Watch Out for Worthy Distractions
You have a project status report due in a week. You don’t love writing reports. It’s not what you went into IT to do. But you have to do it and part of your report requires a comparison to similar systems.
So, you go online to check some statistics that you want to cite in your report. As you’re browsing about you notice an interesting article on web database integration. Ooh! you remember that in about six months you’re going to be starting work on a new database system that will need to get to the web. So you have a quick peek. After all, it’s important information you are going to need.
Fast forward, it’s two hours later, you’ve read this article, two others that were related and you have 15 bookmarks of different resources for your design. That was productive…NOT!
I get where you’re coming from. You really love designing databases. And that information is critical. Who knows if you would have ever found it again? But here’s the thing: That report is going to seriously impact your credibility with your boss and co-workers. Right now, no one is asking you anything about your database plan.
You may be veering off from focusing on the report because you don’t like writing. You may be veering off course because the report carries a scary deadline whereas the database project is still in the “fun” learning stage. Or perhaps you simply love database work and you are drawn to databases like Odysseus to the Muse.
Whatever the reason, take notice of the fact that this distraction is a particularly difficult one to catch and remedy because it is, after all, a worthy distraction. Or at least it appears that way at the moment. It’s not the latest baseball scores or a critique of Kim Kardashian’s maternity clothes. This is work related! And all those database integration resources are really very useful.
The problem is that they are not useful today. And as worthy as the distraction may be, it’s still a distraction from the important task you have to complete right now.
The challenge, of course, is to remain vigilant and mindful of where your attention is being placed at any moment. To remain aware of which project or task demands your full attention. And as worthy as some piece of information, email or phone call may be for the future, it’s the present that needs to remain in sharp focus at all times. Sometimes, we have to put on blinkers for our own good.
How do you know when you’re engaging in a worthy distraction? Well, I can’t say I have the perfect test, but here’s a good one from a friend who admits to having this challenge in spades. She calls it the “gut check.” Pay attention to how you feel in your stomach. Usually, when we are working on something we don’t like, but that has to be completed, we have a bit of a tension knot of anxiety in our stomachs. If you follow that interesting link and feel the knot seem to ease, while it’s still really gnawing at you in the background, it’s a sign you are probably off-mission with a worthy distraction. Because that relief is coming from avoidance not completion.
So next time you feel knotted up and tense about the work you have to get done. Feel good about it. And stick with that feeling till you make it through. Then there will be plenty of time for your favorite distractions.
