How to quickly deal with internal distractions?

“ It is going to be a great opportunity to concentrate on making progress writing this chapter “.

I told myself  sitting on a desk at my office on a friday afternoon, thrilled by the idea of moving forward.

As  I was trying to prepare, I started drafting the  contents when for no reason, an idea pops up.

” perhaps I can  take a train and go  visit my girlfriend . “

”  you can’t”  Conscious mind said.

“Why not ?”, Procrastinator reacted immediately

” Because you were there last week ” ….

I knew I had to get rid of  this thought quickly before the idea nurtures and I ended up booking a train ticket . There is nothing more powerful than an  internal distraction of this kind.

Since I  couldn’t direct my thinking, instead of trying to resist I did this:

I took a pen and start writing this 12 times ( you can also do it mentally in your head but I recommend writing because it forces you switch your thinking from something external to your mind)

Step : I accept to let go of Xxx .I accept I will miss Xxx that I wanted to see/ hear so much because of Yyyyy. I prefer to do Zzz instead because otherwise I will regret when event Eee happen.

By the time I was doing the 12 reps, it didn’t think about travelling anymore and proceed to work on the contents again.

This method is powerful, simple and straightforward. Just repeating (verbally, mentally , writing) that you agree to lose something is effective to make the internal distraction disappear temporarily.

Are you thinking about  your phone messages when you should be working on a meeting report?

• I accept to let go of taking a look at my phone   .I accept I will miss friendly/ lovely messages that I hope to receive from xxx that i reallyI want to see/ hear . I prefer to do  end my report instead because otherwise I will regret not to  

Are you impatient and can’t wait to  see your favorite movie instead of ending your powerpoint presentation?

•  I accept  to let go of the movie Mmmm. I accept that I will miss the episode Eee  that i want to see so much because I can’t wait to see what happens to actor Aaaa .I prefer to send my end my presentation deck now otherwise i will regret :

That  will allow you to get started working up  to the point the distraction is no longer a threat.

You will feel  an internal change by the time you reach  5 or 7 reps . However Remember that Repetition is the key for this tactic to work so don’t stop  before 12 reps at least and continue if necessary.

Even if it takes you 5 min it is nothing compared the the hour you might wasted.

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HEUDOU TCHIHIKOU Aubin

A Master chronic procrastinator who chose to execute on its dreams because of frustration and self-criticism.