Regain Your Focus By Taking A Break.

Posted: October 30th, 2009 | 12 Comments »

This post is for myself just as much, if not more, than it is for you guys. If there is one thing that I definitely struggle with, it is taking a break from all things “digital”. I do my best to always take a few minutes during the day to step away from the computer, but I am not as diligent as I should be about it. For instance, because I work for myself, at home, I constantly check email even at 11pm. Much of my weekend is spent looking at a computer screen as well, whether it is work-related or just wasting time chasing stories around the internet. And while I am definitely simplifying my life in many ways, “taking a break” is the one I need to focus on the most right now, thus I have been giving it some thought lately.

We are constantly bombarded by “noise” from every direction – television, the internet, ads in magazines, the phone ringing, having the radio on 24/7 – sometimes it seems to never stop. How can we ever take the time to actually think for ourselves when the noise around us never stops? Often I have caught myself trying to write, with Pandora playing on the computer and a TV on in the background. Yes, this has actually happened. I am not sure how, but it has – and it’s scary because I am sure that there are many people who live like this day in and day out. I personally know of people who turn on the TV the minute they get home from work, and it stays on until they go to their bedroom…where they proceed to turn on yet another one as they fall asleep. How can they keep functioning without ever taking a break? It gets to me after a while, and that is why I have started mandating a day without digital “noise” – Saturday.

My entire day is spent online either coding for a client or writing for one of my websites or doing some SEO work – literally from the minute I wake up and first check my email until I am laying on the sofa watching The Office, my computer is nearby and waiting for me. Sure, I go for a walk or read a book for a while, but it’s always there looking at me and taunting me with it’s blinking light – “Come on, you know you want to check and see what you might be missing”. Well, I have decided that I needed to do something drastic, thus my Saturday experiment. I am going to do my best to use Saturday as my day of rest from all of these distractions, unless, of course, there is a Red Sox game on the TV. But otherwise I hope to try to regain some focus on my priorities and stop wasting so much time being distracted by everything. After all, isn’t that part of living simply?

Do you have this problem too? Are you working on resolving it? I can’t possibly be alone in this! :)

Related posts:

  1. Driving With The Radio Off.
  2. On Taking A Few Minutes Before Getting Out Of Bed.
  3. On Slowing Down And Enjoying Life.


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12 Comments on “Regain Your Focus By Taking A Break.”

  1. 1 Kevin Martin Doyle said at 8:07 am on October 30th, 2009:

    I love this post David. I have done a similar post on a media-fast. I think it is all about making conscious decisions as to what you will allow into your life.

    People often have the TV on “for background noise.” What is that? If you make the decision to allow something into your life, I think there should be a reason behind it. Applying this across the board really helps separate the wheat from the chaff and, I think, leads to a healthier, simpler, more fulfilling life.

    Good luck on your Saturday off. I won’t be expecting a blogpost! :)

  2. 2 Jesse said at 9:19 am on October 30th, 2009:

    I just added to a forum thread on this exact topic. It was more specifically about music and how some people seem to require tunes in their ears during every waking hour. I started driving without the radio or iPod on back about 2 years ago and never looked back. I was able to better focus on the road and other drivers behavior. I used traffic time to reflect on my day and think about how this was my decompression time.
    Now, I try to shut down and just reflect daily, while I’m meditating for example, or even just walk slowly around the block and listen to the birds…makes a huge difference!

  3. 3 Wes Baker said at 11:14 am on October 30th, 2009:

    I used to have this problem, but I’ve gotten a lot better about it. It takes time and effort, but it was worth it:
    - Start checking your email 3 times a day: noon, 4PM and before bed
    - Follow the same schedule for Twitter/RSS/Social Media
    - DVR the shows you actually want to watch, or if you’re a bit more extreme, cancel your cable and buy the shows you want from iTunes. This will put a very clear (albeit not all that expensive) price tag on it.
    - If you have an iPhone, turn off all push notifications
    - Remove any notifications that distract you at all, Twitter clients are terrible about this

    I wouldn’t say I’m done with this, but I’ve come a long way. Try not to do all of these at once, but ease yourself off of the noise.

  4. 4 David said at 12:12 pm on October 30th, 2009:

    Wes – Luckily I never turned Push notifications on, and I do DVR the shows I want to watch. The email thing will be hard to break, since my entire business depends on it, but will see if I can at least set a few times a day to check/respond. Thanks!

  5. 5 Erin said at 3:10 pm on October 30th, 2009:

    Moving my computer to the basement family room cured me of being online all day long. Now it is deliberate and I stay conscious of the time I’m on the computer. The whole rest of my life flows better.

  6. 6 Noelle said at 8:24 pm on October 30th, 2009:

    Thanks for this post. I am feeling a need for a regular “media fast.” I am nearing the end of a 12-week Saturday class, plus freelance work that can only happen on the weekends. Combined with my weekday commitments, I am on the computer all day, every day, and it gets *old* fast. I’d like to start taking 24 hours off (probably Saturday night to Sunday night) every week to just not look at the computer/Internet at all.

    Even as I type the above, I am thinking about all the things I might miss. I just have to remind myself that it’s okay to take a break – it’s not like I can read the whole ‘Net anyway – and maybe I’ll be a little more serene if I don’t know everything that everyone is doing on Facebook. :~)

  7. 7 David said at 11:02 pm on October 30th, 2009:

    Noelle – I definitely need to get over the “what will I miss” issue!

  8. 8 KC said at 1:22 pm on November 1st, 2009:

    Recently my weekends have been so busy I haven’t had much of a chance to check my email, read blogs, etc. And, you know what? The world didn’t fall apart! Amazing!

  9. 9 Sam said at 7:56 am on November 3rd, 2009:

    This is so true, especially among the driven and productive people that frequent blogs like this. We all focus so much on being efficient and productive that we tend to forget about a very large part of being a well-rounded human.

    A very timely post :)

  10. 10 David said at 10:59 am on November 4th, 2009:

    And for some, by the time they notice it’s too late. :)

  11. 11 David said at 10:59 am on November 4th, 2009:

    Strange how that happens, heh?

  12. 12 RowdyKittens said at 12:35 pm on November 5th, 2009:

    David – great post! I’ve taken a number of media fasts in the last few months. They’ve helped tremendously and have actually improved my writing / quality of life.

    I do my best to keep up on the latest news, but there is no way to keep track of everything.

    I was spending so much time on twitter and reading other blogs (for work and personal stuff) that I was missing out on life! Like going outside for bike rides, walks, etc.

    Even though I’m not tweeting or blogging as much, I feel like I have a better balance. :)

    Good luck!

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