You know that I’m a HUGE fan of the 50-minute focus and when I teach this to others, one of the most popular questions is “how do I eliminate distractions?”
Aside from the obvious, such as physically unplugging the internet, closing yourself if a quiet room, and shutting off your cell phone, there may be something you haven’t thought of that may make your 50 minutes so much more productive.
“Be Alone With Your Thoughts”
I recently discovered to REALLY shut out distractions and “be alone with my thoughts”, I need to have headphones on. I don’t listen to anything; they just shut the world out for me.
I discovered this a while back after a skype call when I realized they were still on my head hours after the call ended. I didn’t notice because I was enjoying was the ‘silence’ and I could ‘hear’ myself think.
I believe this ‘habit’ or ‘comfort zone’ breeds from my decades in the studio mixing music. I recall the BEST mixes I produced were the ones that I mixed-down inside my headphones. (A mix-down is when you take all 30 or 40 or 60 individual ‘tracks’ (pieces of music) and blend them into the final 2-track stereo version.)
It’s definitely an art and producers mix-down differently with the most popular (like you see on tv) within a sound proof studio room. However, even though I had that environment, I still didn’t feel “one” with the music until I put the “cans” on; because that way I was completely immersed in the song,(many times for 6-8 hours straight without a break) listening to every small detail and shut off from the world.
Look For Your Sanctuary
It’s THIS one ‘aha’ that recently made my focus better! Now, if I truly want to be “one” with my thoughts, I put headphones on and I immediately feel the sanctuary my state of mind delivers to be most productive.
I don’t know what it is for you, but I’ll bet there’s something that you can do that will put your productive time through the roof. Some people (and I’ll NEVER understand this because I’m the opposite) need to have music or background noise present in order to concentrate.
Others may need to physically change their surrounding like going to a public spot like Starbucks.
Whatever it is, make sure you do it – because focusing on one thing for a dedicated amount of time is the ONLY way you will be productive.
(BTW, I wrote this in 15 minutes without headphones one, imagine if I had put the cans on!!)
Why not share your unique way of ‘shutting out the world’ with me below?