Health · · 3 min read
Not all distractions are a waste of time
This morning at the gym I noticed something interesting.
My workout wasn’t nearly as effective as it could have been because I was distracted planning content on my phone.
The strange part was that it wasn’t a pointless distraction.
I wasn’t just scrolling for no reason.
I was doing something useful.
Planning ideas.
Thinking about content.
Working on something that matters to me.
But it was still taking my attention away from what I had actually chosen to be doing.
In that moment, my intention was to train.
The phone was the obvious external distraction.
But there was also something happening internally.
One idea would lead to another.
Then another.
Then another.
My mind was following the trail.
And even though the ideas themselves were useful, the result was a less effective workout.
That made me realise something:
Not every distraction looks unproductive.
Sometimes the thing pulling us away is something worthwhile.
A work email.
A new idea.
A message we want to answer.
A problem we suddenly want to solve.
Something that genuinely does need our attention at some point.
But maybe the better question isn’t:
“Is this important?”
Maybe it’s:
“Is this what I intended to be doing right now?”
When I notice that pull, I don’t need to argue with the idea or tell myself it’s bad.
I can simply notice it.
Don’t feed it.
And return to the intention I had already chosen.
At the gym:
Train while training.
At work:
Work on the task I chose.
In a conversation:
Listen while the other person is speaking.
The useful idea can still be there later.
But this moment only gets my attention once.
Even good ideas can distract us from what we chose to do.
Notice it… don’t feed it.