Insights
Some say we should celebrate small wins.
And we should.
But such an instruction also comes with a hidden danger: we can sometimes end up celebrating too much, too soon.
That’s at least what happened in my case this week. Having read the initial parts of an article assigned for the week or written the first few sections of my response paper, I decided to celebrate these small wins and perhaps legitimately so. But before I knew it, I had gone overboard with these ‘celebrations’ and ended up wasting hours at a stretch. It was too much, too soon. A few such instances and I found myself working on the weekend to make up for all the time lost in premature celebration.
There is also the matter of how we choose to celebrate these small milestones. Some ways (such as taking a walk or talking to a friend) genuinely relax and nourish us and prepare us for the next round of mental labour. Other ways (such as going on Youtube or social media) not only deny us the required relaxation but often leave us more distracted and with less time.
One should certainly pause at regular intervals, in the course of our days or weeks, and acknowledge and celebrate the progress we have made. That’s essential for sustaining our motivation over the long-term. But remember that small wins merit only small celebrations, which also need to be appropriately timed and the mode of celebration carefully chosen.
Ideas
I often rely on a method to manage my distractions through the day. And this came quite handy this week, with all the distractions I was faced with.
When I work, I keep a small (physical) notepad next to me, to note down all the ‘important’ things that occur to me that demand to be checked out ‘immediately’. That friend I forgot to call. That email I have to write. That book or idea that I want to look up. That bill that needs to be paid. Some of these things might be genuinely important to attend to and there is a serious risk of forgetting them again, if they are not acted on in some way immediately.
Keeping a notepad of this kind ensures that you record these things as and when they occur to you and you can revisit these notes at the end of a work session or the work day and decide whether and when to act on them. This way, every time a thought crosses your mind (pressing or otherwise), you won’t find yourself reaching for your phone or other devices to act on it right away. We know all too well what happens when we open those flood gates.
How do you manage your distractions? Leave a comment to continue the conversation.
Inspiration
This week, I realised that the game of PhD is essentially a contest between the two teams of focus and distraction. Whoever scores most goals for Team Focus, wins. It is as simple as that.
But the thing is this is not a game of equals. Focus is an eternal beginner in a game, where distraction is the rule as well as the ruler.
Our predicament, thus, is this: learning to maintain our fragile focus, in the face of overpowering distractions every single minute of every single day. Easier said than done, especially in a time where our focus and attention is the new dollar.
As you step into this next week, ask yourself: what distractions do I have to contend with this week and how do I plan to do that?
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