Hello!
A consistent and resilient work ethic has been fundamental for achieving challenging goals in my academic life. Indeed, nowadays, my schedule is filled with additional responsibilities and collaborations that require a high level of focus to balance all my duties and projects. To this end, minimising sources of distraction is of uttermost importance to help me remain concentrated. Therefore, in this post, I would like to share some of the steps I apply to control the level of mental noise I allow daily and minimise its impact on my work:
1. Identify personal sources of distractions
2. Select substitute habits to develop
4. Build the personal resilience
1. Identify personal sources of distractions
As a first step, I try to recognise which triggers or moments interrupt my flow while working. For example, for a long time, I would visit YouTube quite often throughout the day, between tasks or during lunch breaks, and try to keep up with the content I liked. However, after exhausting the material from subscribed channels, I would continue opening the website to watch other videos on the homepage. Not only was I wasting time on content that was not particularly relevant to me, but I was also allowing unnecessary, random information to distract my mind for the sake of instant gratification that would ease the effort required by more demanding tasks at hand. Although there are so many great channels online that genuinely provide scientific and intellectual value, I would still be drawn to purely entertaining content that called for little mental effort. Hence, even though I could continue working afterwards, I became aware of how this behaviour was so fruitless, both in the short-term, as it directly interrupted my work, and long-term, as it also did not lead to any helpful lesson.
A similar analogy can be made with smartphone-related activities. I gave up on social media apps a long time ago, which helped reduce the amount of mental clutter. Still, I read daily news on my phone, and I have noticed similar instances where I randomly open the news app while doing other tasks. Ultimately, this awareness led me to reassess how to develop more healthy habits that would be more productive and valuable.
2. Select substitute habits to develop
When I try to change my behaviour towards more healthy habits, I have noticed that ‘replacing’ a task is usually simpler than ‘removing’ it. That is, instead of creating a time gap by cutting an unproductive practice and allowing myself to fill it spontaneously with another instant gratification impulse, I find it more effective to define a replacement that better aligns with my goals. In my case, I wanted to read more books and listen to insightful podcasts regularly, and I only had to adjust myself to consume these new forms of content. As a result, I have now rewired to pick up a book or play an episode from one of my pre-selected shows during the breaks I would have likely filled with YouTube content. Furthermore, since my work is predominantly done at the computer, taking breaks that do not involve additional screen time also has a very positive impact on reducing the strain on my eyes.
3. Establish realistic rules
Depending on the habits to be replaced, different levels of strictness may be required to determine our response in instances that contradict our efforts. For example, while it came naturally to me to completely cut off social media apps, I still allow myself to watch certain YouTube content shared with me. In my mind, as changing habits is ultimately a personal effort, it is intrinsically sensible to give ourselves the authority to establish the rules of how we plan to do it.
We need to establish rules we know we can respect and follow.
In practical terms, we need to establish rules we know we can respect and follow. Therefore, if forbidding a specific behaviour entirely seems too extreme, perhaps we can allow well-defined “cheat breaks” that already help limit the amount of time spent on them. Or, similarly to my YouTube rule, only allow content that is suggested to us for specific reasons and with clear boundaries that stop us from extending it to related content that may pop up while consuming it.
Another practice that also helps me to minimise relapses is to reduce possible dependencies on the platform or device associated with a given habit I would like to change. For instance, I only allow myself to listen to music on Spotify or Soundcloud, which prevents me from opening YouTube and potentially glimpse at other content than the song I wanted, even if it implies not accessing content only available on it. But, again, it is clear this is a matter of self-control, and, as stated above, we should define what works for us.
4. Build the personal resilience
Finally, the last step towards a successful change presumes proper execution. Nevertheless, after we clearly set our rules, there may still be instances where we feel the urge to return to an old habit. In these cases, we must develop the personal momentum that helps us stay on the path we defined. For me, a helpful technique is picturing my efforts on a geometric scale, where I start with smaller, more manageable goals that help to get into the new rhythm and progressively adjust my objectives accordingly until it becomes natural (e.g., 1 day, 2 days, 4 days without YouTube). I genuinely believe that such a “snowball effect” is an effective way to adjust my behaviour and improve my self-control.
Ultimately, as we continue cultivating our resilience and making progress on our goals, a gratifying sense of achievement positively reinforces our efforts and lifts our self-confidence. Furthermore, back to the original motivation, there are also noticeable benefits on my ability to focus by being conscious of the content I consume daily.
Conclusion
These are some of the steps I consider when assessing my goals and the personal growth I would like to achieve. I am excited to keep exploring new ways to adjust my behaviour towards more fruitful practices. Please feel free to share which techniques you use to build effective habits!
Have a great day!