The Distraction Link

Mad Fish Digital
You are impatient because you are distracted

Impatience and distraction are linked. This is something that people do not realize but fall victim to all the time. You are set, you have a goal, you need some focus time to achieve your objective for the day. As you sit down to focus on your task, the cost of that task goes up.

Your inner mind starts to reconcile the cost of that work, and you start to object. You start to think that maybe the cost of this work is too high. Normally, you will just buckle down and overcome this. However, this is where distraction comes into play.

You have distractions all around you. Phone. TV. News. Email, and many other sources are now potential areas of lower cost. You can get a reward with lower cost, so you mind starts to rationalize and before you know it you are no longer focused and you are looking for something to do that has a lower cost. Cost in terms of effort and time.

Having distractions around you is a sure fire way to reduce you ability to focus, not because you cannot focus, but because you are looking for a lower cost way to spend your time. In this manner, distractions end up creating an increase in impatience and feed the desire to abandon the focused task and do something else.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Share the Post:

Recent Blogs

Day 320 – Beware, Modern Traveler

This article explores the human tendency to label and categorize the unknown, from ancient explanations like the incubus to modern diagnoses and algorithms. It highlights the danger of mistaking a label for reality and the importance of maintaining curiosity even when confronted with seemingly certain explanations.

Read More

Day 319 – Autonomous is Constrained

The author recounts their experience building an autonomous agent named Tyler, initially hoping it would handle various tasks. They discovered that true autonomy for an agent is not about unlimited freedom but rather about defined responsibilities and a constrained operating envelope, similar to managing an employee. The author concludes that a series of smaller, specialized bots with clear responsibilities is more effective than a single, all-encompassing autonomous agent.

Read More

Day 318 – Quiet the Inner Monologue

Researchers discovered that temporarily shutting down the prefrontal cortex in mice allowed them to adopt better, unlearned paths in a maze. This suggests that our active brain can sometimes hinder us from adopting new and improved methods, favoring learned ones instead. The findings imply that quieting our inner monologue might help us find better solutions.

Read More

Day 317 – Work is a Human Problem

Studs Terkel’s 1974 book ‘Working’ explored what people truly seek in their jobs beyond financial compensation, revealing a human desire for meaning, dignity, and recognition. This perspective is increasingly relevant today with the rise of AI and automation, prompting us to reconsider the inherent value of human work.

Read More
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x