I mentioned in the previous post that I had a 'distraction moment' while writing it:
Before I posted the last one, my wife mentioned that she had neglected to get the mail on her way in, and wondered if I could go get it. I replied that I would, and decided to be extra efficient and let the cat in at the same time (I had let him outside a few hours back and it was getting dark so it was time to come in). So I went to get the cat, and was pleasantly surprised when he came almost instantly at my call - so surprised in fact, that I let him in, went back upstairs, and finished the blog post - completely forgetting the mail. As I was finishing up, my wife asked if I got the mail, and I admitted to having forgotten, even though that was the main reason I went outside in the first place.
Basically, I was distracted by my blog about distraction. (sigh).
I'm going to go get that mail now (wish me luck).
Friday 25 March 2011
Dealing with distraction: The basic premise
I often poke fun at my wife for her limited attention span when we're sitting in a pub across from a television set; it doesn't matter what's on, it could be golf, car racing, stock updates, or a soap opera, her eyes are drawn to it like iridescent bluets to the porch light on a mid-summer's evening (to any entomologists out there, I know that bluets don't fly much past dinner-time, but there aren't any crepuscular critters that more aptly describe the colours in her eyes). It's not that she doesn't care about what I (or someone else) is saying, it's that the intense colours, varied movement, and constant sound of a television set is difficult to compete with for almost anyone's attention. My face is more limited to a few shades of colour between beige-tinted white and rose, occasional contortions of a few narrow-ranged muscles and a voice that is easily over-powered by the clamor of a noisy public-house; perhaps I have an advantage of three dimensionality, but this will probably not be an advantage for long by the way our entertainment technology is advancing these days. No, the television is definitely more interesting than I am in this situation, so to deal with this distraction, I strategically take the seat that faces the television myself when we go to a restaurant or pub with TV's. Not that I'm really any better at avoiding distraction in general mind you. I'm probably a much more accomplished procrastinator than my wife, and procrastination is in many ways an outward manifestation of distractability, but I seem to be able to avert my eyes from the TV a little more easily than she can.
Lest I mislead the reader into thinking otherwise, I want to qualify that this blog is not, in fact, meant to be a complaint session of how people these days prefer to stare at their phones, laptops, and eyelids (the inside, more specifically), than at their teachers. Such a topic would be an endlessly entertaining way to vent and would probably generate a broad following of similarly frustrated or disenchanted teachers, but no, it's been done. Many times. And although I will certainly draw on the relationship between our increasingly ADD society and the powerful stimuli we are constantly presented with through such media as i-phones and laptops, this blog is more personal than that.
I qualified in the first paragraph that I'm probably a far more effective procrastinator than my wife is; I will now be so bold as to qualify that statement even further, and say that I am probably a more effective procrastinator than most of you ever were or will be. This doesn't mean that I can't focus at all - obviously writing a masters thesis in biology requires at least a little bit of focus - rather, it means that my brain is really good at coming up with other things to do instead of what I should be doing, and at finding ways to justify pursuing these alternate tasks. This leads to me often being late, because I come up with last-minute things that need to be done before I leave or before I get to the more important tasks. I get less done, because so much time is taken up with trivial momentary fancies, and occasionally, I even miss-out entirely on really great opportunities because I'm so busy playing catch-up all the time. I would even go so far as to say that my habit of procrastination has reduced the time I can spend with my friends and family and the number of vacations I can take, and increased my stress level substantially. Basically, it really sucks to be an easily distracted person when you have lofty goals, but there's no denying that this is exactly what I am at this point.
So now that I have identified what I consider to be a fairly significant problem, you might be wondering if this entire blog is going to be about the funny things that result from my short attention span be applied to a PhD program, my personal life, etc. The answer is "not entirely", but yes, I will be posting some entertaining stories of my absent-mindedness. My next post will be one such story in fact, one that came up while I was writing this that was too good not to share. But more importantly, this blog will be about my efforts to get a grip on my attention span, and to become more efficient and productive in general. I will draw from the psychology literature, personal experience, my friends, and whatever else I can to increase my self-discipline, create more focus and self-awareness, and most importantly, get enough done during the week that I can feel comfortable about using the weekend to rest or pursue non-academic interests (as a procrastinator, I have many of them). I look forward to using this as a tool for self-reflection and personal development, and I hope along the way I can entertain, educate, and perhaps even inspire my readers to make similar personal goals. Here goes nothing!!
Lest I mislead the reader into thinking otherwise, I want to qualify that this blog is not, in fact, meant to be a complaint session of how people these days prefer to stare at their phones, laptops, and eyelids (the inside, more specifically), than at their teachers. Such a topic would be an endlessly entertaining way to vent and would probably generate a broad following of similarly frustrated or disenchanted teachers, but no, it's been done. Many times. And although I will certainly draw on the relationship between our increasingly ADD society and the powerful stimuli we are constantly presented with through such media as i-phones and laptops, this blog is more personal than that.
I qualified in the first paragraph that I'm probably a far more effective procrastinator than my wife is; I will now be so bold as to qualify that statement even further, and say that I am probably a more effective procrastinator than most of you ever were or will be. This doesn't mean that I can't focus at all - obviously writing a masters thesis in biology requires at least a little bit of focus - rather, it means that my brain is really good at coming up with other things to do instead of what I should be doing, and at finding ways to justify pursuing these alternate tasks. This leads to me often being late, because I come up with last-minute things that need to be done before I leave or before I get to the more important tasks. I get less done, because so much time is taken up with trivial momentary fancies, and occasionally, I even miss-out entirely on really great opportunities because I'm so busy playing catch-up all the time. I would even go so far as to say that my habit of procrastination has reduced the time I can spend with my friends and family and the number of vacations I can take, and increased my stress level substantially. Basically, it really sucks to be an easily distracted person when you have lofty goals, but there's no denying that this is exactly what I am at this point.
So now that I have identified what I consider to be a fairly significant problem, you might be wondering if this entire blog is going to be about the funny things that result from my short attention span be applied to a PhD program, my personal life, etc. The answer is "not entirely", but yes, I will be posting some entertaining stories of my absent-mindedness. My next post will be one such story in fact, one that came up while I was writing this that was too good not to share. But more importantly, this blog will be about my efforts to get a grip on my attention span, and to become more efficient and productive in general. I will draw from the psychology literature, personal experience, my friends, and whatever else I can to increase my self-discipline, create more focus and self-awareness, and most importantly, get enough done during the week that I can feel comfortable about using the weekend to rest or pursue non-academic interests (as a procrastinator, I have many of them). I look forward to using this as a tool for self-reflection and personal development, and I hope along the way I can entertain, educate, and perhaps even inspire my readers to make similar personal goals. Here goes nothing!!
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