Are You Distracted?

How many of you are distracted by the onslaught of emails, texts, voice calls and the like? How about the Web and its billions of enticing sites and information? How about by your own thoughts and the pleasant and unpleasant fantasies they spin?

While multi-tasking is a powerful skill set to develop, it is clear that too much of it or multitasking done in a reactive mode detracts from optimal performance. Distraction diminishes performance and may impact relationships.

Distraction

Distraction is nothing new and does not rely on technology. Though, the recent advances in technology and media have made distraction much more obvious and widespread. People now walk down the street texting, talking and emailing. They do it at the movies and even when carrying on a conversation.

Distraction is the diversion of attention from a chosen point of interest to another object. Individuals are distracted by internal and external events. Thoughts and feelings are internal events. External events can be anything from being jostled physically to the receipt of an email, phone call or text message. External distractions trigger internal distractions and these, our unmanaged thoughts, take us off on a trip we may have no intention of taking.

Thoughts arise; we can give them any level of attention - from being completely unaware of them, to simply noticing and letting go, to complete absorption. We can choose to follow a train of thought or not. When a text comes through we can also have the same possibilities. We miss the ping; hear it and ignore it, hear it and check it to see if it deserves more attention, attend to it and get caught up in a dialogue.

Then another interruption comes through. Maybe it's an email or a phone call or a reminder that you are completely ignoring the person you are with physically or on the phone with and now there is another level of activity. How many levels of interruption can you manage at one time without getting lost?

Or maybe it is a thought about how you should be doing something that you completely forgot about, and you are off again on a mind trip only to be interrupted by another thought that takes your attention.

The same sequence is true for any distraction. There is the initiating event, awareness of the event, consideration, and attention shift.

Distraction Requires an Accomplice

Events are potential distractions. Thoughts, texts and the like are not distractions in and of themselves. Distraction requires an accomplice. The mind has to latch onto the interrupting event in order for there to be distraction. There is a conscious or unconscious decision to follow a new train of thought and action.

Working with Distractions

Working with distractions is about building two capabilities,

1) mindfulness, and 2) concentration. Mindfulness strengthens the ability to see things as they occur moment to moment while concentration gives the ability to choose what we pay attention to. An intention to stay focused is added to the mix. The intention is the motivator to apply the effort to choose whether to follow the urge to pay attention to the distraction or not.

Tsoknyi Rimpoche uses an analogy that compares mindfulness to a doorman at a hotel. The doorman observes everyone coming in and going out. Most people are simply allowed to pass with nothing more than a nod or greeting. Some few are stopped at the door for one reason or another. Some are missed as the doorman is busy with something or someone else. That's how the mind works. Thoughts arise and may be missed, simply allowed to pass away or given attention.

There are innumerable events occurring all the time. There is no way to stop them completely. Even if you could put yourself in a place where there were no external interruptions your thoughts would still be there. Sure it may be possible to completely still the thoughts, but let's be honest, that isn't about to happen anytime soon for most of us. Even if it does, it is more likely a temporary state.

If the doorman is asleep or distracted, then anyone can come in. Any thought in the untrained mind can take attention. Once it does then it becomes the current object and it leads the mind into a train of thinking and doing, thoughts being the seeds of action.

What to do?

There are two basic strategies when it comes to distractions. They work together.

The first strategyis to minimize and manage external interruptions. When it comes to working, relaxing or meditating, shut yourself off. Find a comfortable place, let those around you know you don't want interruptions (with noted exceptions) for a defined time. Minimize external interruptions, for example, turn off your cell phone, let calls go to voice mail; filter emails and IMs. Set up one to two hour dedicated work periods so you can more easily focus without interruption, treat them like a meeting with an important person. Set up times when you are available for communication with others. Maintain an up to date prioritized list of things to do to keep you from constantly worrying about what you could or should be doing. In short take control of your life and time, to the extent that you can.

The second strategy is to better manage the interruptions that inevitably occur. Here is where intention, effort, mindfulness and concentration are used to take control of your mind.

Interruptions become distractions because we find them:

1) More pleasurable or interesting or engaging than the current object of attention. Pleasure gets our attention and the desire to hold onto it causes the distraction. The urge arises to follow the juicy thought and we go off on a mind trip.

2) Less painful. Pain gets our attention. Fear of future pain or a strong desire to get rid of current pain cause the distraction. For example, we are compelled to answer the phone or attend to the ping because we are either bored or fear that if we don't answer we will get in some trouble or lose a friend; if we don't focus on the wonderful idea that just came we will lose it forever.

In either case, the hard work is to stay on the chosen point of attention; fight the urge. An itch does not have to be scratched and a ringing phone does not have to be answered. When it comes to thoughts, we can let mindfulness filter them for us, like the doorman.

So the first strategy is to take control of the external environment and the second is to take control of the internal workings of the mind.

Mind Training

Mind training is the use of meditation and better understanding of the way the mind works to enable choice in what we think and do. Meditation cultivates mindfulness and concentration while understanding the nature of mind promotes choices that enhance optimal performance. The two work together. Meditation gives rise to the insight into the nature of mind and the understanding that comes from the insight enables meditation.

G.I. Gurdieff used the analogy of a horse drawn coach and its driver to point out that the coach (the body), the horses (the emotions) and the driver (the intellect) left to themselves will go anywhere and everywhere. Who is directing? In the coach it is a passenger, the master, who is telling the driver to control the horses and bring the coach to a desired destination. The master is awareness. What directs your mind? What do you do to cultivate the awareness that will let you choose your destinations and manage distractions?

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