efficient” by working on something else — like dictating hospital record, answering phone calls, or checking email — while he or she does your surgery?

No, you want your doctors entirely focused on the task at hand. You expect 100% of your surgeon’s attention to be absorbed in your operation. So why do you expect less from yourself?

You can recognize that a surgeon who tries to be “efficient” by multitasking during your operation is not the physician you want operating on you. You know that surgery requires complete focus to achieve the best outcome, but you settle for less from yourself. You try to be more efficient by answering emails while talking on the phone. You keep multiple windows open on your computer so you can jump from one task to another without ever finishing the task you are on. You allow phone calls, email alerts, and notifications to break your concentration — all things you would not want your surgeon to do but that you find acceptable in yourself.