This is a problem for every blogger out there, Avoiding Distractions When… I think I’ll check my email right now or maybe see what’s new on Twitter. Just that quick we can get sidetracked, I do it all the time and I’m sure you do too.
Now it’s not always a bad thing, sometimes a distraction is just what we need to get back on track, a chance to take a breath. The problem is more often then not it is a bad thing, distractions kill our writing time.
There are various reasons for getting distracted. Me personally, I have many projects going on, clients I need to serve, new ideas that wait for no one, and just plain human nature to be lazy if you will. I’ll find myself veering off without ever knowing I did and then there are the times I know I am and have to do the old slap in the face to get back to work.
What Can I Do To Stay Focused?
The answer to this really depends on how easily you get distracted and if you are even concerned with being distracted. There are the bloggers that just write whenever the mood strikes but even those of you who fall into this category can be faced with this dilemma.
Your all geared up ready to write that new, one in a million idea, and before you get two words down are gone doing something else. It gets us all.
I’m going to share some of my own distraction busters. Tips that help me to avoid distractions when writing.
1. Clean Space
I’m somewhat, ok I’m an extremely neat freak. Everything has a place and it should be there. Even though I’m very good at it there are always times something is not in it’s place and what happens? I start working, notice it, and there I go, away from work.
You may say that’s not a big deal, I’ll do that one thing and back to work. How many times has that one thing led to one other thing and then ten others things? Ever gone in a closet to get something and then next thing you know the closet is empty and the room is full of everything that was in there? Yes the cleaning bug.
Make sure your work space is organized and ready for you to write. Anything you may need is at the ready so that you can focus 100% on your writing.
2. Shut It Down
Avoid the common distractions, email, Twitter, TV, IM, ect. Shut it off! We get distracted because we give ourselves a reason to be.
Email gets me every time. I see new messages and need to check them. Now to be fair to myself, I do get client emails and I like to respond to these quick, I believe in great service. However more times then not the emails can wait. I had overcome the TV long ago, although I will watch it if there is a major event, but I plan in advance for this distraction and do work before it.
My new vice is Twitter. How easily I get sucked into the Land Of Twitter. I have to shut down whatever service (Twhirl, Tweetdeck, Destroy Twitter) I am using, otherwise I WILL get distracted.
Turn off, close down, put away all those extra things that will pull you away from your writing. Have nothing open but your choice of writing program.
3. Set The Timer
You know you have a job to do, set a time to do it in. Blogging in some way is a job and like real jobs we go to and do them for a set amount of time and are then done. For some, like myself, blogging is my job and I set a time schedule for it. Now it’s flexible as to when I have to work but i still set an allotted time that I devote to writing.
You may blog for fun but time is still needed to devote to it. It doesn’t have to be “write at 6pm” everyday, it can be but doesn’t have to be. Sit down and tell yourself you’ll spend up to two hours writing, with NO distractions, just writing.
By setting an amount of time you know when you start, when you finish, and yes when you can be distracted with Twitter!
4. The Sweet Spot
For me this is all important. Find a place where you write best. This will be very different for every person and even for the same person.
I have a few sweet spots that I like to use. My home office, where the comforts and familiarity put me at ease and allow me to focus. I also enjoy getting out and being in the middle of life. Now this is only done on occasion because of all the potential distractions out there, but it’s refreshing, a change of scenery, and even an idea creator.
I’ll like to go to the library, we have a big, new, modern library here that I find comfortable. Sometimes I kill two birds with one stone and go to Panera for a quick lunch and then work.
Find your sweet spot. When you have a place your are comfortable writing in the act of writing is all that much easier.
How Do You Avoid Distractions?
We are each different in our lives and approach to writing. What distractions get you and how do you overcome them? Who’s with me, Twitter becoming the big distraction???
Great list there, its really easy to get distracted for all walks of bloggers. Personally, I will just get into my office away from TV and noise and write out a post or two. It makes more sense to focus on how ever time is needed on a single task rather than spread your focus thin across an array of duties (TV, email, blog, etc).
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I find Facebook a big distraction for me. I try my best to switch it off, otherwise, I’ll end up having 4 or 5 conversations, when trying to write.
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Promoting my blog is my distraction. I guess its a good and bad distraction. When I focus on my blog post I get the job done and go back to promoting.
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Sounds like a good distraction. Promotion is vital. You’re doing the right thing.
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Yeah, I do my best. Since I been back online my whole goal was to keep posting more and more content and get traffic levels back to what it was. I am almost there. Getting back to 8,000 visitors a month is no easy task.
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Hi Michael, My main distractions are always the Email and Twitter, I always need to turn´em off. Sometimes I need to turn off my mind (Have not succeed with this) that is continually reminding me something else I need to do. I just found that the use of an agenda like a palm or anything that can be synchronized with the outlook and have it everywhere will help me to snooze my mind reminders and then I may concentrate and write.
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Lol shutting down twitter, tv and email is abit too much for me. I mean sometimes they are my source of inspiration.
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There is a great reason for commenting, a different point of view, where all that’s bad for one person actually benefits another.
I am a news junkie, and checking many online sources of daily news distracts me. Email too. Like you though, I’m a neat freak and when I take time to unclutter my workspace, I’m more focused. Is twitter really that awesome?? Haven’t gotten sucked into that particular quicksand yet…
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I myself would not call Twitter awesome, yet. I do know you can easily get distracted with all that goes on on it. Yea news gets me too, damn that CNN!
Distractions like email are hard to just shut down, I can relate. You feel like each ping that goes off is the most important task- but what you’re doing at the time is usually just as, if not more important!
Setting a time schedule works well for me, too. I give myself an hour, usually in the morning depending on my meeting schedule, to catch up on blogs, and then it’s project time! It’s not perfect, and emergencies come up from time to time, but it helps me to keep focused a bit. Glad I’m not the only one out there!
No I think it effects us all, even the most focused will succumb to the distraction bug. Having some sort of structure can help to squash it.
To be completely honest, I get distracted all the time. Instead of letting myself get lost in things like social media or email, I try to focus my scatter-brained method in some way. I’ll work on 3 client articles at once, and finish them all then move on to writing blog posts two at a time. Probably not efficient, but single-tasking just never works out for me.
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Sometimes I have a hard time getting focused if my ideas aren’t exciting me at the moment. If I just start writing I will usually become more interested, which will in turn make me focus. If I just can’t focus it may be that I’m tired and need a break or I need a new idea.
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It is easy to get sidetracked when preparing an article for my blog but what I have found that works best for me is not having anything else open on my computer (MySpace, Twitter, YouTube etc) and when I give myself a time deadline. Thanks for the great article!
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